The VCT Ascension 2023 Americas is in full swing, and all six teams are still alive in this beautiful fight for a spot in the next two seasons of the VCT Americas League. With the playoffs already underway, we have M80 and FUSION both posted, crushing 2-0 victories to advance to the Upper Bracket semifinals. On the other hand, the 00 Nation and 9z Team will have to play for their lives in the quarterfinals of the Lower Bracket.
The format in the Americas is completely different from that used in EMEA and the Pacific, as in this region, all six participating teams qualify for the playoffs. However, the big difference is that the tournament ends much earlier, so at the end of this week, we will know which team will be present in the VCT Americas League for the next two seasons.
Let’s see what happened in the quarterfinals of the Upper Bracket of the VCT Ascension 2023 Americas.
Playoffs start today for #VCTAscension, let’s get ready for the climb! pic.twitter.com/buENo0k53c
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 3, 2023
FUSION crush 00 Nation to advance to the Upper Bracket semifinals
The South American squad, FUSION, got a clean sweep over Brazil’s 00 Nation to take the win and advance to the Upper Bracket semifinals.
The series between FUSION and 00 Nation began in Ascent, the South American map pick, where we could see a spectacular level of play by the Colombian Sebastián “Darker” Castro, who led his team to a comfortable 13-4 victory. Then, in the second map, Fracture, everything was different, as the Brazilians woke up and showed that they did not give up despite the hard defeat in the first map.
However, the result was the same, as 00 Nation did not find a way to stop Darker and ended up falling with a score of 11-13.
What an incredible performance from @fusionfsgg as they smash @ZeroZeroBRASIL 2-0 in today’s opening match in São Paulo!#VCTAscension pic.twitter.com/im8QHXa99B
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 3, 2023
M80 show their power against 9z Team
M80 came into this tournament as one of the favorites to take that slot for the next two seasons of the VCT Americas League. However, the team faltered in their first match against The Union and fell with a terrible 0-2 score. As a result, the team lost their chance to qualify directly to the tournament’s semifinals. Likewise, because of the format of this tournament, all teams qualified for the playoffs, so all was not lost for them.
In the quarterfinals of the Upper Bracket, M80 faced 9z Team, a team that showed many flaws in Group B, losing 0-2 in both matches played.
The series started in Split, where we could see that M80 faltered in the first half, as they took a narrow 7-5 partial victory. Then, at the change of sides, the 9z Team got closer to 9-10 on the scoreboard, but this was not enough, and M80 won the next three rounds to take the victory by 13-9.
Then, in Lotus, M80’s map pick, the North American squad displayed all its power against the South Americans to take a comfortable 13-4 victory. Marc-Andre “NiSMO” Tayar, the 29-year-old Canadian, had an excellent game and registered 219 ADR, 355 ACS, and a 1.60 Rating.
Day 4 concludes with yet another 2-0 win this time for @M80gg over @9zTeam!#VCTAscension pic.twitter.com/j6R1ifcMYu
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 4, 2023
Now, FUSION will have to face The Union, while, The Guard and M80 will meet sooner than expected in the Upper Bracket semifinals.
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