Images: Riot Games
China's Trace Esports yet another dramatic upset by defeating the Americas' top contender, Leviatán, in the Group C Winners Match.
Two more teams have qualified for the VALORANT Champions 2024 Playoffs as Groups C and D hosted showdowns between teams from the Chinese and American leagues in their Winners Matches on Wednesday (August 7).
Upsets continue to abound in this year's world championship as China's Trace Esports defeated the Americas' top contender, Leviatan, in three games. However, while a team from the Americas fell to a Chinese opponent in Group C, Group D was the inverse as G2 Esports defeated EDWard Gaming (EDG) to advance to the Playoffs.
Trace Esports 2-0 Leviatan
This year's action-packed VALORANT Champions Group Stage produced yet another massive upset as Trace defeated Leviatan in three games. Trace were coming off a 2-1 victory over EMEA's Team Vitality in their Opening Match while Leviatan were still fresh off a sweep over the Pacific's Talon Esports.
The series started in Bind, where Trace struck first by winning the first two rounds as the attacker side before both teams traded rounds to be locked at a 5-5 tie by round 10. However, the Chinese squad won the last two rounds of the first half to enter halftime up 7-5. Trace continued their momentum to start the second half to extend their lead to 9-5, though Leviatan managed to get within 11-10 after round 21. Despite Leviatan's best efforts to complete the comeback, Trace handily won rounds 22 and 23 to close out Bind with the 13-10 win.
Game two in Sunset saw another fiery start for the Chinese squad, who won five of the first six rounds as the attacker side. However, Leviatan racked off six-straight rounds to lead at 7-5 come halftime. Trace were quick to tie things up at 7-7 after the side switch, though Leviatan responded with four-straight to get a commanding 11-7 lead. While Trace managed two more rounds, Leviatan also scored the two they needed to claim Lotus with a 13-9 score and send the series to a deciding game three.
The decider at Ascent saw Trace stake their claim as a legitimate contender, as they utterly dominated Leviatan in the first half to the tune of a 10-2 lead as the defender side, including an incredible eight-round streak to close out the half. While Leviatan desperately tried to claw their way back into the game by winning three rounds after the side switch, Trace simply could not be denied as they secured the 2-1 upset with a 13-5 rout in Ascent.
Lu “Kai” Zhinan and Song “FengF” Xuefeng led the way for Trace in their massive victory over Leviatan. Kai topped the scoreboard for his team with 52 kills and 14 assists against 42 deaths while FengF added 50 kills and eight assists on 45 deaths.
G2 Esports 2-1 EDWard Gaming
The day ended with G2 becoming Group D's top seed in the Playoffs after defeating EDG in another three-game thriller. G2 entered the matchup with momentum on their side after upsetting the last year's runners-up, Paper Rex, while EDG were coming off a sweep over EMEA's FUT Esports.
EDG entered the series with all guns blazing as they finished the first half of game one in Icebox with a commanding 9-3 lead as the attacker side. While G2 managed to score four rounds in the second half, five more rounds was all it took for EDG to claim the first map of the match with a 13-8 score.
Game two in Haven was a more closely-contested affair, with G2 winning the first two rounds of the first half as the defender side before both teams headed into halftime in a 6-6 deadlock. EDG looked like they could secure the 2-0 sweep as they got up to a 11-9 lead after round 20, only for a furious G2 to rack off four-straight rounds to steal the 13-11 win in Haven and force the series to a decider.
It was then G2's turn to put on a dominant performance in game three at Bind, where they dominated the first half as the attacker side to build a commanding 9-3 lead. Not ones to go down without a fight, G2 pulled off an incredible 7-2 run to start the second half to trim G2's lead down to 11-10 after round 21. Both teams then traded the next two rounds to set up a possible overtime scenario, though a win in round 24 would hand G2 the 2-1 series victory and a spot in the Playoffs.
Jacob “valyn” Batio and Jacob “icy” Lange spearheaded G2's charge to the Playoffs, with both players racking up at least 50 kills and 10 assists throughout their match against EDG. Valyn had 54 kills and 17 assists on a series-best 43 deaths while icy had 52 kills and 12 assists on 47 deaths.
With Trace and G2 headed to the next stage of the tournament, only one Playoff spot remains available in Groups C and D.
In Group C, Leviatan will face the winner of the group's Elimination Match between Talon and Vitality. Over in Group D, EDG will take on the winner of the Elimination Match between Paper Rex and FUT.
