Cover-Credits:
M3 Champions (Gambit Esports) took on Team Liquid at the finals of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Europe, Middle-East, and Africa (EMEA) Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) last night for a spot at the upcoming Valorant Champions event. Team Liquid managed to come out on top and it will be heading to Istanbul next month in hopes of securing the world championship. Team Liquid changed its roster earlier this year with Travis "L1NK" Mendoza departing from the squad, but it has managed to remain consistent with the addition of Dmitriy "dimasick" Matvienko.
M3 Champions vs Team Liquid Recap
The first matchup of the night was on Bind with M3 Champions taking a 7-5 lead in the first half. M3 Champions (Gambit Esports) was the runner-up in last year's event and it was looking to make it to this year's world championship as well with an emphatic finish in the second half. M3 Champions ended the game with a 13-8 scoreline.
But it all went downhill for M3 Champions as Team Liquid came back strong with a 13-11 finish on Icebox. Everyone on Team Liquid felt like they were in sync with each other and read each others' plays perfectly. M3 Champions on the other hand looked disjointed and Team Liquid took every opportunity to punish misplays.
Team Liquid continued to dominate in the pistol round of Ascent and managed to comfortably take out M3 Champions with a 13-6 scoreline. Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom was on Phoenix, an agent with a 0% pickrate before receiving buffs in a recent patch. The player ended the game with 26 kills and just 11 deaths.
The fourth and final game of the night saw M3 Champions making a desperate substitution. Semyon "purp0" Borchev came in for M3 Champions and the casters were shocked as they felt M3 should not have made such a substitution in such a high-stakes environment. While purp0 has subbed for many teams in the EMEA circuit, this was his first game playing for M3 in the Valorant Champions Tour. The substitution did not work out and Team Liquid took advantage of every mistake M3 made.
With a 3-1 series win in the bag, Team Liquid shall now head to the world championship next month. This is the second time that the team has qualified and it will be looking to redeem itself after failing to secure the world championship last year despite a solid performance.
