Images: Riot Games
In two intraregional matchups, Leviatán from the Americas and Team Heretics from EMEA emerged victorious.
The competition continues to heat up at the VALORANT Champions 2024 Playoffs as the Americas' Leviatán and EMEA's Team Heretics advanced to the upper bracket semifinals after they swept regional rivals G2 Esports and FNATIC, respectively, in the upper bracket quarterfinals on Thursday (August 15).
Leviatán entered the day as the second seed of Group C, having fallen victim to an upset by China's Trace Esports in their group's Winners Match before sweeping EMEA's Team Vitality to qualify for the Playoffs. Facing them was Group D top seed G2, who defeated Paper Rex and EDward Gaming to get to this point. More than just being an all-Americas showdown, this was a rematch of the Americas Stage 2 Playoffs, where Leviatán emerged victorious in four games.
Meanwhile, the other matchup between Heretics and FNATIC featured a matchup between two of EMEA's heavyweights. Heretics were favoured coming into this one as the top seed of Group B while FNATIC only managed to bag the second seed of Group A despite being the EMEA Stage 2 champions.
Here's how the matches in day two of the VALORANT Champions 2024 Playoffs went down:
Leviatán 2-0 G2 Esports
The first series of the day saw G2 get off to a strong start, finishing the first half of game one in Icebox with a 8-4 lead as the attacker side. However, Leviatán locked in after the side switch and went on a furious 8-2 run to not only take the lead but also get within map point after round 22. Not willing to concede the first map of the series in such disastrous fashion, G2 won rounds 23 and 24 to force overtime.
The first three overtime rounds then saw G2 take a 14-13 lead after round 27, only for Leviatán to respond with three-straight rounds to snatch away the 16-14 win at Icebox.
Game two at Abyss saw Leviatán exert their dominance over G2 by winning eight of the first ten rounds as the defender side. The first half closed with G2 winning rounds 11 and 12 to show signs of life, though Leviatán still had a commanding 8-4 lead. Leviatán carried their momentum into the second half, winning the first three rounds before G2 could answer by taking round 16 and then closing out the series with the 13-5 win in Abyss.
Leviatán's victory over G2 saw all five players rack up at least 30 kills and six assists throughout the series, with Corbin “C0M” Lee leading the way with 42 kills and 10 assists on a series-best 26 deaths. Erick “aspas” Santos also pitched in with 38 kills and six assists while also only having 26 deaths.
Team Heretics 2-0 FNATIC
The second series of the day notably mirrored the first, with game one being a stomp followed with an overtime thriller in game two.
Game one at Lotus was one of the most one-sided maps in the history of VALORANT Champions, as Heretics claimed their first win of the series while only conceding three rounds. Heretics started the first half with three-straight round wins as the defender side before FNATIC mustered their only round wins of the map, after which they 10-straight to claim victory.
Heretics looked like they could pull off another stomp in game two at Abyss, where they dominated the first half to the tune of a 9-3 lead as the attacker side. But the 9-3 curse continues to prove itself to be real as FNATIC mounted a comeback in the second half and went on a 9-2 run to get within map point at 12-11 after round 23. However, Heretics managed to right the ship by winning round 24 and forcing overtime.
FNATIC's second half comeback was all for naught as Heretics surgically won the first two overtime rounds to claim the 14-12 victory in Abyss and sweep their opponents down to the lower bracket.
Enes “RieNs” Ecirli spearheaded Heretics' victory over FNATIC, racking up 40 kills and 10 assists on 25 deaths across two games.
With their victories, Leviatán and Heretics have guaranteed themselves at least a 5th-6th place finish as well as $85,000 in winnings. They are now set to face each other in the second of two upper bracket semifinal matches on Saturday (August 17) for a spot in the Top 3.
Meanwhile, G2 and FNATIC drop down to the first round of the lower bracket, where they will be facing off for their tournament lives on Friday (August 16).
