This was the fourth international meeting between the two teams, with Sentinels leading the head-to-head record heading into the second round lower bracket clash.

The elimination match was played across Sunset, Bind, and Lotus.

Sentinels chose Sunset, Fnatic picked Bind, and Lotus served as the decider.

The opening map, Sunset, saw Fnatic take a commanding 8-4 lead at halftime, thanks to solid team play and superior post-plant setups.

However, Sentinels’ IGL, Mohamed “johnqt” Amine Ouarid, made pivotal mid-game adjustments, enabling a strong comeback.

They edged out Fnatic 13-11 on the back of johnqt’s standout performance, where he led the server with 23 kills.

Fnatic responded on Bind, their map pick, dominating their attack half to secure a 13-9 victory.

Their execution on the B site in Round 20 was particularly impressive, leaving Sentinels’ economy in shambles for the remainder of the map.

The decider on Lotus was a more one-sided affair, with Sentinels controlling both halves.

Their clean attack led to an 8-4 halftime lead, and they swiftly closed out the map 13-6.

Despite Fnatic’s attempts to mount a comeback, they couldn’t overcome Sentinels’ economic and strategic advantage.

Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev finished with the most kills in the series at 61, but it wasn’t enough to keep Fnatic’s Champions campaign alive.

Sentinels now advance to the lower bracket semifinals at INSPIRE Arena, where they will face Team Heretics, who stunned DRX in another intense elimination series.

THE LOWER BRACKET RUN IS ON FOR SEN CITY!

SENTINELS LOCK IN TOP 4 AT #VALORANTChampions SEOUL! pic.twitter.com/3QCr8mr0yF

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 18, 2024

Team Heretics vs. DRX was a clash of two teams undergoing roster turmoil throughout 2024.

Heretics entered Champions with momentum, despite their challenges, while DRX, on home soil, sought redemption.

The map veto slightly favoured Heretics, and the series began on Abyss, where DRX looked strong, winning 13-5 after a dominant defensive showing.

Heretics bounced back on Sunset, tying the series 1-1 with a commanding 13-5 victory of their own.

Their ability to suffocate DRX’s offence, combined with well-executed defensive strategies, set the stage for a thrilling decider on Icebox.

Icebox was a back-and-forth affair, but Heretics ultimately prevailed 13-10.

They capitalized on DRX’s weakened economy and used their ultimates effectively to secure the final rounds.

Heretics’ standout player, Dominykas “MiniBoo” Luka?evi?ius, topped the server in rating (1.30), kills (59), average combat score (260), and ADR (165), helping his team achieve a 2-1 victory and a top-four finish at their first Champions appearance.

TEAM HERETICS SURVIVES!

THEY ARE GOING TO THE INSPIRE AT #VALORANTChampions SEOUL! pic.twitter.com/HHy6nRYz41

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 18, 2024

Now, Heretics and Sentinels will face off in the lower semifinal.

Both teams have been Masters finalists this year, but only Sentinels have claimed an international title.

This rematch of their earlier clash at Masters sets the stage for a high-stakes showdown, with a spot in the lower bracket final on the line.

Meanwhile, DRX’s home tournament ended in disappointment, as they were eliminated in the top six, mirroring their previous Champions performance.

VALORANT Champions will continue on Friday, August 23, with EDward Gaming and Leviatan kicking off the day in the upper bracket final before Sentinels and Team Heretics play off for the right to take on the loser in the lower bracket final.

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With their loss against T1 on Wednesday, Kwangdong Freecs are eliminated from the LCK 2024 Summer playoff race. They have had some good series throughout the split but fell off towards the end, consistently coming up short in more challenging games.

DRX were cut from chasing playoffs long ago and have not given us many reasons to feel excited about them. On Wednesday, they suffered their fourth consecutive loss against KT Rolster, failing to show any improvements in critical areas — namely their macro.

This is a clash between two teams with nothing left to fight for. But even if we consider that a win or a loss for Kwangdong Freecs doesn’t mean much, they are a far better side and a solid bet at $2.10 to sweep with top LoL betting sites.

Nongshim RedForce took down T1 on Friday and added a solid showing against Dplus KIA at the end of LCK 2024 Summer Week 8. While those are excellent results on paper, T1 and Dplus KIA played terribly, so we can not praise RedForce too much.

Gen.G seemed unstoppable until last week, when they fell to KT Rolster in a competitive three-map series. Although it was a painful defeat, the defending champions were far from disgraced.

Nongshim RedForce made their presence known last week, but they are still a bottom-tier team who will crumble against Gen.G. And knowing RedForce tend to get run over in their losses, taking under 23.5 kills for the opening map is a wise choice.

