Americans Teams Secure Spots in VALORANT Champions Tour Masters Tokyo Playoffs
Two American teams claimed the first two spots in the VALORANT Champions Tour Masters Tokyo playoffs on June 12. Despite being unexpected, NRG and Evil Geniuses fought hard to secure their positions.
LOUD, a Brazilian team, was leading the Americas region going into the second LAN of the season. However, NRG and Evil Geniuses, both North American teams, were also contenders for the top spot.
Since only the top seeds received automatic qualification to the playoff stage, NRG and EG had to battle to keep their hopes alive. Through exceptional form and performances, both teams remained undefeated in the group stage, securing their places in the Masters Tokyo playoffs.
EG had a smoother journey, despite facing tough opponents. They had clean victories over FUT Esports and DRX. This was surprising, considering they were not expected to make it to the regional playoffs, let alone the international tournament playoffs.
However, EG managed to secure their playoff spot first through teamwork and impressive Sova play. The remaining spot from their group is expected to be taken by DRX.
Related: Watch and learn this ‘nerdy’ Sova recon arrow from Evil Geniuses to trick your VALORANT opponents on Ascent
On the other hand, NRG had a tough time securing their spot, with a close series against T1. Despite T1’s strong performance against EDward Gaming, they managed to win the first map, Lotus, with a score of 13-11.
NRG’s victory was largely due to the standout performances of Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok on Skye and Byeon “Munchkin” Sang-beom on Killjoy. Carpe, in particular, surprised NRG with well-timed flashes, making significant plays throughout the match.
Unlike the close first map, NRG dominated on Bind. After a level first half, NRG switched to the defense side and lost only one round, closing out the map with a score of 13-7. Victor Wong, playing as Raze, played a crucial role in NRG’s victory with his Showstopper ultimate.
The final map, Pearl, was a nail-biter. NRG initially had a 7-0 lead, but T1 quickly caught up, resulting in a tied score of 7-5 at the half.
The map featured streaky play and numerous clutch moments from both teams. Sayaplayer’s impressive Jett knives play, taking down four enemies while fully blind, was one of the highlights of the match.
Ultimately, it was Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks and Austin “crashies” Roberts who made the crucial plays to prevent the map from going into overtime. They secured a win with a score of 13-11. Crashies credited his clutch moments to a former teammate but acknowledged that their strategic play could have been better.
In a post-match interview, Crashies said, “It’s in the blood, ice in the veins, shoutout to Marved for that one. We definitely played super sloppy today, but the hero plays were pulled out. We don’t ever want to win that way; usually, we use strats or anti-strats, but we managed.”
NRG and EG will advance to the VCT Tokyo Masters playoff stage, where two more teams from the group stage will join them on June 16.
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