Cover-Credits:
The Valorant Champions 2022 tournament kicked off on 31st August and the group stage of the tournament is already coming to an end very soon. The Valorant Champions 2022 group stage is set to end on 8th September with eight teams seeded into the next stage of the event and the other eight teams would have bid farewell to Istanbul, Turkey. On 5th September, fans were treated to two electrifying eliminators in Group C and Group D. In the Group C match, KRU Esports (KRU) took on XERXIA and from Group D, Fnatic (FNC) and FURIA (FUR) went head-to-head.
KRU Esports sends XERXIA home from Valorant Champions 2022
KRU Esports is no stranger when it comes to performing incredibly well and pulling off upsets. Last year, the team managed to clinch a fourth-place finish at Valorant Champions 2021. After losing to FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) in the opener, KRU went up against Asia Pacific’s (APAC) XERXIA (XIA) in the eliminator on 5th September. The best-of-three was stretched to the decider map which KRU won.
KRU put up a dominant showing on Icebox (Map 1) and ended the first game with a 13-4 win over XERXIA. However, XIA shook off the defeat and bounced back on Haven and responded with a 13-7 win. The decider was played on Ascent, in which the Latin American squad ended up winning in a one-sided 13-6 score.
Following this, KRU will move on to face FPX once again in the decider match for Group C on 8th September.
Fnatic wins against FURIA
Fnatic’s (FNC) opening match against 100 Thieves was brutal as it lost 1-2 to the North American (NA) squad. After this, it went up against the Brazilian team FURIA in the eliminator and looked wobbly in the first game of the BO3.
FURIA closed out the first map Icebox with a strong 13-9 score by capitalizing on FNC’s mistakes. The second map was Breeze, a perma-ban map for Fnatic that was left open by the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) squad. However, it looked like it was a strategic move from FNC as it blazed through Breeze and pulled out a surprise Neon pick. The 13-7 victory kept Fnatic alive in the series and took the two teams onto the decider: Haven. The final match was down to the wire with both teams fighting tooth and nail. Finally, Fnatic closed out the series with a 13-11 win on the decider map.
Now, Fnatic will also have a rematch with 100 Thieves in the Group D decider on 8th September. We have a deja vu run on our hands in a couple of days with both Group C and Group C deciders being hyped-up rematches.
Click here to read more about Valorant Champions 2022 and to follow the scores and updates from the tournament.
