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Day 2 of the VCT EMEA Promotion tournament saw the teams relegated from the Stage 1 EMEA Challengers in action for the first time. BIG faced off against Anonymo Mentos, while SuperMassive Blazed played FOKUS for a spot in the Upper Final.
BIG vs Anonymo Mentos
After a disappointing performance in the Stage 1 EMEA Challengers, where the team left the tournament winless, finishing the group stage with a 0-5 score, the German organization wanted to make a statement in this game versus Anonymo Mentos.
As for the Polish team, they had already upset Rebels Gaming on day 1 and were looking to do the same today.
The first map of the series was Bind. It was BIG map pick and it came as no surprise. Bind is the second most played map by BIG, and they have a 69% win rate on that map, their second-highest only behind Ascent.
In the first half, we had a pretty close game. Both teams were trading rounds back and forth, with BIG, on the attacking side, being able to take the 7-5 lead into half-time.
The second half was a whole different story. BIG took control of the game on the defensive side, winning five rounds in a row, increasing their lead to 12-5.
BIG was able to close the map with a comfortable 13-7 win. It was an overall great team performance, with Obnoks being the MVP of map 1.
Breeze was the second map and is a map where both teams are relatively comfortable.
BIG started really strong on their defensive side, with Anonymo Mentos not having any answers for the defensive side of the BIG. BIG went into half-time with a huge 10-2 lead and looked poised to win Breeze.
However, Anonymo Mentos showed their defensive side was also not to be underestimated. The polish team won six of the first seven rounds of the second half and cuted BIG lead to 11-8.
But BIG was able to find the two rounds necessary to close out the game, and took Breeze 13-10.
It was a very solid showing by BIG, despite taking too long to close out the second map.
With this result, BIG advances to the Upper Final and are one-series win away to qualify for the Stage 2 EMEA Challengers.
As for Anonymo Mentos, they will now have to face Surreal Esports in the first match of the lower bracket, where their tournament life will be on the line.
SuperMassive Blaze vs FOKUS
In the second series of the day, Turkish team SuperMassive Blazed faced of against the German champions FOKUS.
Fokus had a really good showing against Surreal Esports on day one, with JUGi having an amazing series.
As for the Turkish team, similar to BIG they were winless in the group stage of Stage 1 EMEA Challengers, and a good performance here was very important for the team to build confidence and prove they still belong with the best teams in the EMEA region.
Unfortunately, the series didn’t start well for SuperMassive Blaze. The Turkish team was actually late for the series’ first game, and because of that FOKUS started with a one-match advantage.
A player from SMB was not ready for the match start time. As stated in rule 7.2.2, after waiting for 10 minutes, SMB have received a loss for Map 1 vs FOKUS.
— VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA (@valesports_emea) April 6, 2022
Haven was the second map of the series, and at least for SuperMassive Blaze, it was their map pick. The Turkish team is very comfortable on Haven, with the map being their second most played, and having a 76% win rate.
The first half was very close. On the attacking side, SuperMassive Blaze was playing a default style at the beginning of the round, and if they didn’t find any entries they would most often execute into the A bombsite.
At half-time, the score was 7-5 in favor of FOKUS, as the German champions were able to win the last five rounds of the first half.
In the second half, FOKUS dominated SuperMassive Blaze. With yet another great performance by JUGi, that finished it with a 25-8-5 scoreline, and with an 85% KAST. FOKUS completely dismantled the defensive setups of SuperMassive Blaze, and won the map 13-6, and the series 2-0.
With this result, Fokus will now meet fellow German team BIG in the Upper Final, and a German representative is already guaranteed in the Stage 2 EMEA Challengers.
SuperMassive Blaze will need to do much better if they want to qualify for the Stage 2 EMEA Challengers, and every series from here on out is a must-win for them. They will face Rebels Gaming tomorrow in a must-win series for both teams.