Team Guard secured a spot at Masters

The Guard decimated Cloud9 to win a ticket to the final and a spot at VCT Master Reykjavik. In the VCT Challenger One Finals, the Guard will meet team Optic Gaming, and both will represent the NA region at the Masters, Reykjavik.

Match 1 Icebox

The Guard prevailed 3-0 over Cloud9 in the Lower Bracket Finals of NA VCT challenger. The 5 match series took off on Guard’s pick Icebox and they dominated the first half of the map with a lead of 7-5. Cloud9 rallied back valiantly to tie the game at 9-9, and then took a one-point lead in the next round.

Despite the outstanding performances of “Leaf” and “Mitch,” Cloud9 was unable to maintain their lead. Team Guard made an incredible comeback in round 21, and with “JonahP” and “neT” at the top of the party, they won the next round as well.

Xeppaa took the next two rounds, winning round 22 with a last-second spike diffusion and round 23 for Cloud9 with a spectacular clutch. He was outstanding throughout the match, but those two rounds were the highlights. The match went to overtime as Cloud9 balanced the scoreboard sea-saw with a 13-13. Cloud9 failed to hold their ground and lost the first match in overtime by a score of 17-15.

Match 2 – Haven

Cloud9 tried to recover and won the first two rounds of the second match in vengeance. In spite of Cloud9 winning two more rounds, the rest of the first half belonged to the Guard, 7-4. The Guard’s momentum carried over into the second half, as Sayaplayer’s four kills in the pistol round assisted the team swiftly taking site C. 

Cloud9’s performance in the second half was a complete disappointment, and the team appeared helpless. Almost every round of the second half was won by the Guard, and the team didn’t lose a single player in a few of them. The highlights of Match 2 were NeT’s triple kill in the final round of the first half and Sayaplayer’s four kills in the pistol round of the second half.

Match 3 – Split

Guard 9 was one match away from securing a trip to Iceland, and Cloud9’s last hope hung in the balance as Split. The 2-0 lead of The Guard boosted their confidence significantly and it can be seen clearly in the first round of Split.

The second round, however, was no different for Cloud9 except they lost 4 players to “Valyn” alone this time.Cloud9 fought back and won seven rounds in a row. The Guard tried to equalize the lead by winning two more rounds Cloud9 kept the lead by a scoreline of 8-4 at the end of the first half.

The Guard won the first three rounds of the second half before gradually tying the game at 9-9 in round 18. Cloud9 only won one more round before The Guard won the map by a score of 13-10, with two stunning kills by the AWper Sayaplayer in the final round.

Guard won the series 3-0 and qualified for the Masters, Reykjavik. The Guard traveled from Rookie to Reykjavik, and they will face OpTic Gaming in the Challengers One Grand Final.