After nearly two months of competition, VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers found its champion. The playoff period that hosted six teams and esports betting opportunities has over and FunPlus Phoenix took the prize home. Let’s check the details of the knockout stage of EMEA’s biggest tournament.
First Round
M3 Champions – Guild Esports
The playoffs began with a series in which two hottest names of the scene encountered each other. After not being able to compete for three weeks in the regular season, M3 Champions, ex-Gambit Esports, returned to the scene in full swing. The Russian representative put in an incredible performance for the rest of the regular season and qualified for the playoffs and became a one of the favorites for VALORANT betting followers.
Guild Esports, on the other hand, was having a great season until the break due to the conflict in Ukraine. Afterwards, the European team had a downfall in its performance, taking its first loss in 2022 and struggling against its opponents. But still, Guild managed to make it through the playoffs.
M3 Champions was a highly favorite coming into this series. And it showed why. The CIS team managed to take down Guild Esports with a 2-0, even though it had hard time on Fracture. nAts was selected as the MVP of the matchup.
G2 Esports – Team Liquid
Two big teams that have been competing against each other for a long time came face to face. G2 got a winning streak coming into this series, while Team Liquid was still trying to find its comfort zone. Thanks to its current form, people thought this one was for G2 to take, but Liquid surprised them.
Extending to the third map, the series was played on Split, Icebox, and Haven. Following the triumph on Split, Liquid aimed to finish the matchup on Icebox. However, all G2 players stepped up and tied the series at 15-13. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for them as Liquid accelerated and quickly won the third map with a 13-8.
Upper Bracket Round 2
Fnatic – M3 Champions
In round 2, the group leaders, Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix, stepped in. Fnatic’s first test was against M3 Champions, who was one of the contenders for the trophy. It was a type of the series that fans hoped for. Both teams brought their best version into the server which led the series to extend to the third map.
After the first 2 maps, the winner was not determined. The third map, Split, was among the longest matches in 2022, continuing until Fnatic won at 23-21. The team’s duelist, Derke, was selected as the MVP.
FunPlus Phoenix – Team Liquid
Despite getting through a lot of terrible things, FunPlus Phoenix succeeded in maintaining its performance in the playoffs. All players in its roster have been affected by the invasion of Ukraine, in fact, baddyG joined the team as a stand-in in any case. None of these problems could stop the CIS representative.
FPX’s first game in the playoffs was against Team Liquid and it played the series without its in-game leader, ANGE1. Regardless of not having a leader, FPX crushed its opponent in two maps, Split and Haven, and closed out the competition pretty fast.
Continue to read part 2 of the recap from here.