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The two-map series was contested on Sunset and Haven, with Sentinels picking Sunset, DRX picking Haven, and Icebox as the decider, which wasn’t needed.

SENTINELS WIN THEIR FIRST PLAYOFF MATCH OF #VALORANTChampions SEOUL! pic.twitter.com/1brgBzRMIc

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 14, 2024

Sunset, the first map, was a nail-biter, ending 15�C13 in Sentinels’ favour.

DRX found a five-round streak to reach map point at 12-11 after being down 11-7, but Sentinels narrowly clinched the map in overtime.

One of the standout moments was Zachary “Zekken” Jude Patrone’s VALORANT Champions Tour debut on Neon, where he delivered a stunning ace in the first half, his first in international competition this year.

Zekken dominated the map with a 27-23 scoreline and eight first-bloods, outdueling DRX’s Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul, who also played Neon.

Despite the victory, DRX head coach Pyeon “termi” Seon-ho noted that his team could have won if they had remained calm in key moments.

The loss of a 5v3 in the final rounds of regulation highlighted the tense nature of the match.

Haven, the second map, saw Zekken again on Neon.

DRX’s defence initially held strong, winning six rounds on a map typically considered attack-sided.

However, Sentinels’ defensive reads proved crucial, particularly in their ability to hold A site.

A flawless Round 19, featuring a triple kill from Zekken, brought Sentinels to match point.

They quickly closed out the map 13-8, with DRX’s Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung admitting that hopes faded when they were down 7-12 with only one player remaining against Sentinels’ four.

Sentinels’ head coach kaplan commented on the similarities between Gen.G and DRX, noting their structured playstyles and preference for repeating strategies.

Zekken finished with a server-leading 54 kills across the two maps, while DRX’s Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk led his team with 39.

When asked about his Neon pick, Zekken jokingly attributed it to “feeling really Filipino today,” adding that the team had been preparing Neon for some time and was confident in using her.

EDWARD IS GAMING!

EDG WINS THE BATTLE OF CN AT #VALORANTChampions SEOUL! pic.twitter.com/yJP3p0XHem

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 14, 2024

EDward Gaming, after defeating Trace Esports 2-0, joined Sentinels in the next stage of the VALORANT event.

EDG’s victory was powered by standout performances from Wang “nobody” Senxu, Zhang “Smoggy” Zhao, and Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang, with each player securing over 30 kills across the two maps.

EDG’s dominance on Bind and Sunset, including ZmjjKK’s ace on Sunset, led to comfortable halftime leads of 10-2 on both maps.

Despite a spirited comeback attempt from Trace Esports on both maps, EDG closed out Bind 13-7 and Sunset 13-10.

EDG’s standout performances included nobody’s 1.60 rating and 206 ADR on Bind and ZmjjKK’s 28-kill showing on Sunset.

Now, EDward Gaming and Sentinels will face off in the upper semifinals on August 17.

EDG, aiming to break past the top six for the first time in their history, will be looking to overcome Sentinels, who are on a three-match win streak, including victories over both of Korea’s representatives, Gen.G and DRX.

Thursday’s VALORANT Champions fixtures

• G2 Esports ($1.72) vs Leviatan ($2.00) @ 5pm KST
• Team Heretics ($1.66) vs Fnatic ($2.10) @ 8pm KST

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KT Rolster have produced a very confusing mix of results over the last two weeks, with wins against Hanwha Life Esports and Gen.G and two defeats against OKSavingsBank BRION and Kwangdong Freecs. But as puzzling as they might be, those are the most on-brand results for KT Rolster, who perform well as huge underdogs and collapse as massive favourites.

Following this trend, KT Rolster do not inspire confidence at $1.14 with top LoL betting sites. Also, the new patch has introduced some volatility and shifts in the priority of champions, so it is fair to expect DRX to do better than expected.

DRX were blasted by Hanwha Life Esports in their previous outing, but that was primarily because of how HLE like to play. At 12.6 kills and 12 deaths per game on average, Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon and co. are not as bloody and, hence, less likely to win with a higher kill margin.

Kwangdong Freecs lost a very competitive series against BNK FearX on Saturday, which puts them in danger of missing out on the LCK 2024 Summer playoffs. It was still a solid showing from KDF, who entered the series on a two-game winning streak after beating Nongshim RedForce and KT Rolster.

T1 swept OKSavingsBank BRION on Sunday, but they lost to Nongshim RedForce two days prior in one of their worst series of the entire 2024 season. Some of it had to do with the volatility that comes with a new patch, but it was not the first concerning game T1 have produced this split.

