Cover-Credits:
The Omega bracket of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) LOCK//IN 2023 kicked off on 22nd February and after two days of intense Valorant action, Team Liquid, KRU Esports, ZETA Division, Rex Regum Qeon, EDward Gaming (EDG) and Global Esports have been eliminated from the tournament. All eyes were on Global Esports on Day 2 of the Omega bracket as the Indian powerhouse went up against Team Vitality in a heated do-or-die series. While the first map was dominated by Team Vitality (Split), Global Esports bounced back on Map 2 (Pearl), to take the series to the final map Lotus. However, Team Vitality showed up big on Lotus to close out the match.
The biggest takeaway from the series was how strong Global Esports looked on pistol rounds at the start of every map and at the beginning of halftime rounds. Global Esports, the representatives of the Pacific region, won 6/6 pistol rounds, capturing the attention of the audience around the world.
Global Esports has flawless pistol rounds against Team Vitality
Those who play Valorant know how crucial pistol rounds are. Getting off to a good start in the first few rounds and at halftime can really boost momentum in a game. Winning a pistol round sets up teams to kickstart their economy and be better equipped in the forthcoming rounds. In its series against Team Vitality, Global Esports looked extremely strong on its pistol rounds as it ended up winning all six with impressive gun play. However, the team’s weakness seemed to be the follow-up round where it lost badly to Team Vitality’s eco-play with sheriffs.
In the first map of Split, Global Esports’ texture got two kills but the team lost three of its members soon after, turning the round into a 2v3, favoring Team Vitality. With Ganesh "SkRossi" Gangadhar dropping, it was up to in-game leader (IGL) Jordan "AYRIN" He to clutch the round. Ayrin rotated from mid and got two kills on Split’s A Heaven with a sneaky play as he climbed the ropes. Following this, it was an easy 1v1 that Ayrin won with his frenzy.
Things did not really go Global Esports’ way after the pistol win as the halftime score was 9-3 for Team Vitality. In the second half, Global Esports picked up two quick kills on entry into B-site but lost two of its members to trades. In the end, Team Vitality was outnumbered and Global Esports picked up its second pistol round win.
The trend of winning pistol rounds continued on Pearl and also on the new map Lotus also. However, the apparent problem was losing on bonus rounds.
Global Esports’ pistol round performance caught the attention of popular Twitch streamers Tarık Çelik and Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang during their watch party. After calling Global Esports ‘Pistol Gods,’ Toast asked, “I want to see the stats. Have any team in this entire tournament had a perfect pistol score yet?” Tarik replied, “I’m sure in history there has been. But in this event, I doubt it.”
