FPX and Team Heretics Eliminated, Sentinels and Gen.G Soar To Playoffs

The second round of the VCT Masters Madrid Swiss Stage has ended. Two teams were eliminated from the tournament, while two others have secured a top-four finish in Spain. Here’s a recap of what happened in the past two days of Valorant.

1-0 Pool (Winner To Playoffs)

On May 16th, the winner’s matches featured four teams, two of which made it out of the Swiss Stage, while the losing teams were sent to the 1-1 pool. 

Sentinels 2-0 Karmine Corp

The day started with the first seeds of two of the most competitive regions, Americas and EMEA. Both teams had a stellar start to the tournament, but only one of them could go 2-0 in Groups.

On Split, the map choice of Sentinels, the North American roster started off with a 5-1 lead on their offense thanks to a star-level performance from zekken and TenZ, which we’ve come to expect. However, KC’s sh1n was able to retaliate to help the EMEA squad to tie the half 6-6. 

Unfortunately for European fans, Karmine Corp could not manage anything on their attacking half, only winning the pistol round and anti-eco, then losing seven in a row to lose 8-13. 

On Lotus, Karmine Corp’s home ground, the Sentinels again managed a 5-1 lead, but ended the half 7-5 after the Karmine Corp boys found their form. In the second half, both teams continuously traded rounds and could not be separated. But, the Sentinels, with their two-round lead from the first half, ended the map in a narrow 13-11 scoreline to sweep the series 2-0.

With this result, TenZ and company have made it to the Playoffs and secured top four. The EMEA first seed is not out of the tournament yet, and has been sent to the 1-1 pool where their next match determines advancement or elimination.

Gen.G Esports 2-1 EDward Gaming

On the other side of the 1-0 teams, two Asian representatives, Gen.G and EDG, battled their hearts out in a thrilling three-map series.

Gen.G started the series on their comfort pick, Icebox. However, KangKang and nobody paired up to be a threatening duo on the offense, helping the Chinese squad post a solid 8-4 lead going into the second half. 

The South Korean squad bounced back after winning the second pistol round and the following anti-eco to make the game close. Both teams took turns winning rounds, but the four-round deficit from the first half was too much for Gen.G, allowing EDG to take the first map 13-8. KangKang was the top-performer, going 25/15/5 on Jett. 

Gen.G did not want to lose the match so easily, and woke up for the second map, Split. The first half was competitive, with Gen.G taking a slight 7-5 lead to end their attacking side. 

However, despite it being their map pick, EDG could not find a single round in the second half, as Meteor’s Jett had a lights-out performance, going 13/2/0 defense alone, shutting down his opposition and finishing the map 13-5 in Gen.G’s favor. 

On the deciding map of Breeze, Gen.G showed they were the superior team that day, winning the first half 11-1 on their attack. KangKang tried his best to salvage the game, helping his team win five rounds in a row, but the gap was too wide, as Gen.G ended the series with a 13-6 win on the final map.

0-1 Pool (Loser Is Out)

Unfortunately, we had to bid farewell to two teams in the 0-1 pool. The teams to tank the bullet were FunPlus Phoenix and Team Heretics. 

FunPlus Phoenix 0-2 LOUD

The second seed of the Americas region was set to take on the second seed of the Chinese region in the first elimination match of VCT Masters Madrid.

Sunset, LOUD’s map pick, was the first map of the series. The game resulted in a complete blowout, with the Brazilian representatives taking the map easily 13-5. Leading by example, saadhak turned out to be the highest-performing player on the server in the first map with a KDA of 18/7/7 and 1.66 rating on his trusty Sova.

FunPlus Phoenix did not want to be eliminated without a fight. On their map pick of Breeze, the Australian import, Autumn tried his damnedest to bail his Chinese brothers out of elimination, but his performance on Yoru was not enough. 

The Chinese squad put up a great fight, narrowly losing the map 11-13 to LOUD, resulting in the team’s early exit from the tournament. Once again, Less carried his team through the second map with a 24/13/7 record on Cypher. 

FunPlus Phoenix became the first eliminated team of the tournament, not managing to win a single map during their time in Madrid. 

Team Heretics 1-2 Paper Rex

Paper Rex, previously a top three team in the world, hasn’t been looking so good since they made adjustments to their roster following Jinggg’s mandatory military service. However, they live to see another day in Spain.

The first map, Sunset, started off even with the half ending 6-6. However, Paper Rex’s star player, something, who wasn’t looking too sharp yesterday, has returned to his expected form, pushing Paper Rex to a 13-10 win on their map pick. 

On the second map, Team Heretic’s map pick of Lotus, Paper Rex only managed five rounds on their attacking side, which based on previous results in the tournament, was not enough. MiniBoo’s Neon could repel Paper Rex’s offense with a solid performance. 

The Southeast Asian squad won the first four rounds of the second half to make the game close, but Team Heretics proved their offense on the map was no joke, and won the game 13-10. 

The deciding map was Split, where Team Heretics took an early 6-2 lead on their defense to take control over the game. However, with the help of something’s Jett, Paper Rex hit back hard with four straight to tie the half. 

On defense, f0rsaken’s Raze utterly dominated the Heretics side, going 14/2/5 in the second half to only allow his opposition to win a single attack round. Despite a 6-6 score at the half, Paper Rex closed the game 13-7 to eliminate Team Heretics. 

Only one more round remains in the Swiss Stage. The following matchups have been revealed:

• LOUD vs. EDward Gaming
• Karmine Corp vs. Paper Rex

The winners will qualify for the top four, while the losers will be sent home along with FunPlus Phoenix and Team Heretics. 

Header: LOUD Twitter