Acend Wins VCT Champion After Five Horror Map Finals With Gambit
Acend won the VCT Champion after knocking out Gambit in today’s five-map marathon series — and becomes the first official player VALUABLE The champion of the world.
Acend picked up the spot they had left out against G2, looking dominant to start their defense against Breeze. Zeek got off to another hot start, this time slowing Gambit’s execution by canceling their utility with KAY/O and letting cNed pick them up with his patented Jett/Op combo. . Gambit struggled to find positional control or early goals throughout much of the half, creating only a fraction of the momentum with clear catches in the last two halves as Acend 9-3 lead after halftime.
Gambit built that momentum by claiming pistol rotation to start their defensive round, but it stopped on the first full buy when Gambit pushed too far and hit the ultimate NULL / cmd by Zeek. Acend moved into zone A and made it 11-5 before nAts kept Gambit on the map with three critical rounds in a row from behind his Viper gadget. Acend switched strategies and went to B, but nAts waited there behind his malicious walls. The last two halves of the first half were the key differentiating factors, and Gambit’s excellent defense resulted in a 13-11 comeback victory.
BONECOLD created a great momentum to start Ascent, with 4K economy with Sheriff in the second round. Acend looks a lot more adept at attacking this map, taking advantage of the smaller sites with their push-ups and playing behind the tree. But just like on Breeze, Gambit rallied to end the first half with just 7-5.
However, Acend didn’t let them go back into the second half this time around, using pistols, counter-ecs, and even bonus rounds to boost their lead and keep control. Acend took a 12-5 lead before Gambit concentrated a couple of attacks, but a BONECOLD Sova ultimate broke their A-site execution, securing a 13-7 win for Acend over Ascent.
Gambit responded to Fracture with an impressive start to their attackers, winning the first three rounds of the round, including a perfect bonus round. Acend can’t gather any defensive momentum, and those suicidal moments with his ultimate Raze are signs of the frustration they feel. Nats and Chronicle combined for 36 absurd lives and only three died in the 11-1 attack featured on Fracture.
nAts added three more kills to his insane score in their defensive pistol round, increasing their already huge lead to 12-1. A couple of rounds of Acend buys left the team with something to be happy about, but Gambit graciously ended the map with a perfect buy round, defending Fracture decisively 13-3. . nAts ended up with a near-unprecedented KD 26-3 rating, leaving Acend without access to the all-game site.
Acend soon took the lead to start Icebox, but when the buying rounds began, both sides traded back and forth. Acend needed a big half from cNed, and they got it, with him comfortably using the Jett/Op combo on A site. But just like on Breeze and Ascent, Gambit had another late rally to close the first half, leading 7-5 before turning to defence.
Gambit took advantage of that rally, winning their pistol, anti-eco and first full round of buys to take a 10-8 lead after taking a 7-3 lead. . However, like the first part of the map, the rest of the second half was continuous, causing Icebox to work overtime. Acend had an early advantage in the OT after a positive double kill by starxo through a push with Sage, then forced the elimination of all Gambit gadgets on the post-factory turn, retained a kill, and won at Icebox 14-12.
The series was decided on Split, with Acend building a lead with some stellar defensive rounds on site B. That score went up to 7-1, but again in this series, Gambit reversed their momentum by turning and attacking A. They scored four consecutive innings to end the first half.
Acend took the lead with their second pistol play on the map, but Gambit responded on the first full buy with some perfectly timed stalking. Acend managed to end Gambit’s comeback, with a successful 2v3 aftermath in A followed by a perfect read of Gambit’s aggressiveness towards B. Gambit’s economy failed to recover, and Acend finally closed the series with a 13-8 victory over Split.
Acend’s second, fourth, and fifth map wins are a poetic repeat of how they won their first major title at EU Masters One against Team Heretics.
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https://dotesports.com/valorant/news/acend-win-vct-champions-after-five-map-grand-finals-thriller-against-gambit Acend Wins VCT Champion After Five Horror Map Finals With Gambit