After what the LCK 2024 Spring runners-up have produced over the last few weeks, it is tough to justify backing them in this contest — especially considering Kwangdong Freecs will have side choice. A smaller position on KDF to win is worth a look, but it is hard to ignore plus money for the underdogs to win a map.

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Sentinels enter the VALORANT Champions 2024 playoffs with a huge target on their back after the North American squad eliminated the tournament favourites, Gen.G, on Saturday. Like Sentinels, DRX also exceeded expectations by beating KRU Esports and Fnatic in Group A.

VALORANT betting sites have priced Sentinels as favourites for this series. That may be down to their humiliation of Gen.G, who DRX have not beaten once since VCT Pacific 2024 Stage 1.

However, while Sentinels performed well in the previous round, it was more Gen.G not playing as well as they should have. Moreover, DRX are better on Abyss and Sunset and usually do well on Sentinels’ best maps. So, unless we see a complete blunder from one of the two sides, this has the potential to be a close affair.

EDward Gaming and Trace Esports both shocked the world by reaching the VALORANT Champions 2024 playoffs. Yet the spotlight is on VCT China’s fourth seed, who were prime candidates to crash out of the group stage but instead placed first with wins against Leviatan and Team Vitality.

Like Trace, EDward Gaming made a massive splash by beating FUT Esports and Paper Rex. And according to the latest betting odds, they should win this series without major issues.

Wang “nobody” Senxu and his crew are 3-0 in the head-to-head with Trace Esports, which plays into the odds on this match. Still, the underdogs have shown immense improvement over the last couple of weeks, so it is hard to justify fading them at the offered price.

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In a rematch from VALORANT Champions Tour Masters Shanghai, Team Heretics got their revenge over their Korean opponent, as they claimed a tough 2-1 (11-13, 13-11, 13-10) series win to open the second week of competition.

Los Ni?os win the Masters Shanghai Finals rematch and move on to the Playoffs Stage! #VALORANTChampions #VamosHeretics pic.twitter.com/MmfaK1cjkS

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 6, 2024

Abyss was Team Heretics’s pick and a new addition to the VALORANT map pool.

Gen.G, who typically bans Abyss, showed resilience with a Breeze-like composition.

The match saw a closely contested first half, with Gen.G leading 7-5.

Off the back of a strong performance from Kim “Meteor” Tae-o (28 kills on Yoru), Gen.G narrowly secured the map after effective timeout strategies by their coaches.

Lotus, Gen.G’s pick, seemed to favour them initially, leading 10-5.

However, Team Heretics made a remarkable comeback, winning eight of the last nine rounds to claim the map.

Gen.G’s inability to convert 5v4 situations, despite having 15 first bloods, was critical.

Benjy “Benjyfishy” David Fish highlighted their aggressive post-plant strategies as a key factor in their turnaround.

The decider map, Bind, saw Heretics employing a flash-heavy composition, aiding their attacking and defensive strategies.

They led 8-4 at half-time, with effective use of flashes and coordinated attacks.

Despite a late surge from Gen.G, Team Heretics closed out the map at 13-10 and took the series from the hometown favourite.

Kim “t3xture” Na-ra��s underperformance, with zero operator kills, was notable, and external factors like smoke machines were cited by Gen.G as distractions.

Meteor led Gen.G with 76 kills across the series, while Dominykas “MiniBoo” Luka?evi?ius from Team Heretics highlighted the mental strain of the match, calling it the hardest of his career.

DRX gets the clean series win to advance to the Playoffs Stage! #VALORANTChampions #DRXWIN pic.twitter.com/wNPY4c7OD7

VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 6, 2024

DRX secured a playoff spot with a clean 2-0 (13-11, 13-6) victory over Fnatic.

On Abyss, DRX turned a small lead into a 7-5 halftime advantage, eventually winning their map pick by the same margin, thanks to key plays from Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul and defensive strength.

Lotus saw DRX take a slender lead into halftime before running away with the map by winning six of the seven rounds in the second half and claiming the series.

Despite Emir “Alfajer” Ali Beder��s (1.40 rating) standout performance for Fnatic, DRX��s consistency and home-soil advantage proved decisive.

DRX’s victory marked a significant step towards their goal, showcasing their ability to perform under pressure and signalling their potential to go far in the tournament.

Wednesday’s VALORANT Champions matches

• Leviatan ($1.11) vs Trace Esports ($6.00) @ 5pm KST
• EDward Gaming ($2.75) vs G2 Esports ($1.40) @ 8pm KST

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Gen.G kept their winning streak alive on Saturday when they defeated T1 in two maps. It was another game which should not have ended with such a one-sided score, but we can give Gen.G props for their excellent defensive play.

