Cover-Credits:
AFK Gaming
The offseason of the Valorant esports scene has been thriving and one such official Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Offseason tournament was the recently concluded Penta Pro Series Valorant which was exclusively live streamed in India on Loco. Homegrown platform Loco continues to enable tournament organizers to have streams in multiple languages making Valorant esports more accessible to the Indian audience. Penta Pro Series Valorant concluded on 24th December and saw the participation of teams from South Asia and Southeast Asia (SEA). Singaporean organization Bleed Esports won the grand final with a 3-2 scoreline against BOOM Esports.
The Penta Pro Series Valorant had a total prize pool of $30,000 USD (INR 24,76,697) and Bleed Esports took home the lion’s share. Notably, the event was split into two stages – the Playoffs and Finale. While the teams from South Asia (SA) were directly invited to the first stage, those from Southeast Asia (SEA) were pooled directly in the Finale. Interestingly, BOOM and Bleed were both who were invited directly to the Finale were the teams that went head-to-head in the grand final.
In 2022, recognition and accolades have been mounting for the platform, reflecting its hard work and efforts. The Penta Pro Series Valorant that was streamed on Loco for the Indian audience had a staggering total viewership of 503,760 with 97,186 unique live viewers, adding another feather to Loco’s cap. Here’s a recap of how Bleed Esports blazed through its competition in the tournament and lifted the trophy.
Penta Pro Series Valorant - Tournament Format
Ahead of the Finale, India’s Velocity Gaming (VLT) and Revenant Esports (RNT) secured the first and second places, respectively in the Playoffs stage to advance to the Finale to fight against the Southeast Asian teams of Bleed and BOOM.
All four teams played through the Group Stage of the Finale first to determine the top two. Notably, between 21st and 23rd December, each of the teams had three best-of-three matches to decide the standings.
Bleed Esports breezes through Groups, BOOM gets lucky
On the first day, Bleed Esports took on BOOM Esports and the series was one-sided as Bleed won it 2-0. On Fracture, the first half was completely dominated by Bleed as it went 7-5 on defense. When the sides switched, BOOM fought back and recovered well and even equalized the round scores at 10-10. However, Bleed closed it out in Round 23 with a victory. Icebox was no different as Bleed looked invincible against BOOM. It won four consecutive rounds before BOOM could find a way to stop the snowballing. BOOM made it work as it ended the first half with a 6-6 on defense. Unfortunately, though, the team only won three rounds in the second half and Bleed won the series with a 13-9 score on Icebox.
The two series played on 22nd December were relatively short. Both Bleed and BOOM won their series against VLT and RNT respectively. The two maps that Bleed and Velocity played in their series were Breeze and Haven. It is safe to say that both the maps were one-sided as Bleed won them 13-8 and 13-5. Likewise, Revenant Esports was no match for BOOM as the SEA team won both Icebox (13-4) and Bind (13-5) by a landslide.
Things took an interesting turn on 23rd December. The first series was between Bleed and Revenant Esports and RNT managed to win a map against Bleed and take the series to three games for the first time in the group stage. Bleed Esports dominated Haven and closed out the map with a 13-3 scoreline and many believed that the same trend would continue on Breeze. However, a resilient RNT bounced back and won Breeze (13-10) and pushed the series into the third game on Pearl. Sadly, RNT could not continue its winning momentum as Bleed won the third map of the series with a 13-5 score.
Meanwhile, Velocity Gaming became the hot topic of the day as the organization forfeited its series against BOOM, handing the SEA team a free pass into the grand finals. Notably, Velocity Gaming did not disclose the reason behind its decision but it is speculated that it chose to forfeit due to ping differences against Southeast Asian teams in the Penta Pro Series Valorant.
Battle of the SEA teams in the grand finale
Bleed Esports and BOOM Esports played a barnburner of a best-of-five series in the grand finale of the Penta Pro Series Valorant on 24th December. This thrilling series saw Bleed securing wins on Haven (13-6) and Icebox (13-6) while BOOM managed to emerge victorious on Breeze (13-10) and Ascent (13-5). The decider map was Pearl and it quickly became evident that either team was not ready to back down from the dogfight.
The battle for the victory on Pearl kept the audience on the edge of their seats and it looked extremely close till the last few rounds. With Bleed on attack in the first half, the starting rounds were back and forth, and eventually, the halftime score was 7-5, favoring the attackers. In the second half, Bleed struggled to close out the series at match point and allowed BOOM to catch up to an 11-12 score. However, BOOM failed to take the map into overtime, and Bleed won the series 3-2, after a close game.
