Defeating their long-term opponents yesterday, FunPlus Phoenix qualified for the Valorant Champions Tour Masters Copenhagen Lower Bracket Finals after a strong lower Bracket run and were looking hot. Shao and Suygetsu had impressive, impactful performances throughout Knockouts.
Optic Gaming was looking good in the tournament. After losing the group stage, they won against all their contemporaries with almost ease. Still, a brutal loss to Paper Rex pushed them into the lower finals.
VCT Masters Copenhagen Lower Finals Map Veto:
Being the top-seeded team, Optic Gaming had the advantage of banning two maps. The map veto started with Optic banning Ascent, FPX’s strongest map, and FPX banned Breeze.
Optic Gaming chose to play Split and Bind, while FPX picked Icebox and Fracture. Haven remains the decider.
Summary of VCT Masters Copenhagen Lower Finals:
- FunPlus Phoenix 3-1 Optic Gaming
Map 1 Split:
Split started with Optic looking great, winning the second round off the pistol win, but FPX turned it around and went on to win nine out of the ten rounds to win the half 9-3.
The FPX dominance continued despite the pistol round win, and FPX managed to convert their lead to a strong 13-6 victory of Optic Gamings map pick.
Player of the map: Shao, KDA-21/12/2 ACS - 278
Map 2: Icebox
Icebox as a map pick was a sure gamble from FPX, as they have lost all their previous scrims on Icebox, and they seemingly struggled for the first four rounds, but a timeout helped me reset themselves, and they won six rounds in half to close the half 6-6.
The second half was much different, with FPX completely decimating Optic Gaming’s defense to limit Optic to two rounds and win the game 13-8.
Player of the Map Ardiis, KDA - 23/12/2 ACS - 303
Map 3: Bind
The Optic Gaming was already 2-0 down and had to win Bind to have a chance in the competition. Optic Gaming on attack displayed extreme resilience, winning five rounds in a row. FPX answered but only managed to scrape three rounds to end the half 3-9.
Optic Gaming on defense started strong and closed down FPX’s attack attempts to close down the series 13-6 and snatch a map from FPX to stay in contention.
Player of the Map: Crashies, KDA - 21/7/10 ACS - 281
Map 4: Fracture
The fourth map was FPX’s map pick, and FPX delivered by penetrating Optic Gaming’s defense, winning six straight rounds in a row to finish the first half 9-3.
The second half did swing in Optic’s favor, but the lead was too much for Optic to handle, and they fell to FPX, losing the game 7-13 and the series 1-3.
Player of the Map: ANGE1, KDA - 19/12/5 ACS - 247
Play of the Series: Shao, KDA – 68/49/23 ACS – 238
With this Victory, FPX would play Paper Rex tomorrow in the Grand finals of Valorant Champions Tour Masters Copenhagen.
You can read about the results, format and schedule for the tournament, venue, ticketing, and the teams participating and where to watch the stream here.
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