Gen.G and Team Heretics Claim Victories At VCT Masters Shanghai

The second day of the VCT Masters Shanghai tournament has ended, and both favorites picked up their first wins. Gen.G and Team Heretics are one series from advancing to the Playoffs.

Gen.G vs. Leviatan

The day began with a spicy matchup between Gen.G and Leviatan. Though the mixed roster had shown promising results at the regional qualifications, Gen.G proved to be the stronger team. 

The first map of the series was Icebox, Leviatan’s map pick. The South American organization had a great start to the series, securing the first pistol round and converting the anti-eco. Though Gen.G won the first gun round, aspas had a massive 4K round to extend the lead to 5-1. Still, Gen.G picked up scraps and finished the half 7-5 in favor of Leviatan.

However, aspas and tex had a field day, farming Gen.G left and right. They won the second pistol round and quickly converted to a swift 13-7. The Brazilian star ended the map 21/11/4, with 295 ACS, while the opposing Jett player, t3xture, ended 8/17/3 with four first deaths. 

Though we had a lackluster performance from t3xture on the first map, he quickly showed that he was just warming up. On Lotus, Leviatan won the third pistol round of the series to take two quick rounds, but Gen.G converted their first gun round to win three straight. Ultimately, the half ended 7-5 in the South Korean squad’s favor, which was massive considering they were on the defensive side.

Gen.G proved that Lotus was meant to be an attacker-sided map, as they won six straight rounds in the second half to win the map 13-5. Playing Raze, t3xture went 26/10/1 with a mind-blowing 396 ACS, redeeming himself from a poor performance on the previous map. 

The decisive map was played on Breeze, where Leviatan was off to another great start after taking the first piston round. However, Gen.G picked up the slack and won six straight rounds to build a 6-2 lead. The two teams evenly traded the last four rounds at the half, meaning Gen.G was up 8-4. 

Meteor was pesky on his Yoru, and Gen.G won the second pistol round to extend their lead. Both teams began exchanging rounds near the end of the map, and by having a six-round lead, Gen.G eventually won the map 13-7. Aspas was the highest-rated player on the server, going 21/14 on Jett with eight first bloods. On the other hand, C0M could not find his place in the game and went 4/18/5 on Sova. 

Leviatan has been sent to the 0-1 pool, where all remaining matches in the Group Stage are elimination games. Aspas was not too happy with the loss, but wasn’t discouraged, saying “I didn’t travel seven thousand miles to go home empty-handed.”

Meanwhile, Gen.G will play against FunPlus Phoenix for the first Playoffs spot from the Swiss Stage. 

Team Heretics vs. Dragon Ranger Gaming

Initially, Team Heretics was one of the primary favorites to win the entire Shanghai event. However, the team was greeted with bad news as their young Duelist MiniBoo decided to sit the event out. 

As a result, Team Heretics had to play with a stand-in and move wo0t to the Duelist role. Fortunately for EMEA fans, they were up against one of the weakest teams in the event, Dragon Ranger Gaming. Despite the home crowd advantage, the Chinese squad could not put up much of a fight.

The first map was Icebox, selected by Dragon Ranger Gaming. Team Heretics immediately showed the difference in power, as the EMEA squad took a swift 8-2 lead. The Russian import, vo0kashu salvaged the half, helping his team post two more rounds.

However, Team Heretics demolished Dragon Ranger Gaming in the second half to end the map 13-5. The former player turned stand-in, paTiTek, was the most impactful player on the server, going 18/11/13 on KAY/O. Meanwhile, wo0t had to adjust to play Jett and went 14/7/3; not too shabby. 

Sunset, the map pick of Team Heretics, was next on the cards. The favorites quickly won the first three rounds, but Dragon Ranger Gaming showed some resistance and the score was tied 5-5. However, Team Heretics could find the last two rounds of the half to lead 7-5. 

Unfortunately, Dragon Ranger Gaming could not get anything going on their offense and seemed lost. Team Heretics won six straight rounds to win the map 13-5. Wo0t performed impeccably on Raze, going 27/13/4 with an insane ACS of 417. 

As most fans expected, the Dragon Ranger Gaming squad is one loss away from facing an early elimination. Meanwhile, wo0t is adjusting to his temporary role very well, and is displaying star-level performances. 

Team Heretics will play a Playoff qualification match against G2 Esports, while Dragon Ranger Gaming will potentially play their final series of the tournament against FUT Esports.

Header: Gen.G Esports