TL reaches VCT EMEA Stage 2 final and secures TH’s spot at Champs

Team Liquid’s dramatic 2-1 win over BBL in the VCT EMEA Stage 2 playoffs has not only secured their own spot in the grand final, but also guaranteed Team Heretics a place at VALORANT Champions. Following those dramatics, GIANTX beat NAVI 2-1 to join BBL in tomorrow’s lower bracket final where they’ll fight for EMEA’s final Champs spot.

Team Liquid beats BBL thanks to nAts’ heroics

Team Liquid became the first side to move on to the VCT EMEA Stage 2 grand final with their win over BBL Esports. The Turkish team had been growing in momentum throughout their run, beating heavyweights Fnatic and Team Heretics to set up their tie with Liquid.

It was the 2023 EMEA champions who took the early advantage in the opening map on Ascent — BBL’s pick — leading 7-5 at half time. BBL made a minor comeback to gain a slim 9-8 lead, but five wins in the next six rounds for TL gave them the first map victory.

Map two, Liquid’s Sunset, went the other direction: BBL starting with a lead, TL clawing back, and BBL coming back to clinch successive late rounds and win the map. Notably, BBL’s sociablEE had one of the most dominant individual map performances in recent history, earning a 36/15/1 score with a ludicrous 411 ACS.

The final map, Bind, appeared to be following a similar blueprint as the previous two. BBL gained a 7-5 half time lead, TL made it back to 8-8, and then BBL won three rounds in a row to go 11-8. Following the results of maps one and two, BBL seemed to become inevitable winners, but then the momentum swung in Liquid’s favour. Three rounds got them back to 11-11 before another for BBL put the Turkish org on map, series, and Champs-qualification point.

With the next round a necessity for Team Liquid, up stepped nAts. The legendary Russian player stunned with an ace, a rarity for normal IGLs but unsurprising for a player with such fragging ability. At 12-12, TL found their feet again and claimed the next two rounds, ending the map at 14-12 to complete the 2-1 victory and move on to the grand final.

Team Heretics qualify for VALORANT Champions

Liquid fans were not the only ones cheering for their side’s victory given that Team Heretics’ Champs qualification fate was in their hands. Should Team Liquid have ended up failing to reach the final two altogether by losing both the upper and lower bracket finals, then Heretics’ spot amongst EMEA’s four representatives would’ve been lost.

Instead, with TH team members in attendance and former Heretics player paTiTek doing his best to help them, Liquid did the job on the day and secured the Champions 2024 runners-up a place at this year’s tournament.

GIANTX move on to the lower bracket final, NAVI eliminated

While TL versus BBL brought three close maps, the opener on Icebox in the day’s second series between GIANTX and NAVI quickly ended that pattern.

Natus Vincere were quick to take the advantage on their map pick with a 9-3 opening half, and the Ukrainian side avoided any scares to continue their form and earn a 13-6 win. Impressive performances from hiro and Ruxic, both common occurrences in recent weeks, saw the duo earn respective 19/8/3 and 20/10/4 KDAs.

Map two was again one-sided, but in the other direction. GIANTX managed to prevent their heads from dropping and, once on their Sunset pick, claimed a 13-6 victory in their favour. This time GX’s ara was the standout performer, finishing 23/9/3.

On the decider, Haven, GIANTX took full advantage of their prior momentum to complete the most dominant map victory of the day. A 13-4 dismantling of NAVI was again led by ara as the losing side ran out of steam in what proved to be their final game of the season.

GIANTX versus BBL Esports for EMEA’s final Champs spot

Tomorrow, in a best-of-five, GX and BBL will now fight it out not only for a grand finals spot, but also to become VCT EMEA’s fourth and final VALORANT Champions representative. GIANTX has previously attended Champs in 2023, then under the Giants branding, while BBL are aiming to qualify for the first time in the organisation’s history.