1-Day Tournament: 4 Teams Quickly Eliminated from EWC VALORANT

The first four teams have been eliminated from the inaugural EWC VALORANT tournament, with their runs in Riyadh lasting little more than 24 hours. The eight teams that lost on day one were immediately placed into elimination matchups on day two, and half of those are now headed home.

G2 out with an asterisk

Back-to-back VCT Americas champions G2 desperately needed a good showing at the Esports World Cup. Their lack of ability to turn their domestic dominance into global success sees them still chasing an international title — one in Riyadh, in a tournament that arguably lacks the pedigree of the existing VCT events, would’ve been ideal to break the duck.

However, the illness-induced absence of Nathan “leaf” Orf, replaced in the lineup by assistant coach Peter “shhhack” Belej, meant that the team were immediately up against it.

Their opening defeat to Karmine Corp was rather one-sided, albeit only a best-of-one, and quickly indicated that the team’s chances at a deep tournament run were slim.

Placed straight away into a do-or-die series against Bilibili Gaming, G2 looked destined for elimination when the opening map saw a 13-3 loss. But map two, on their Pearl, was far better, a 13-4 victory where shhhack was one of the team’s better performers.

However, despite shhhack’s best efforts at replacing an irreplaceable player, G2 ultimately succumbed to a 2-1 series defeat after BLG took map three 13-11, securing their exit from the EWC barely a day after making their debut.

EWC VALORANT is XLG’s second consecutive winless tournament

VCT China Stage 1 champions XLG were, by some distance, the worst seed 1 team at Masters Toronto. Their opening losses to Sentinels and G2 saw them exit the tournament without winning a single map.

Now, the side has nearly matched that at the Esports World Cup. Their BO1 loss to DRX set them up for an elimination match with Sentinels: a Toronto rematch.

XLG did show more fight on this occasion, winning on SEN’s Sunset and gaining at least 9 rounds in all three maps. But, sadly for XLG, 13 games are needed to win a game of VALORANT, and they’ve only managed to reach that number in 1/7 maps at global competitions. 2-1 defeat booked their ticket home.

For a team that could’ve felt slighted having won VCT China only to be cast aside as a squad incapable of competing globally, XLG have done nothing to silence the doubters.

100 Thieves unlucky draw insurmountable

VCT Americas’ 100 Thieves one of the teams unfortunate to have been drawn into the EWC’s ‘Group of Death’, alongside Gen.G, Fnatic, and EDward Gaming.

Though 100T would’ve preferred an easier draw, their strong opponents provided the side an opportunity to match up with some of the biggest squads as they try to prove that they, too, can be amongst them.

Their opening game against EMEA champions Fnatic showed the required fight. Though they were on the losing side, the 13-11 scoreline meant that only a handful of rounds made the difference.

The loss meant a win against EDG was required to stay in the competition, and the side started off in great fashion with a 13-11 opening map victory. But EDward Gaming’s superstar Duelist Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang was on top form in that map, picking up the most kills (25) and having the highest ACS (299).

That form continued into map two, this time KangKang leading EDG to a victory. He did the same again in map three.

The EDG man eventually ended the BO3 with a ludicrous 73 kills and 309 ACS, almost single-handedly making the difference on the day and ensuring 100 Thieves would be eliminated.

Dr. TEC cures Team Heretics

Team Heretics have not been themselves since back-to-back losses against Fnatic saw them lose VCT EMEA Stage 1 after despite having started their campaign with six consecutive wins. The grand final defeat dented the team, but there were still hopes that they’d make a deep run at Masters Toronto.

That wasn’t to be the case: far from it. Two immediate losses against Paper Rex and Wolves Esports saw them eliminated without a single map win.

With their second-place finish in EMEA enough to book them a spot in the Esports World Cup, fans would’ve no doubt been waiting nervously to see whether the slump was to continue or if the Team Heretics that we’ve become used to would return.

Then, when they began their run in Riyadh with a conclusive 13-4 loss to NRG, it appeared Heretics’ woes were not over.

The loss put them against Titan Esports Club, a team considered one of the weakest at the event. Their run began against RRQ, whose star player Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov led the Pacific team to victory.

Despite their perceived weakness, TEC’s opening map against Los Niños mean that the EMEA team was just one loss away from further humiliation. Another 2-0 loss and a map-winless tournament would surely have seen the community lose faith in TH altogether.

That 2-0 loss was not far from coming true. Despite leading 9-3 at halftime and finally looking like their old selves, a huge comeback from TEC saw them eventually reach series point at 12-11.

Then, finally, Team Heretics showed some grit to find three rounds wins and earn a 14-12 victory. Enes “RieNs” Ecirli was in inspired form, more or less dragging his team into the third map.

That form from Riens continued into map three. On Sunset, the Turkish player claimed a 20/10/11 score with 323 ACS, playing the biggest role in a 13-6 win that kept his side in the tournament and confirmed Titan Esports Club’s elimination.