First VCT match with Lotus ends in victory for Karmine Corp

The second day of the VALORANT LOCK//IN tournament saw the competitive introduction of the newest map in the game. 

Lotus, which was added to the ranked map pool on Jan. 18, was played as the first map in the series today and was picked by Chinese team FunPlus Phoenix in their match against Karmine Corp.

The Lotus pick was seen as a surprise since it is the most recent map added to the pool and it’s unlikely there are many in-depth strategies in place. But FPX used it as a chance to catch KCorp off guard. 

The tactic didn’t go to plan for FPX, though. They were defeated 13-6 with KCorp controller player Ryad “SHIN” Ensaad topping the scoreboard. Despite being on Viper duty, he managed an average combat score of 288, according to VLR.gg. 

KCorp and FPX brought out two controllers for Lotus since there are plenty of places to smoke off with long lines of sight toward A. The compositions were similar with Viper, Omen, Killjoy, and Skye picked for both teams. But FPX picked Fade while KCorp chose Sova as the initiator. 

KCorp secured the victory against FPX with a win on Lotus and Pearl. 

Lotus was first added to VALORANT in January this year with Swiftplay. But it was later added to ranked just a few days later. 

The map is the second in the game that features three Spike sites. The map was added with a few new gimmicks, too. There are some rotating doors that are scattered around two sites while there’s a breakable wall between the B and A sites.