DRX were smashed by BNK FearX on Saturday, proving once more they are not equipped to play at a high level. Their performance stats prove it, including the league��s lowest average kills per game (8.7), tower plates per game (2.84), and third-lowest dragons per game (1.58).

Assuming Gen.G don��t play with their food too much, they should steamroll DRX, which should result in a lower-scoring game. Under 23.5 total kills is a smart play.

KT Rolster achieved the unthinkable in LCK 2024 Summer Week 7 when they upset Hanwha Life Esports with a superb showing. But KT quickly proved how untrustworthy they are as favourites, losing 0-2 to OKSavingsBank BRION in the last round.

Kwangdong Freecs have looked very shaky over the first half of the split, but they found some traction last week with a 1-2 loss to Dplus KIA and a 2-0 sweep of Nongshim RedForce. There is some pulse with this squad, yet Kwangdong Freecs still have a lot more to prove.

KT Rolster are the stronger team, but at $1.33, they��re a bit overrated. Kwangdong Freecs will also have side choice, which makes them an appealing bet on the map handicap market.

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Gen.G kicked off VALORANT Champions 2024 with a 2-0 sweep of Sentinels, who managed just 15 total rounds on Thursday. It was a strong showing from the Pacific representatives, and according to the top esports bookmakers, Gen.G are expected to add another victory to their resume on Tuesday.

EMEA��s third seed, Team Heretics, had to dig deep against FunPlus Phoenix in the opening match of Group B, needing overtime on Lotus to eke out a win. Such a performance against one of the lowest-rated squads in the tournament does not look inspiring, but it doesn��t make Heretics any less capable of beating Gen.G.

As this is a fixture between two elite teams, the favourites appear to be vastly underpriced with VALORANT betting sites. Heretics are talented enough to do some damage and have a deep enough map pool to find a weakness in Gen.G.

DRX and Fnatic both delivered in the opening round of Group A, beating KRU Esports and Bilibili Gaming, respectively. DRX needed a reverse sweep to make it past KRU, but VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Americas third seed are not that weak, so that result is hardly concerning.

Fnatic could have performed better against Bilibili Gaming, who were allowed to take nine rounds on Bind, but we can also blame DRX for losing Haven 2-13 despite having a 69% win rate on the map. It is fair to say neither team showed up in the opening round.

DRX are a capable team, yet it is hard to doubt Fnatic, who showed glimpses of what they are capable of in the second half of the season. There is a good chance this series ends in a 2-0 sweep for the EMEA representatives.

Esports betting tips

The top VALORANT betting sites have priced DRX as $1.57 favourites for this game, which sounds a bit off. DRX placed fourth in VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 1 and second in Stage 2, but they have not looked very stable in the most recent stage.

KRU Esports are the third seed from the Americas league, which doesn’t sound great. But Marco “Melser” Machuca and co. have proved to be very resilient, while a deep map pool has helped them remain competitive with the top squads from the region.

DRX are rightly the favourites, but this price is too short. The value is with the VCT Americas representatives.

Bilibili Gaming have not looked terrible this season, but there are reasons to believe Marcus “nephh” Tan and his crew won’t make it far in South Korea. While they came close to beating other top Chinese sides during league play, BLG consistently fell short.

Fnatic have not accomplished as much this season as they did in 2023, but they won the VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 2 title without any issues. So even though Fnatic have not made a big splash on the international stage yet this season — just one playoff appearance at VCT 2024 Masters Shanghai — they are in great form and experienced enough to make a deep run in South Korea.

Even though Bilibili Gaming deserve respect for reaching the world championship, Fnatic are a far superior team and should win this with plenty to spare.

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OKSavingsBank BRION lost their 11th match of LoL Champions Korea 2024 Summer on Friday against BNK FearX. It is not a terrible result, given FearX��s strong form, but it proved that BRION are still a bottom-tier team.

DRX are in an even worse spot. They have not won a game since the second week of the split and have not shown any redeeming qualities across their last nine straight losses.

Despite their recent defeats, OKSavingsBank BRION have performed much better than expected, so at best, this match should be closer to a coin flip than what the LoL bookmakers are offering. The value is with BRION.

BNK FearX are running hot with four consecutive victories against T1, KT Rolster, Nongshim RedForce and OKSavingsBank BRION. However, they are set to face, by far, the most dominant team of the split.

Gen.G have not lost a series yet and have only dropped one map against Dplus KIA in LCK 2024 Summer Week 5. Gen.G deserve all the praise they can get, but it is reasonable to look the other way at these prices.

BNK FearX do not have the same elite-level roster at Gen.G, no do their overall performance figures stack up. But they are in excellent form, resilient, and will have side choice, which should be enough for them to keep the margin on the first map within nine kills.

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