The Union and The Guard one step closer to VCT 2023 Ascension Americas Grand Final

The VCT 2023 Ascension America’s excitement continues as the Upper Bracket playoffs semifinals were played on July 4. After two intense matches, The Union and The Guard got clean sweeps in their respective series to qualify for the Upper Bracket final and be one step away from playing the tournament’s Grand Final.

With this, we have that M80 continues to demonstrate that, against high-level teams, they do not have the same rhythm and performance as against the rest of the teams. In addition, we have that the South Americans (FUSION) had nothing to do with The Union that is inspired.

Below, we summarize everything that happened in the UB semifinals of the VCT 2023 Ascension Americas playoffs.

The Union crush FUSION to increase their favoritism

The Brazilian side, The Union, did not look on paper to be one of the candidates to fight for the slot in the VCT Americas League. However, the team has shown a spectacular level of play, and right now, they are one of the favorites to at least dispute the tournament’s grand final.

In their match against FUSION, the boys from The Union showed their full potential in a convincing 2-0 victory. Moreover, it is not only the fact of the final score but also that both maps were easy for the Brazilians.

In the first map, Pearl, FUSION started very well, winning five rounds in the first half to be down 5-7 at the beginning of the change of sides. However, The Union had an aggressive offense and got around all of FUSION’s defensive approaches. As a result, The Union took the victory by 13-7.

In the second map, Fracture, we had practically a mirage concerning Pearl, as the first half also ended with a score of 7-5 in favor of The Union. Then, at the change of sides, FUSION could place 8-10 on the scoreboard, but they did not win more rounds and ended up falling by 8-13.

The 2-0 curse continues here in São Paulo as the Brazilian team @theuniongg takes down @fusionfsgg in yet another two-map fashion!#VCTAscension pic.twitter.com/NNdLaGGMf9

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 4, 2023

M80 skate past The Guard and are on the brink of elimination

M80 came into this tournament as the clear favorite to take the championship trophy and the slot for the next two seasons of the VCT Americas League. However, the team has many problems and has failed to win important games against the strongest teams. In this opportunity, they skated against The Guard, a very well-known team for them, as they played all the Challengers’ season as rivals in NA.

The series began in Haven, where The Guard began to put definitive numbers to the game from the first half itself, as they managed to take the partial victory by 9-3. Then, at the change of sides, M80 tried to turn the score around and even came close to doing it (9-10), but it was not enough, and The Guard took the victory by 13-9.

Then, in the second map, we had a more even match in the first half, but with the same result: a partial victory for The Guard by 7-5. At the change of sides, M80’s defense collapsed, so they could only stop two offenses of The Guard. As a result, The Guard takes a comfortable 13-7 victory to qualify for the Upper Bracket finals of these playoffs.

The North American derby ends in favor of @TheGuard as they overcome @M80gg 2-0 in the Upper Bracket Semifinals in São Paulo!#VCTAscension pic.twitter.com/qzO3ECfsFX

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 5, 2023