VCT 2022: Stage 2 Challengers - Week 1 Recap
As Riot Games announced the VCT Stage 2 Masters is going to be played in Denmark in July, teams across the world entered the battle to secure their tickets to Copenhagen. The competition started with Week 1 of Stage 2 Challengers, and we bring you the recap of the action.
North America
In group A, Stage 1 Challengers champions The Guard opened Stage 2 with a heavy 2-0 loss to the new roster of 100 Thieves. The score was 13-5 and 13-6, as The Guard didn't have an answer to 100T's attack on Fracture and Bind.
XSET beat Ghost 2-0 to secure their first win of the Challengers Stage 2, while NRG took down TSM in a tight 2-0 to close out the Week 1 competition for Group A.
Group B kicked off with the closest match of the weekend between Luminosity Gaming and Sentinels. After a close battle on Bind and triple overtime on Breeze, Luminosity secured a win with a convincing 13-4 on Fracture to seal the win.
.@Luminosity seals the match against @Sentinels, winning Fracture 13-4 and taking the series 2-1. #VCTChallengers pic.twitter.com/D7EmA0boaj
— VALORANT Champions Tour NA (@valesports_na) May 14, 2022
Reigning Masters champions, OpTic Gaming defeated Faze Clan 2-0 on the back of yay, who had two amazing Chamber performances. Finally, Cloud 9 took down EG in the final best-of-3 of the Week 1 with a 2-0 before they announced the departure of xepa and welcomed curry as his replacement.
EMEA
On the other side of the Atlantic ocean, BBL defeated NAVI 2-1 to kick off the action in VCT 2022 Stage 2 Challengers on Friday.
Also in group B, Team Liquid stomped BIG after their lackluster performance in Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik.
Lastly, G2 Esports took down FOKUS in two very close games. The newcomers to EMEA VCT Challengers gave G2 a run for their money though, as the score was 14-12 on Fracture and 13-11 on Icebox.
In the other group, 2021 Champions winners Acend kicked off stage 2 with a solid 2-0 win over OG LDN UTD.
On Sunday, Guild surprised everyone by upsetting M3C(Gambit), who keep struggling to find their 2021 form.
The last match of Group A was Fnatic vs. FunPlusPhoenix. Alfajer had an amazing debut for Fnatic as they snatched the 2-1 victory. It is good to see FPX back to competitive Valorant after missing out from Stage 1 Masters due to travel restrictions caused by the war in Ukraine.
HE'S A MONSTER @Alfajervl 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yUqboLJSTX
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) May 14, 2022
Other Regions
LOUD, Los Grandes, MIBR, and Ninjas in Pyjamas kicked off the Challengers group stage in Brazil with victories.
Also, APAC and LATAM launched their regional competitions to qualify for Challengers, while the action on Japan and Korea is yet to kick off this week.
The VCT 2022 Stage 2 Challengers continues on Friday, May 20th, and you can watch all the action live on Twitch and YouTube. Also, check out the full schedule over at valorantesports.com.