VCT returns with a Group B winners match between North America’s Sentinels and EMEA’s Team Liquid. The winner of this
In what has been a turbulent 24 hours for Riot Games and Valorant, the show continues with a huge best-of-three. Sentinels and Liquid will be looking to be the next team to book their ticket to the quarter-finals. Team Liquid probably comes into this series looking the stronger of the two, they decimated Kru while Sentinels were pushed against Furia in a close series.
Here is esportsgg's breakdown of the best-of-three between Team Liquid and Sentinels:
Map one: Team Liquid edges out Sentinels on Breeze
In what was supposed to be a relatively one-sided map, Team Liquid put on the afterburners on Breeze. Sentinels came out like a house on fire and that stunned Liquid. This was surprising given Team Liquid was the side that selected Breeze for map one.
Sentinels went into the second half with an 8-4 lead, while it's not the tallest mountain to climb, things were not looking bright for TL. What followed was pure excellence from the side of Team Liquid, the EMEA side played together and didn't hide away from the fact they were losing. TL would end up forcing the game into overtime before closing it out to lead 1-0.
Map two: Sentinels dominates on Bind to force a third map
The Sentinels we thought we were getting finally showed up, and in a big way. The North American third seed put on a performance on Bind that was worthy of champions. Sentinels came out of the blocks swinging and never looked back, they gained control early and closed out the first half 10-2.
Although Team Liquid came back on Breeze, the 10-2 score was too big a hill to scale on this one. Sentinels made quick work of TL in the early rounds and closed out the map 13-2. This was one of the most dominant displays at VCT Champions thus far and it was a statement game from Sentinels.
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Map three: Team Liquid secures quarterfinals spot
In what was a class match, Team Liquid are the ones victorious on Split to book themselves a spot in the quarterfinals. They are the third European side to make it to the knockout stage after both Fnatic and Gambit won their respective matches.
The first few rounds were even with both sides trading blows. Team Liquid started the map with a 4-2 lead before Sentinels picked it back up. In the latter stages of the first half Sentinels would win 5-2 to put tie the map at 6-6. With the game tied up, it was on Liquid to be the aggressors and punch their ticket to the quarter-finals.
Mirroring the first half, the two teams kept trading rounds at two apiece until Liquid sprung into life. The EMEA side would end up winning the next five rounds to secure a 13-10 victory. This is not only a significant result for Team Liquid but also for North America. With their sides evidently struggling early on, could NA fail to have multiple teams reach the quarter-finals?
