KOI and Giants show Spanish grit by beating NaVi and KCorp

The Upper Bracket semifinals at the VCT 2023 EMEA LCQ featured a pair of excellent victories by the Spanish organizations, KOI, and Giants. Both teams showed exceptional play to defeat NaVi (KOI) and Karmine Corp (Giants) to advance to the Upper Bracket final and, consequently, be just one step away from a ticket to VALORANT Champions 2023.

Thanks to Fnatic’s victory at VCT Masters Tokyo 2023, the EMEA region has one more slot available for VALORANT Champions 2023. As a result, the teams that qualify for the EMEA LCQ Grand Final will immediately become two EMEA representatives for the top VALORANT tournament of the season. On the other hand, it is also worth noting that, whatever happens, we will have a Spanish organization in the VCT Champions 2023.

Now, let’s see what happened in the Upper Bracket semifinal matches of the VCT 2023 EMEA LCQ.

KOI surprised by applying a clean sweep against NaVi

There is no doubt that KOI vs. NaVi would be the most eye-catching match of these semifinals, as both teams demonstrated excellent performances throughout the entire VCT EMEA League. However, KOI stepped up in this series to apply a fantastic clean sweep to qualify for the Upper Bracket final. On the other hand, NaVi showed many flaws in this series and couldn’t make it more than six rounds on either map.

It all started in Split, the selection of the Spanish squad, where we had a very balanced first half, which ended with a partial score of 6-6. However, at the change of sides, KOI deployed a spectacular defensive that prevented all approaches of NaVi and thus sealed the victory by 13-6.

Then, in the second map, Lotus, everything went much better for KOI and infinitely worse for NaVi, as the Spanish squad managed to take a convincing 9-3 partial victory in the first half. In the end, KOI won the first four rounds on their attacking side to seal the victory with a crushing 13-3 win and qualify for the Upper Bracket final.

.@KOI DOES IT AGAIN! 🤯

They get to remain in the Upper Bracket after a flawless 2-0 win against @NAVIValorant 💥#VALORANTLCQ pic. twitter.com/ZIJWWrBBFlG

— VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA (@valesports_emea) July 20, 2023

Giants crush Karmine Corp 2-0

While it is true that KCorp surprised a lot by beating BBL Esports in the quarterfinals of the Upper Bracket, their match against Giants would be completely different, as the Spanish squad has shown great play throughout the season. Finally, Giants managed to crush KCorp to advance to the final of the Upper Bracket, where we will have a Spanish derby to define the first finalist of the tournament and, therefore, the first to get a place in the VCT Champions 2023.

It all started in Pearl, KCorp’s map pick, where we had an interesting and exciting match. The first half had only one protagonist, Giants, who displayed an amazing defense to take a very solid partial victory by 9-3. However, at the change of sides, KCorp came very close to spoiling the Spanish party, as they managed to get 11-12 on the scoreboard. However, the Giants boys, led by Aaro “hoody” Peltokangas, managed to take the victory in the last round to seal the map by 13-11.

Then, in the second map, Split, we observed how KCorp ran out of fuel since, in the first half, they could not stop Giants’ onslaught. As a result, the Spanish squad started their map pick on the right foot with a 10-2 partial victory. Then, at the change of sides, Giants quickly took a 12-2 lead, securing, at least the Overtime. Finally, the Spanish organization won the remaining round to take the 13-5 victory and thus qualify for the Upper Bracket final.

.@GiantsGaming STAYS IN THE UPPER BRACKET!

We’ll have two Spanish teams competing for the Champions spot AGAIN! 🤯#VALORANTLCQ pic.twitter.com/5beFFXoFqB

— VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA (@valesports_emea) July 20, 2023

Header: VCT EMEA