VCT 2022 Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen semifinals recap

Only four teams remain to fight for the Masters Copenhagen title and this is how it went down.

Day one

The first day kicked off with PaperRex making quick work of Guild Esports with a 2-0 win. Jing Jie “Jinggg” Wang put up an amazing performance on the first map, going for 40 ADR more than anyone else. Guild took the lead in the second half after a 6-6 halftime, but after some insane shots by Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto, PaperRex managed to force overtime on Fracture. Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel’s performance was not enough to force a game three and with that, Guild fell to the lower bracket.

The match between FNATIC and FPX on day one of the playoffs was the Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev show, to put it mildly. The tip of FNATIC’s spear finished this 2-0 series with an ACS of 357 — a 100 more than the next best performer on both teams!

Day two

Day two saw Leviatán make a statement with an 11-1 in the first half on the first map Ascent versus DRX. The Korean representatives struck back in a similar fashion on their map pick Breeze, winning 13-5. Haven was the map three decider and Leviatán almost mounted a comeback from the 9-3 first half but fell one defuse short of forcing overtime. Leviatán’s Vicente “Tacolilla” Compagnon and DRX’s Byung-chul “BuZz” Yu were the leaders of their respective teams, each going for 50 kills in the series.

The NA Showdown also went down on day two, with OpTic Gaming’s Victor “Victor” Wong Neon storming out of the gates on Haven. The lack of LAN inexperience played a big part in XSET’s first-half performance, with only Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban and Zachary “zekken” Patrone putting up a fight. The second map Bind started off much closer, but after three straight clutches and a game-high 310 ACS from Austin “crashies” Roberts, OpTic took the 13-6 win.

Day three

The lower bracket played out on day three with Guild facing FPX in the first match of the day. The first map Ascent came down to the wire with a defuse leading to a 13-11 win for FPX on their map pick. Sayf’s amazing Jett performance on Breeze with an ACS of 365 led Guild to a 13-3 win. FPX won the third map Bind despite the steady performance of Sayf throughout this series. Despite being close in statistics, the FPX players performed much better as a team en route to the 2-1 win while this loss eliminated Guild from the tournament.

In the other match, XSET took map one Split against Leviatán courtesy of Zekken’s Raze performance. XSET had match point with a 12-10 lead and a numbers advantage on the second map Ascent but failed to secure it. Instead, it was Marco “Melser” Amaro who put up a Jordan-like performance in the last six rounds to carry Leviatán to a 15-13 overtime win. Melser managed to clutch three rounds for his team while being at a numbers disadvantage, including the 12-10 match point against the stars of the XSET roster, Cryocells, and Zekken. On the third map Haven, XSET almost pulled off the 9-3 comeback curse but instead lost another overtime heartbreak. The entire Leviatán lineup stepped up in overtime and their superb post-plant execution gave them the 16-14 win. XSET’s lack of LAN experience really made an impact with countless easily correctable mistakes like trading teammates or ultimate tracking. Despite the disappointing exit, the future seems to be bright for the young stars of the NA, as you will likely hear a lot about Zekken and Cryocells in the following years.

Day four

In the first game of the upper semifinals, PaperRex made quick work of FNATIC with a 2-0 win. Emir Ali “Alfajer” Beder was FNATIC’s best player despite being put on Sage and Viper duty, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the f0rsaken and Jinggg duo.

In the other semifinal, DRX dismantled OpTic 13-4 on their own map pick Fracture, but OpTic returned the favor with a 13-4 win on Breeze. OpTic had a 10-4 lead on the decider map Bind but the defense of DRX made it close. It took two Thrifty rounds and Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen’s unexpected Operator heroics on 25 HP to give OpTic the 13-11 win. OpTic’s Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker was spectacular as usual with more than 40 ADR over the next best performer in this series. Marved also bolstered his claim for the “best Controller in the world” title after continuing his stellar performance as the second-best player on the defending champs roster.

Day five

In the lower bracket semifinals, FNATIC managed to keep their dreams alive with three close maps en route to a 2-1 win against Leviatán. Two of the maps went to overtime with Derke and Alfajer leading the way for FNATIC. The decider map Bind turned into a marathon in which Boaster one-upped Marved’s Controller Operator performance. FNATIC won 17-15 on the back of the bomb that Boaster delivered when it was needed most. Leviatán Benjamín “adverso” Poblete had seemingly the series of his life with a team-high ACS and ADR on the Controller/ Initiator role, but it wasn’t enough to keep his team in the tournament.

In the other lower bracket semifinal, FPX took care of business, beating DRX 2-0 in dominating fashion. DRX looked broken in their lower bracket run and Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks’s performance put them down even more. With 45 kills and 200 ADR through two games, nobody came close to matching him on both sides. He was and shoulders above the other nine players and gave FPX one more shot in this tournament.

 

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