Image: Riot Games
It will be Team Heretics and EDward Gaming facing off in the grand finals of VALORANT Champions 2024.
Only two teams remain standing in the battle for this year's VALORANT world championship after the penultimate day of VALORANT Champions 2024 on Saturday (August 24) at the INSPIRE Arena in Incheon, South Korea.
EMEA's 
Team Heretics routed the Americas' 
Leviatán, 3-1, in the tournament's best-of-five lower bracket finals to earn the right to challenge China's 
EDward Gaming (EDG) in the grand finals for this year's world championship.
Heretics and Leviatán entered the Champions 2024 Playoffs as the first seed of Group B and the second seed of Group C, respectively. They then won their first Playoff matches in the upper bracket quarterfinals, with Leviatán cruising through G2 Esports and Heretics sweeping Fnatic, which set up their first showdown in the upper bracket semifinals.
Leviatán soundly swept Heretics in this first encounter, claiming victory in Icebox (15-13) in overtime and Lotus (13-10) in regulation, to knock their opponents down to the lower bracket. Heretics then bounced back from that loss by defeating hometown team DRX in three games at the lower bracket quarterfinals to be among the four teams making it to the final stage of Champions 2024.
In the opening match at INSPIRE Arena, Leviatán were defeated by EDG in three maps at the upper bracket finals, sending the Chinese team to the grand finals and knocking their opponents down to the lower bracket finals. Following that, Heretics took down Sentinels in another three-game slugfest at the lower bracket semifinals to set up a Leviatán-Heretics rematch for the final spot in the Champions 2024 grand finals.
Heretics exact revenge over Leviatán
Many favoured Leviatán to win the lower bracket finals and earn a rematch with EDG. After all, they swept Heretics in their last encounter at the upper bracket semifinals.
But the EMEA powerhouse have grown into a different, much stronger team since then. And Heretics proved they were more worthy of a shot at challenging EDG for the world championship by flipping the script and cruising through Leviatán in four games.
Game one of the lower bracket finals at Icebox saw a strong start for Leviatán as they scored the first three rounds as the attacker side. However, Heretics answered with a 7-1 run through to round 11 that gave them the 7-5 lead heading into halftime.
Heretics continued their momentum into the second half, winning the first two rounds to extend their lead to 9-5 before Leviatán answered with two-straight rounds of their own. Heretics then racked off four-straight rounds to secure their first win of the series with a 13-7 score.
Heretics kept on rolling in game two at Sunset, where they dominated the first half as the attacker side to take a 8-4 lead into the side switch. Leviatán showed signs of life in the second half by winning the first two rounds, though Heretics were quick to answer with two of their own to extend their lead to 10-6.
Leviatán then pulled off an incredible six-straight round wins to get within map point at 12-10 and be in position to tie up the series. However, Heretics managed to clutch the next two rounds to force Sunset into overtime. Leviatán tried their hardest to salvage what once looked like a guaranteed map win, but a 3-1 run for Heretics in overtime gave them the 15-13 victory in Sunset instead to go with a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Game three in Abyss saw Leviatán look to mount a comeback by winning three of the first four rounds as the attacker side. However, Heretics responded with a 6-1 run through to round 11 to set up another dominant half. While Leviatán managed to stop the bleeding by winning round 12, Heretics still headed into the side switch with a 7-5 lead.
Leviatán carried their momentum into the second half by winning four of the first five rounds to take the lead at 9-8 before Heretics tied things up again by winning round 18. But a determined Leviatán won four-straight right after to claim Abyss, 13-9, and keep their tournament hopes alive for a fourth game.
While the first three maps of the series have all been competitive, game four at Lotus ended up being one of the most one-sided encounters in the history of VALORANT Champions. Heretics won the first two rounds as the attacker side before Leviatán answered in round 3, only for Heretics to pull off an astounding nine-round streak to close out the first half with an absolutely dominant 11-1 lead.
Leviatán still went out swinging in the second half, winning the first two rounds before Heretics surgically secured the last two rounds they needed to claim the 13-3 closeout win in Lotus and advance to the VALORANT Champions 2024 grand finals.
Heretics were firing on all cylinders in their 3-1 victory over Leviatán, with all players racking up at least a total of 57 kills and 15 assists throughout the series and with three members even reaching the 60-kill mark.
Enes “RieNs” Ecirli led the way with a series-best 68 kills and 36 assists against a series-best 54 deaths. Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukaševičius also added 66 kills and 18 assists on 59 deaths while Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish added 60 kills and 15 assists on another series-best 54 deaths.
Meanwhile, Ričardas “Boo” Lukaševičius put up 59 kills and 18 assists on 50 deaths while Mert “Wo0t” Alkan had 57 kills and a series-best 53 assists on 56 deaths.
With their victory, Heretics have guaranteed themselves at least a second place finish and $400,000 in winnings. Of course, they have their sights set on defeating EGD to claim the $1 million grand prize and the 2024 VALORANT world championship title.
Meanwhile, Leviatán end their run in VALORANT Champions 2024 with a commendable third place finish and will take home $250,000 in consolation.
