VCT LOCK//IN: Natus Vincere and Leviatán are through the quaterfinals

Natus Vincere and Leviatán have advanced to the quarterfinal of the 2023 VCT LOCK//IN Sào Paulo following their victory in the Round of 16. 

Leviatán continues their winning way at the VCT LOCK//IN, defeating Vitality 2-0 in the second round of the event. NAVI, on the other hand, thrashed Team Secret in the best-of-three series to move to the quarterfinals.

Natus Vincere move to the next round with a 2-0 upset over Team Secret

Team Secret(TS) got off to a blistering start on their pick of Icebox and secured four dominant rounds on the attack, leaving NAVI entirely destitute early on.

Jessie “JessieVash” Cristy Cuyco had to put on a heroic display for TS to eventually tie the game at 6-6 at halftime. However, the small handful of rounds they garnered didn’t inspire much hope against NAVI.

The team secured seven consecutive rounds to win the map 13-8, gaining a lead early on and putting the Filipino roster on defense. The scenario for the Filipino team got only worse as NAVI carried their momentum to the second map Pearl and won nine of the twelve rounds in the first half.

With no room to make a comeback, TS appeared helpless against the lethal attack of Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky, who put an impressive K/D/A of 19/3/5 to ensure NAVI remains in control. NAVI put the icing on the cake after securing the necessary four rounds to win the map 13-4 and the best-of-three series 2-0. NAVI moved to the quarterfinals with this convincing win, where they will play Leviatán on February 27.

Leviatán takes down Vitality to reach quarterfinals

The best-of-three series kicked off on Leviatán’s pick Haven but Vitality appeared more comfortable on the map at least in the first half as they race through a 5-2 lead.

Although Leviatán won back-to-back rounds to reduce the gap, Vitality stormed back and won the next two rounds to finish the first half in a 7-5 lead. Before it was too late, the Chilean team of Fabian “Shyy” Usnayo and Francisco “kiNgg” Aravena put up an incredible performance for Leviatán to enable the team to tie the score at 12-12 and force overtime.

The Chilean pair maintained their dominant play throughout the overtime period and won four of the six rounds to finish off the match with a 16–14 victory. While the first map was completely cutthroat with each round requiring the best of every player in the team, the second map Pearl was rather lopsided.

Leviatán jumped out to a commanding 10-2 lead over Pearl as the Chilean player Shyy made yet another impressive play with Killjoy, placing Vitality under extreme pressure and intensifying the threat of potential elimination.

However, before Vitality could even try to plot a comeback plan, Leviatán rallied and won three more rounds in the second half to take the map 13-3 and put an end to Vitality’s run in Sào Paulo. Shyy contributed the most to the team’s victory, picking up 58 kills over the two maps to propel them to the quarterfinals.

Header: Natus Vincere