VCT Stage 1 - Challengers EMEA Week 5: A catastrophic week for Acend

Mar 14, 2022

With Fnatic and long-time rivals, G2 Esports, showing up and shutting down their opponents with dominant 2 - 0 wins, Guild Esports and Acend limped away from this weekend battered, bruised, but no doubt fired up and hungry for victory.

So, here’s a rundown of everything that VCT Stage 1 Challengers EMEA Week 5 had to offer.

Group A: FunPlus Phoenix & Team Liquid on top

While a glance at the standings imply FPX and Liquid had an easy route to the top of the table, the games themselves tell a very different story.

Despite finding themselves at the top of the table following Week 5, FPX didn’t have a flawless rise to the top. While the squad took down Liquid with ease, they fell to relative newcomers LDN UTD in a back and forth series.

It was a similar story for Liquid who, despite their loss to FPX earlier in the week, took in BIG in a series that had fans' hearts in their mouths. After a rocky series on Bind where Dom ‘soulcas’ Sulcas’ Neon failed to have the impact the squad likely expected, Adil ‘ScreaM’ Benrlitom came in clutch and rescued the squad from the brink on the KAY/O and Sage.

Group B: Fnatic rise & Acend fall

Group B is stacked to bursting with pure VALORANT talent, and Week 5 reminded us just how insane these teams are.

Back in black (and orange) and ready to take names, Fnatic surged to the top of the table following a flawless week. Taking down Turkey’s SuperMassive Blaze and VCT Champions, Acend, stunning displays from the squad meant that their enemies didn’t stand a chance.

Acend, however, suffered a massive setback. With Semyon ‘purp0’ Borchev stepping in at the last minute and giving BBL a fight to remember, the squad ultimately walked away from Week 5 without a win.

VCT Challengers Stage 1 Week 1: Results

While the VCT Challengers story is far from over, here are the current standings for each of the two groups:

Group A

Group B

Challengers EMEA Stage 1: Vods

If you missed out on any of the action, you can check out vods of the event on https://valorantesports.com/vo...!