Team Valor handed a shock defeat to VCC winners Global Esports in a three-map thriller (1-13 Haven, 13-11 Bind, 13-11 Icebox) to be level at the top alongside XO in terms of points gathered in Group B in TEC Gauntlet Season 2.
Fresh off their VCC win, Global Esports chose to go with an experimental Breach pick on Haven along with Sova in the lineup. Valor opted for a standard composition. Starting out on Attack, Breach aided Global’s cause, with Valor forced to fall back and play on the retake due to the utility barrage coming their way in quick executes. Global raced to a 5-0 lead and a 1v1 clutch from Akshay ‘Kappa’ Sinkar against Sahil ‘pashasahil’ Pasha made it 6-0. The lead soon became 10-0 before Valor finally got themselves up on the scoreboard, converting a thrifty thanks to a triple kill from Aditya ‘Pixelz’ Gulhane. Three kills by Abhirup Paul ‘Lightningfast’ Choudhury on the Frenzy landed Global the pistol and shut them down in the very next round to close out the map 13-1.
After a lacklustre performance on Haven, Valor went for a more conservative post-plant heavy lineup featuring the Sage, managing to win the pistol thanks to a crucial double kill from Aditya ‘BuLL3t’ Kajari. Three kills from Lightningfast evened out the numbers for Global, who then went on to complete the retake comfortably to put themselves up on the board. Afterwards, it was a Global shutdown as Valor found no space to work with as a quad-kill from Bhavin ‘HellRanger’ Kotwani on the Reyna saw them extend their lead to 8-2. Pixelz starred in the next round for Valor, who converted the thrifty, on the back of a 1v4 from their resident Viper. Valor then went on their own little run, with Ishpreet ‘HuntR’ Singh Chadha stepping up massively as Valor leveled up the scores at 8-8. The two teams traded rounds to make it 11-11 soon. However, a shutdown at B from Valor, thanks to Vipul ‘Stroky’ Patole’s double pushed Valor into map point, which they converted with a flawless round to force the series into the decider, Icebox.
Global reverted to their natural composition and roles on Icebox while Valor picked the Reyna on Stroky. Valor received a massive momentum boost after their comeback win on Bind and that seemed to have a positive effect on them. Valor won the pistol with a flawless defence but had to be bailed out by HuntR, who won the 1v2 clutch to get the defuse in time and make it 2-0 in their favour. HuntR continued to dominate, putting up insane numbers on the board as Valor extended their lead to 7-0. A triple kill from Jayanth ‘skillZ’ Ramesh at A site denied Valor the retake and grabbed the first round of the map for Global. Global pulled back the scoreline to a respectable four-round deficit by the end of the first half. Global won the pistol and the subsequent round through retakes but Valor pulled off a flawless execute on their full buy to make it 9-6 in their favour. The two teams traded rounds, with Global coming to within a round off Valor at 11-10. However, Valor converted a 4v5 postplant at A, thanks to the combination of pahsasahil and Stroky to bring up the match point. Global forced things and skillZ made his Vandal sing at B site with a quad-kill to deny the first match point. Valor had to force buy, with pashasahil opting to play on the Blade Storm. Valor creeped their way into A site and crucial kills from Pixelz and BuLL3t ensured a shock 13-11 win on Icebox and a 2-1 win in the match overall.
There is no looking past HuntR for the series. The snooker maestro cleaned up the board, spearheading Valor’s comeback on Bind and the initial run of rounds on Icebox. HuntR ended the series with 52 kills to his name with an ADR of 181.2, which makes him the WD Black MVP of the series.
