DRX and FULL SENSE are the first two teams to suffer elimination from the AfreecaTV VALORANT League.
SOUTH KOREA – The first set of teams to be eliminated from the AfreecaTV VALORANT League were decided after DRX and FULL SENSE lost their respective Group A matches at the hands of Paper Rex.
Kititkawin “PTC” Rattanasukol’s team suffered a defeat to Paper Rex in the elimination series, with scores of 16-18 on Haven and 6-13 on Sunset, resulting in their last-place (7-8th) finish. Meanwhile, the team led by Kim “stax” Gu-taek were sent home in 5-6th place after losing their fifth encounter against Paper Rex in Group A’s decider (Lotus 7-13, Breeze 6-13).
The hometown favorites in DRX kicked off their AVL campaign with a relatively competitive opponent in FULL SENSE whom they eventually subdued with a 2-1 win while fielding their classic lineup featuring Goo “Rb” Sang-min and Kim “Zest” Gi-seok. However, their earlier defeat today at the hands of Sentinels led them to a deciding match, where a decisive loss to Paper Rex dashed their title aspirations, culminating in a 5-6th place finish.
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After their defeat to DRX, FULL SENSE faced off against Paper Rex, who had previously lost their opener to Sentinels. Despite the huge disparity between the Thai squad and the VCT Pacific champions, the match proved to be quite competitive. FULL SENSE challenged Paper Rex to the brink, taking the game to a gripping quintuple overtime on Haven, but ultimately fell short with a final score of 16-18.
That match on Haven turned out to be the most closely contested map of the tournament, with an intense 34-round play, yet interestingly no player reached the 30-kill mark. FULL SENSE, despite being one of the lowest-ranked teams in Seoul, can return to Thailand with a sense of pride. Their performance included pushing Paper Rex and DRX—who are considered two of the best VCT Pacific teams from the first and upcoming second seasons—to numerous overtimes on a single map and even securing a map victory against the latter.
The two winning teams from Group A, Sentinels and Paper Rex, become the first teams to qualify for the playoffs, where they will be joined by two additional squads from Group B.
Just the final three matches in Group B are left to be played, with Team Liquid and T1 set to play the winners’ match while Fancy United Esports and EDward Gaming are set to fight for their tournament lives. However, it has been confirmed that the Vietnamese side in FCY will compete without Lư “Crus” Huy for the second time, forcing Phan “Kawa” Anh Huy to step in once more as the playing coach.
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Cover photo courtesy of AfreecaTV
