G2 Esports are Iceland-bound after a dominant win over Team Liquid today in the lower bracket of the 2022 EMEA VCT Challengers One playoffs. With this victory, G2 have claimed the final EMEA spot at Masters Reykjavík, joining Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix at the first international VALORANT event of 2022.
The series started on Icebox, G2’s pick, with G2 starting out on attack and jumping out to a large lead with multiple punishing takes on the A site. Liquid struggled to win opening duels and faltered trying to retake against G2’s post-plants, trailing 9-3 at halftime.
Losing the second-half pistol did Liquid no favors and a thrifty G2 round led by a Meddo 3K iced the Liquid momentum, leading to a 13-4 Icebox victory for G2 despite a standout performance by ScreaM.
ScreaM picked up on Split where he left off, switching to Sage and starting out Liquid’s attack with a 4K in the pistol round. But G2 regained control when the guns came out, funneling Liquid into B over and over and punishing all sorts of Liquid mistakes, leading to an 8-4 G2 lead at halftime.
A risky post-plant flank paid off for Meddo and G2 to start off their attacking side, and a bonus round win to boot via a mid-to-A play was effectively the nail in the coffin for Liquid’s Reykjavík hopes. G2 cruised to a second straight 13-4 victory over Liquid to seal the series and clinch a spot at Masters.
The result today is a disastrous one for the Liquid camp since they defeated G2 earlier in these playoffs. G2 earned their spot at Masters Reykjavík with two straight decisive victories over two of EMEA’s top teams in M3 Champions and now Liquid.
G2 will join Fnatic and FPX at Masters Reykjavík but will first play Fnatic in the EMEA Challengers One lower bracket final on March 26 at 10am CT to determine seeding.
Published: Mar 25, 2022 01:38 pm