G2, Fnatic, RRQ, and XLG: Four teams on the brink of disaster – VCT Masters Toronto Day 8 Preview

The stunning start to the Masters Toronto playoffs saw every first seed lose their respective opening series, all immediately dropping to the lower bracket. The momentum earned by sides who progressed through Swiss, compared to the first seeds coming in ‘cold’ without having played yet on stage, seemed to make all the difference. Now, the next day of play will see all of the top seeds competing in the lower bracket, with two guaranteed to be eliminated.

G2 Esports vs XLG Esports – G2 can’t let heads drop

Starting the day off is a clash between tournament favourites G2 and China’s XLG. The series is set to begin at 12:00 local time (18:00 CEST).

G2 must not let their heads drop. The side looked out of sorts in their post-game press conference after their 2-0 loss to Paper Rex, appearing somewhat stunned by the defeat. While IGL Jacob “valyn” Batio spoke of the positives of this type of loss — the usual ‘learnings’ and ‘character building’ — it was clear G2 were hurt.

The quick nature of the turnarounds in Masters tournaments means that momentum is critical, and there’s no better way to prevent any momentum than by letting losses get to your head. G2 have to rally, quickly. They’ve got a very winnable matchup against XLG and must make it count.

XLG came to Toronto as the weakest first seed on paper, although Wolves have already shown that maybe the Chinese sides were underrated before the tournament. However, XLG’s opening match didn’t inspire confidence, twice handily beaten 13-6 to suffer a 2-0 loss to Sentinels. There appears to be little chance for them now against G2, and they’ll be hoping for a collapse from the Americas side if they’re to have a shot at staving off elimination.

Rex Regum Qeon vs Fnatic – RRQ needs Jemkin to step up

Next, at approximately 15:00 local time (21:00 CEST) will be Pacific winners RRQ against EMEA champions Fnatic.

RRQ were the favourites going into their upper bracket opener against Wolves, with the global debut of their star Duelist Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov highly anticipated. But Jemkin was quiet throughout the series, outshone by his opposing Duelist Tyler “juicy” Aeria.

It feels like the wind has gone from RRQ’s sails. Jemkin’s brilliance made the difference in their Pacific final win against Gen.G, but if he fails to turn up in Toronto then it’s difficult to see how the team makes any progress.

On the opposite end, Fnatic will be frustrated to find themselves in the lower bracket already, but have plenty of positives to take from their 2-1 defeat to Gen.G. It was undoubtedly the most stacked matchup in the first round of the upper bracket; a clash between two sides hopeful of lifting the Masters Toronto trophy on June 22nd.

The match itself lived up to the hype. Despite technical difficulties causing a lengthy pause, map two proved to be the most entertaining yet of the tournament.

Gen.G went into halftime with a sizeable 9-3 lead, later reaching 12-7, but the next round was a turning point. Ha “Ash” Hyun-cheol’s bomb defuse was too late by, at most, a few milliseconds, with Fnatic taking the round to make it 12-8. The EMEA champions then clinched the next six rounds back-to-back to claim an overtime victory and force a third map, eventually won by Gen.G to secure the series victory.

While the mere fact that Fnatic lost such a closely fought series could be a damaging blow — especially as they now need to play again so soon while the wounds may not yet have healed — the level of VALORANT shown by the side is so clearly a level above what RRQ has had to offer and they should remain confident of avoiding elimination.