100 Thieves and Acend faced off in the quarterfinals of the VCT Masters Berlin playoffs today after fighting their way through the group stage. 100 Thieves made it through Group C undefeated, while Acend beat SuperMassive Blaze twice to earn the second seed in Group A.
But today, 100 Thieves sent Acend home from Berlin after winning the series 2-1 and pulling off an amazing comeback on Breeze to close out the match.
Acend started the series with a win on Ascent that was a relatively back-and-forth affair until they won six straight rounds to take the map 13-9. 100 Thieves couldn’t break into sites against Acend but they still had a second chance on Haven.
100 Thieves had a stronger performance in the first half of Haven, winning eight rounds and making Acend work for every small victory. Hiko further established how good he is with Sova by preventing a spike plant by only using Shock Darts in round eight.
The second half was a similar experience. 100 Thieves controlled the match’s tempo and held the sites with ease. 100 Thieves secured a flawless 12th round where Asuna and Ethan showed how to retake a site effectively. But Acend did have their fair share of highlights, including defusing the spike despite Steel having an incredible post-plant wall bang spot. 100 Thieves still won the map 13-8, though, and forced a map three.
Breeze was the final chance for both teams to make it to the next round of the playoffs, and Acend appeared to be in control of the map in the first half. They only dropped four rounds to 100 Thieves and maintained the momentum in the second half by winning the first two rounds. BONECOLD clutched a one-vs-two situation with an incredible headshot to win the second pistol round, causing NA VALORANT fans to get nervous.
But 100 Thieves refused to bow out, winning five rounds to force the map into overtime. After surviving against all odds, 100 Thieves beat Acend in two straight rounds in overtime, sending them home and securing one of the best comebacks in Masters Berlin. They won the final round without dropping a player, adding insult to injury with a flawless performance to take Breeze 14-12.
100 Thieves still have a tough road ahead of them, though. They’ll face either Envy or Sentinels in the semifinals and the winner will move on to the grand finals to play either Gambit Esports or G2 Esports. 100 Thieves play tomorrow at 11am CT.
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