Team XO put an end to Team Valor’s undefeated streak in Group B of TEC Gauntlet Season 2, winning the series in 2 maps (14-12 Haven, 13-8 Bind) to go joint-top of the group.
Team Valor went for an old-school composition on Haven. XO on the other hand, fielded the Sova-Skye combination with Killjoy as their Sentinel. Sahil ‘pashasahil’ Pasha got a double with the Ghost and then stuck to the defuse at A to land the pistol. A 1v2 clutch from Aditya ‘BuLL3t’ Kajari at A doubled Valor’s tally. Saransh ‘whimp’ Dang pulled off a quad-kill to level up the scoreline. A triple kill from Simar ‘psy’ Sethi made it 4-2. A quick A rush from XO sealed the 12th round, with psy & co. ending the half with an 8-4 lead. Three Frenzy kills from Karan ‘Excali’ Mhaswadkar at Garage entrance saw XO win the pistol. Valor’s attempt to rush B was shut down by XO, who converted the bonus round to make it 11-4. Psy pulled off a quickfire quad-kill at A to bring up the map point. A comeback was a tall ask but Valor started chipping away at the lead nicely, with Ishpreet ‘HuntR’ Singh Chadha getting a triple kill in the post-plant to convert a 2v3 situation. Within a flash, Valor had come within two rounds of forcing overtime and three kills in a 2v3 postplant situation at A to come within a round of equalling the score. Some good rotative plays from Valor saw them win the 24th round with a C plant, forcing the overtime. Psy converted the 1v1 at C site to bring up map point. A clean retake of B site saw XO clutch Haven 14-12.
Valor brought in Vipul ‘stroky’ Patole for BuLL3t for Bind, with the former Rebellious gaming player fielding Brimstone. Pashasahil is on the Sage for Valor while XO went for the Sova-Skye combination. XO somehow won the pistol but Valor forced the initiative, clearing B site and getting the spike planted to win the second round, thanks to stroky’s triple. Valor soon took a 4-2 lead on Attack but XO shut down Valor on the 8th round to make it 4-4. Stroky’s heroics though, ensured a 7-5 lead for Valor. XO started the second half strongly though, with a triple from psy in the post-plant bagging the pistol for his side. Psy clutched the 1v1 postplant at B after his Lockdown was destroyed by stroky’s Orbital Strike to make it 8-7 in XO’s favour. Another multi-kill, this time a quadra on the 17th round to make it 10-7. A double kill from stroky with Sheriff to defuse the spike and peg XO a round. Psy once again made the difference with a triple kill at A to bring up the map point. Whimp ended things with a double kill at B to close out Bind 13-8.
Psy was the cream of the crop, especially on Bind, recording 12 multi-kill rounds. Psy ended the series with 49 kills to his name, an ACS of 291 along with an ADR of 185, making him our WD Black MVP of the match.
