Image credit: VALORANT Esports (Photo by Liu YiCun/Riot Games)
One VCT EMEA team is all there's left at Masters Madrid after Team Heretics eliminated FUT Esports.
The all-EMEA match-up in the lower bracket quarter-final of VCT Masters Madrid saw Team Heretics claim a comfortable 2-0 win over FUT Esports. That will now put Heretics in the top four, which is its best finish to date at an international VCT event. To top it off, Heretics are also playing with a stand-in, which goes to show just how flexible the team must be.
As for FUT, they will finish in the shared fifth/sixth place alongside Paper Rex, who lost to 100 Thieves earlier today. With today being the last day at the Valo Arena, the final four teams will now move on to play at the Mercedes-Benz Arena where there will be two VCT Americas teams alongside one apiece from the EMEA and the Pacific.
FUT chose Bind for the first map given its 2-1 score at Masters Shanghai while Heretics were 0-1. And they showed just why as FUT was able to hold Heretics to a 6-6 score by halftime. Both teams were able to cancel each other out in terms of momentum with neither able to get a solid run to get going. But the second half was all about Heretics and how well they played the attack side as they won seven of the eight rounds to win the first map.
Sunset was the next map of choice, which was Heretics' pick as they were 3-0 during Masters Shanghai whereas FUT were 1-1. And from the first three rounds, it already looked like it would be Heretics' series to lose after they were completely dominant in the first half. Their defensive play all-round was a joy to watch as they were able to nullify FUT's advancements in almost every round.
With the score at 9-3 in favour of Heretics at half-time, many would have thought the fabled curse would take shape once again, especially when FUT won the second pistol round to kick things off. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be for the EMEA third seed as they could not keep its momentum up and allowed Heretics to run them down in the next three rounds to finish the series at 2-0.
And with that win, Heretics have now beaten FUT three times in a row having already faced each other twice during the EMEA Kickoff and Stage 1. Heretics will now go up against 100 Thieves to determine who will make it to the lower bracket final and play a best-of-five against the loser of the series between Gen.G Esports and G2 Esports.