NaVi and KCorp win on day three of VCT EMEA League 2023

The third day of the VCT EMEA League 2023 has ended, and we have witnessed the first victory of the tournament for NaVi and a very good debut for Karmine Corp. On the other hand, Giants are starting to worry all the Spanish fans, as they added their second loss in two games.

NaVi and Giants gave us a spectacular series that could have been a victory for either team. However, the Ukrainians were able to take the victory 2-1. Meanwhile, KCorp had to sweat it out for a win against BBL Esports in the other match of the day.

Let’s look at what happened in both matches on the third day of the VCT EMEA League 2023.

NaVi and Giants give us the best series so far

As we mentioned, NaVi and Giants left their skin on each of the three maps they played. The clearest example is that both the first and the second maps went to Overtime, but the Ukrainian team could apply the first reverse sweep of this VCT EMEA League 2023 and take the victory 2-1.

The series was played on Icebox (NaVi), Split (Giants), and Pearl (decider).

Icebox

There is no doubt that the start of Icebox showed us how the future of this series between NaVi and Giants would be. After the Spaniards won the first four rounds of the first half, NaVi hit back just as hard and evened the score 4-4. Then, both teams won two games to end the first half with a 6-6.

In the second half, we could observe more of the same, both teams playing at a high level and sharing the lead on the scoreboard. However, at the end of the second half, Giants were able to win the last two rounds to send the game to Overtime.

Finally, after extremely exciting rounds, Giants took the victory on the first map with a score of 17-15. Lithuanian Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas (177 ADR, 257 ACS, and 1.46 Rating) and Russian Kirill “Cloud” Nehozhin (166 ADR, 274 ACS, and 1.21 Rating) were in charge of leading the Spanish team to victory.

Split

We saw a much more intense and exciting match in Split than in Icebox. This time, it was Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky (NaVi) and Adolfo “Fit1nho” Gallego (Giants) who gave us the best of their game on the server.

Unlike the first map, NaVi started strong on the defensive side, winning the first half with a 7-5. On the other hand, Giants, with the determination to take the victory in their map pick and thus add the first victory of the tournament, managed to equalize the score 12-12 to send the game back to Overtime.

Finally, NaVi won excellent in the Giant’s map pick with a 15-13.

Pearl

Finally, Pearl was the last scenario we could see in this series, where NaVi crushed the Spanish team at all times. NaVi started the map very strong and took the victory 7-5 in the first half on the defensive side. However, while everything looked like another close game, NaVi didn’t think so and, with a Mehmet “cNed” İpek (204 ADR, 311 ACS, and 1.39 Rating), they managed to take a crushing 13-7 victory. As a result, NaVi has its first victory in this tournament.

KCorp wins in their VCT EMEA League debut against BBL Esports

While it is true that the final score of this series was 2-0 in favor of Karmine Corp, this was certainly not a reflection of what both teams demonstrated on the server. Both maps were disputed and defined by small details that the French team could exploit.

The series was played on Icebox (BBL Esports) and Split (KCorp).

Icebox

Undoubtedly, the third day of the VCT EMEA League gave us the best matches in the tournament. In Icebox, KCorp and BBL Esports had a phenomenal performance, which showed right from the start of the map.

KCorp recovered by winning five of the seven played rounds after losing the pistol round. However, BBL responded and managed to finish the first half with the score even at 6-6.

In the second half, we could see the power of both teams in offense and defense, as when KCorp won five consecutive rounds and were 12-9 on the scoreboard, we all thought it would be the end of the map. However, an excellent round by Mehmet “Turko” Özen lifted his team’s spirits to even the score at 12-12.

In Overtime, both teams shared the lead on the scoreboard until KCorp could win rounds 35 and 36 to take the map victory 19-17.

Split

In the second map, we also witnessed the best possible level of both teams, especially on the attacking side. In the first half, KCorp took a comfortable 9-3 partial victory, with an immense Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, who finished with 242 ADR, 378 ACS, and a 1.47 Rating.

In the second half, we saw a spectacular reaction from BBL Esports. After being 11-3 down on the scoreboard, the guys won six consecutive rounds to put pressure on the French. However, KCorp only had to win two rounds to take the victory, and they did it. With that, Karmine Corp adds its first win of the tournament.

Header: VCT EMEA