Acend won the VCT Champions after beating Gambit in the 5th marathon series today, becoming the first official VALORANT world champion.
Acend picked up where they left off against G2 and they began raiding Breeze's defensive side. Gambit had trouble finding field control or early frags most of the half, with Acend leading 9-3 in the first half.
Gambit built up the momentum by winning the pistol round on the defensive half, but the weapon round became troublesome when Gambit got caught in Zeek's ultimate. Acend quickly broke into A-court and nAts took the lead to 11-5 before Viper kept Gambit on the map with three straight vital laps behind him. Acend changed strategy and went to B, but the nAts were still there, waiting behind their poisonous wall. These last two rounds of the first half made a big difference and Gambit's excellent defense brought a fantastic 13-11 comeback.
BONECOLD sparked a lot of momentum with Sheriff in the second round to launch Ascent with an economy-destroying 4K. Acend seemed much more proficient at attacking this map, taking advantage of smaller sites with its aggressive moves and post-plant play. But just like Breeze, Gambit finished the first half 7-5 behind.
Acend didn't let a second-half comeback this time, but took the pistol, anti-eco, and even the bonus round, increasing his lead and retaining control. Acend won the map 13-7.
Gambit responded to Fracture with an impressive start to the offensive side and won the first three rounds of the half, including a flawless bonus round. Acend failed to gain any defensive momentum, and moments like zeek killing himself with his Raze ultimate were indicative of the disappointment they felt. Nats and the Chronicle had a K/D of 11 kills and just 1 kills in the 36-3 first half in Fracture.
nAts added three more kills to the insane scoreline in the defensive pistol round, taking their already great lead to 12-1. A few Acend power buy rounds gave the team something to be happy about, but Gambit ended the map with a flawless buy round, securing Fracture resolutely 13-3. nAts finished with an almost unprecedented 26-3 KD rating, blocking Acend from accessing the site for the entire game.
Acend took an early lead to launch Icebox, but once the buy rounds began, both sides traded rounds back and forth. But as with Breeze and Ascent, Gambit rally late to close the half, trailing just 7-5 before moving on to the defensive.
Gambit capitalized on this rally, winning his pistol, anti-eco and first full buy round to take a 7-3 lead, outpacing 10-8 at one point. As with the start of the map, the rest of the second half went back and forth, sending Icebox into overtime. Acend gained an early advantage in OT after an aggressive starxo double kill thanks to a push with Sage, resulting in Acend winning the map 14-12.
The series was decided in Split and Acend took a lead on B course with some excellent defensive rounds. That lead increased to 7-1, but again during this series, Gambit reversed its momentum by changing direction and attacking A. They won four straight rounds to close the half.
Acend continued to lead the map with the second round of pistols, but Gambit responded with perfectly timed aggressive looks in the first full buy round. Acend tried to stop the Gambit comeback with a successful 2v3 post-plant on A followed by an excellent read of Gambit aggression on B. Gambit's economy failed to recover and Acend eventually closed the series with a 13-8 win.
Acend's second, fourth and fifth map win was a poetic retelling of how they won their first major trophy against Team Heretics at EU Masters One.
