Explosive Victory: M80 wins NA VCL Mid-Season Face-Off
Exciting Climax
The North American (NA) Valorant Challengers League has just concluded its first split with the conclusion of the Mid-Season Face-Off. The top eight teams across the twelve team league competed for the glory of victory within a double-elimination Bo3 format bracket. The tournament reached its climax with the Grand Finals between the top performing teams from Group A and B facing off in a fated duel. In the end, M80 emerged victorious over G2 in the Bo5 finals, winning 3-1 against the American juggernaut.
How did it play out?
Initial matchups:
M80 vs Disguised [2-0]
TSM vs Moist Moguls [0-2]
The Guard vs FaZe Clan [2-0]
G2 Esports vs Oxygen Esports [1-2]
Two of the first round matchups played out exactly as predicted, with the heavily weighted matchups resulting in 2-0s for both M80 and The Guard, both favorites to win the event. However, Oxygen Esports surprised many with their strong performance, upsetting tournament favorites G2 in the first bout and sending them to the squalors of the lower bracket.
Furthermore, Moist Moguls surprised many as well with their swift defeat of TSM, who looked incredible coming into the final weeks of the split. Their recent addition of Eric “Kanpeki” Xu proved insufficient as Moist dealt a deadly blow to send TSM into the lower bracket with G2.
R2 Upper matchups:
M80 vs Moist Moguls [2-1]
The Guard vs Oxygen Esports [2-1]
R1 Lower matchups:
Disguised vs TSM [0-2]
FaZe Clan vs G2 Esports [0-2]
Far closer affairs, however, both M80 and The Guard proved they were made of sterner stuff, as the upset catalysts failed to make repeat performances against the top challengers. Furthermore, Disguised saw an early expected departure from the tournament, having been placed to face two heavy favorites back-to-back at the start of the tournament. G2 refused to be fazed as they eliminated FaZe Clan from contention.
R3 Upper Matchups:
M80 vs The Guard [2-1]
R2 Lower Matchups:
Oxygen Esports vs TSM [2-1]
Moist Moguls vs G2 Esports [0-2]
In the next round, the heavy juggernauts of M80 and The Guard faced off once more. This time, M80 emerged as the clear victors, despite their loss to the latter earlier in the split. Oxygen continued to surprise with a victory of a faltering TSM and G2 continue their lower bracket run with another 2-0 destruction, this time of Moist.
R3 Lower Matchup:
Oxygen Esports vs G2 Esports [1-2]
R4 Lower Matchup:
The Guard vs G2 Esports [1-2]
Oxygen finally ran out of breath of G2 took them down in their heated lower bracket run. Despite taking the first map, G2 reverse swept them to continue. Now faced off against The Guard, G2 landed the first blow by taking Split. The Guard answered back with Haven, but G2 narrowly emerged victorious in 13-11 fashion on the decider map of Ascent.
Grand Finals
M80 vs G2 Esports [3-1]
Believers of G2 cheered as G2 took Map 1, forging ahead of M80 on Haven. Squaring onto Fracture next, M80 replied with a win of their own in similar confident fashion. Heading into Icebox, G2 seemed to have lost some steam as M80 powered ahead to a 13-5 win on the Artic arena. Things appeared bleak then heading into Pearl, with G2 backs against the wall. Barely tested on the map, G2 had only played it once this split, and won it against BreakThru. However, M80 was made of sterner stuff, and G2 were only allowed 3 rounds on M80’s way to a 13-3 finish and tournament victory.
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NA VCL will return with Split 2 on the 18th of April.
Image credit: M80 // Valorant Esports