Nothing came easy for either squad in XSET’s 2-1 victory over DarkZero in the VCT Challengers 3 today.
The two teams pushed each other to the brink, but in the end, XSET prevailed with a 13-9 victory on Icebox and a 13-9 victory on Breeze. DarkZero took the second map, Ascent, with a 13-10 scoreline.
Breeze, the final map in the series, began as an XSET stomp. With an Operator in the hands of Bryce “PureR” Lovell, XSET cruised to a massive 8-4 lead in the first half.
DarkZero clawed its way back in the map and was only one round behind XSET at two points, but ultimately fell.
It wasn’t all PureR on Breeze. The young Zachary “zekken” Patrone pulled off what might be the 1v2 of the tournament to essentially seal XSET’s victory. He finished the defuse at the perfect time to take down the two DarkZero players lurking in the shadows of the post-plant. The round win set up XSET on map point and the team closed out the match.
The victory qualifies XSET for the closed portion of Challengers 3. If XSET wants to bypass the open bracket for the next Challengers event, they’ll need to have a stellar performance in the closed bracket. DarkZero played valiantly, but will have to fight their way through the open bracket yet again. They can rest easy, however, knowing the initial stage of Challengers 3 will be the hardest of the three.
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