Gambit survived a huge scare by the Brazilian squad Vikings. Meanwhile, Team Liquid scored one point for EU over NA.
Day four of the VCT Champions tournament is in the record books. VCT Masters Berlin champions Gambit were pushed to their limit while Sentinels and Team Liquid battled it out for their ticket to the quarters. Here is what went down on day four of champs.
Gambit survives a resillient Vikings to progress to quarters
In what should have been a walk in the park for Gambit Esports, the Berlin champions were again showing signs of mortality as they were forced to edge out a 2-1 victory in overtime of map three. While Vikings are certainly no pushovers, Gambit is tipped by many to be the best team in the world.
With this comes huge expectations to prove their Berlin win was not a one-time thing. Despite being down 0-4 to start of Split, Gambit never lost sight of their game plan and was able to close out the half strong. The CIS side won seven of the last eight rounds to start the second half 7-5. VKS on offense had nothing to offer and was rolled pretty quickly by Gambit in a 13-6 win.
Vikings put on a clinic on Bind
There was a reason Vikings selected Bind, they are incredible on the map. Similarly to their series against Team Secret, Gambit was picked apart in the first half and could not mount a resurgence in the next. Vikings for the second game running came out of the box swinging. The Brazilian squad picked up seven of the eight first rounds before Gambit secured three more to at least close the deficit.
The damage was already done in the first half, however, Vikings were able to maintain their composure and close out the map 13-5. This has been the second time this tournament Gambit has shown huge weaknesses and have yet to play one of the tournament favorites. This is not a good sign considering they got the easiest group at Champs.
It was now onto the third and final map, Icebox. A map Gambit has already shown to be troublesome for them this tournament. To many Brazilian fans, this was a heartbreaker of a map for them given the outcome. VKS were again dominant from the get-go and had a strong hold on this game.
Vikings fall victim to the 9-3 curse
The problem for them was they went into the second half with the cursed 9-3 lead. The 9-3 lead has proven to mean very little given how volatile the early rounds are. This was proven to be the case once again as Gambit forced the game into overtime.
The class of Gambit Esports came through when they needed it most and took the map and the series 2-1. Gambit is now the second EMEA team to reach the quarter-finals after Fnatic took down Vision Strikers yesterday.
Team Liquid wins the NA vs EU battle with a 2-1 win over Sentinels
Europe has once again proven they are the superior region over North America this tournament with an impressive Team Liquid victory. The EMEA side fought to and nail and can proudly say they took down NA's best team. Here is how they did it:
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Team Liquid comeback secures map one
With Team Liquid picking Breeze in the Veto, you would have thought they would have faired better on this map than Sentinels? think again. TL was extremely poor in the first half and would require excellence to even put the map back in their favor.
SEN started off the half strong, wrapping up many early rounds and ending the half with an 8-4 score. As stated before, TL was required to play at a much higher level if they wanted anything positive from their map pick. Liquid did just that as they came out of the gates swinging. TL won the first four rounds to put themselves on equal footing with Sentinels.
Sentinels did just enough to give themselves the opportunity of taking the game with the map going to overtime. Luckily for TL, their hardware paid off as they took the map 14-12.
Sentinels ties the series with a statement game on Bind
Despite throwing the game away on Breeze, Sentinels ensured light night did not strike twice. The best North American team smashed Liquid with an impressive 13-2 score, one of the best maps of the tournament thus far. The game was all but over in the first half with SEN winning ten rounds to Liquid's two.
Lightning did not strike twice in this series, however, as Sentinels wrapped up the first three rounds to send the series to a game three. This was a much-needed win for Sentinels who have not really looked themselves this tournament.
A nailbiter on Split saw Team Liquid punch their ticket to the playoffs
After two very different games, Team Liquid dusted themselves off and was able to book a place in the quarter-finals. This map was more in line with the score on Breeze with TL taking the map 13-10. This map from a neutral point of view was great to watch, in the opening rounds, both teams were trading blows. Liquid would win the opening two rounds, but Sentinels would return the favor with two rounds of their own.
Following a closely contested first round, which finished 6-6, history would repeat itself with both teams trading rounds going down to the latter stages of the map. Unfortunately for Sentinels, this was the last time they would take a round off of Liquid. The EMEA rallied together five impressive rounds to close out the game and win 13-10.
Both teams can be proud of the series they had, given the tough circumstances and venue change. What this series continued to prove is that both North America and Europe have world-class teams that can trade wins on any given day.
