G2 Esports will now face LOUD in the next round of the playoffs in the upper bracket.
It was the perfect start for EMEA side G2 Esports as they took down Zeta Division to progress to the next round in the upper bracket. G2 will now take on Brazilian side LOUD who stunned fellow EU side Team Liquid. The EMEA first seed was given an automatic bye to the playoffs following the announcement that FPX would not be able to attend VCT Masters.
G2 cruise through Zeta on Split
Some G2 fans may have been concerned coming into map one. The EMEA side had a 3-4 record across EMEA Challengers. Nevertheless, G2 Esports put on a solid display in the first half with a 7-5 score going into the second half.
Although G2 had a significantly worse offensive side on split (43% win rate), the EMEA side put on a strong display with Zeta only putting together two round wins, one of those being on G2's bonus round. Hoody and nukkye were the stars of the map for G2 Esports, the pair put up ACS scores of 300 and 296 respectively, the two highest in the lobby. Hoody also had the joint highest first kills in the lobby with five, only Zeta's TENNN could match him.
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G2 Esports secures 2-0 victory on Bind
Bind is the setting in which G2 Esports secures their spot in the next round of the upper bracket. The EMEA first seed secured the win in a thrilling 13-10 map that could have easily swung in Zeta's favor. This time around it would be G2 picking up the two early rounds, this was followed by Zeta picking up the next three.
The teams would trade rounds before Zeta got the edge of G2 to close out the half at 7-5. Similarly to Split, G2 did not put up the best of showings on a half that favored them considerably. G2 in Challengers had a 66% win rate on offence and a 56% win rate on defence. Although it is still above 500, G2 were in a position to put the game away early but was unable to do so.
The opening four rounds in the second half went the way of G2, Zeta was unable to push through the G2 utility. Zeta did make the map interesting as they picked up the next three rounds, but it would be G2 Esports that rounded out the map at 13-10. G2's VCT upper bracket run will continue when they go up against LOUD.
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