Sentinels redeemed themselves in a decisive 2-0 sweep against FPX, securing their spot in the group B decider match.

SEN CITY LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY! #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/DQMMNCdi3D

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 8, 2024

Coming off a tough 2-0 loss to Gen.G, Sentinels were determined to bounce back against FPX, who themselves had narrowly lost to Team Heretics in a thrilling 2-1 series.

FPX’s pick of Bind, where they had previously excelled with a unique Yoru and Chamber composition, initially looked promising as they took an 8-4 lead in the first half.

However, Sentinels made key adjustments, and they rallied to win nine consecutive rounds, closing out the map at 13-8.

Zachary “zekken” Jude Patrone led the charge with 20 kills, and Kale “Autumn” Dunne was the only player from FPX who could match his performance.

On Lotus, Sentinels continued their momentum, exploiting FPX’s unconventional composition, which lacked a duelist.

FPX struggled to break Sentinels’ defensive setups, allowing Sentinels to secure a dominant 9-3 half.

Zekken and Tyson “TenZ” Van Ngo were the stars of the show, with TenZ contributing 19 kills to help Sentinels finish the map 13-5.

With this victory, Sentinels eliminated FPX and advanced to a rematch against Gen.G for a spot in the playoffs.

KRü Esports also delivered a commanding performance, eliminating Bilibili Gaming with a 2-0 victory.

KRü’s map veto favoured them, forcing Bilibili to play on weaker maps.

Despite Bilibili taking an early lead on Lotus, KRü’s resilience showed as they turned the tide with a near-flawless second half to close out the map 13-9.

Fabian “Shyy” Patricio Usnayo’s triple kill in the final round was crucial in securing KRü’s victory.

Moving on to Bilibili’s pick, Icebox, KRü dominated from the start, with Nicolás “mta” González and Angelo “keznit” Mori leading the charge.

Despite Bilibili’s efforts to adapt, KRü’s aggressive playstyle proved too much, and they wrapped up the map with a decisive 13-4 scoreline.

KRü’s victory set them up for a high-profile rematch against Fnatic, a team they famously defeated at Champions 2021.

For both Sentinels and KRü Esports, these victories were vital in keeping their tournament hopes alive.

Sentinels will face Gen.G in a do-or-die match, while KRü will look to continue their run against Fnatic.

KRü KEEPS THEIR #VALORANTChampions DREAMS ALIVE! pic.twitter.com/8xiyQEUW7p

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 8, 2024

More esports news

Sentinels had a very tough start to VALORANT Champions 2024, as they had to face the top team in the world, Gen.G, and lost in two maps. FunPlus Phoenix did not have it much easier, as they lost to Team Heretics in overtime.

FunPlus Phoenix showed more than expected against Team Heretics, although the latter side did not perform at 100% on the day. As such, it is fair to question whether FunPlus Phoenix are actually good.

Sentinels, with their roster, should not be losing games like this. But as FunPlus Phoenix proved in Shanghai and last week, they can hang with the best. Expect a close series.

Bilibili Gaming kicked off their tournament run with a 0-2 loss against Fnatic; however, they showed a pulse on Bind, where the VCT China representatives won nine rounds. Lotus was much more one-sided, but it is not like Bilibili have ever been good on that map.

Bilibili Gaming do not have to worry about Lotus for this series, as it is one of their opponents’ weakest maps, along with Abyss — as shown in KRU Esports’ defeat against DRX in the opening series.

VALORANT betting sites have KRU as big favourites for this match. But based on the teams’ performances in the first round, it is easy to believe Bilibili Gaming can leave a dent in VCT Americas’ fourth seed.

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.

Esports betting tips

The devastating news was shared by his former team, KRü Esports, on September 4, 2023.

Daveeys had been a significant part of the VALORANT competitive scene, making his mark in the 2023 VCT season after joining KRü Esports towards the end of the previous year.

His journey led him to compete at the prestigious VALORANT Champions event in Los Angeles.

In a heartfelt statement released by KRü Esports, it was revealed that Daveeys passed away on the day following his 23rd birthday due to an undisclosed medical issue.

Es con profunda tristeza que tenemos que comunicarles que, tras sufrir una descompensación el domingo, falleció @Daveeys21.

No hay forma de suavizar esto, nos tomó a todos por sorpresa.

Daveeys, Santi, era un player espectacular y un compa?ero de primera. Con su característica… pic.twitter.com/muuHmBfCII

— KRü Esports (@KRUesports) September 4, 2023

The esports community, including his teammates, fellow professionals and fans, swiftly took to social media to pay tribute to this talented player.

Nicolas ‘Klaus’ Ferrari, a teammate at KRü, fondly remembered Daveeys saying, “When I was down, you were always there to cheer me up.”

“You were and you will always be my friend, wherever you are. You will always be in my mind for everything we shared together. I will miss you. I love you, friend. Rest in peace.”

Angelo ‘keznit’ Mori, a Chilean VALORANT star and another KRü player, expressed his condolences simply with, “Rest in peace, Santi.”

Sergio Aguero, the owner of KRü Esports and a former soccer player, extended his support and love to Daveeys’ family and friends, stating, “Rocked by this sad news that hit us all hard.”

Mario ‘malbsMd’ Samayoa, a CS:GO player who had the privilege of competing alongside Daveeys before his transition to VALORANT, shared his heartfelt sentiments: “You will be missed, Davo.”

“I love you, and you were one of the best teammates I have had. I will always remember every moment we spent together, especially the night we beat w7m in LA League.”

Yinsu Collins, a well-known VALORANT host, expressed her shock and sadness, saying, “Oh my god, this is heartbreakingly sad.”

“Daveey was super talented, incredibly nice, and friendly at every event I saw him. Sending love to his friends and family.”

Daveeys will be remembered not only for his gaming prowess but also for the inspiration and pride he brought to his country and the broader VALORANT community.

His loss is deeply felt, and his memory will continue to resonate in the world of esports.

Unfortunately, Daveeys is the second professional VALORANT player to pass away this year, after Karel ‘Twisten’ A?enbrener from Team Vitality, tragically passed away in June.

More esports news

Karmine Corp and Team BDS have met 13 times at Rocket League Championship Series events, and the overall record for those matches couldn’t be much closer. BDS lead the head-to-head series count 7-6, although KC lead maps won 36-35 and goals scored 169-163.

Karmine Corp automatically qualified for the group stage, kicking off their tournament against Team Secret. KC were made to work in that match, as three of the five maps went to overtime; however, Europe’s number one team were too good for their South American rivals and took the series 4-1.

Team BDS also earned automatic qualification for the group stage, and their opening clash was against Team Falcons. That series went back and forth over six maps, trading lopsided results throughout. Ultimately, BDS packed too much firepower for Falcons and took the series 4-2.

BDS have had the wood over KC in recent time, with three of the last four meetings going their way – including the 4-3 victory at the RLCS Spring Major. Although KC have been marked as the bookies’ favourite in this series, we will be backing Team BDS to get the job done.

Team Liquid scraped through their opening group stage series against Complexity after the pair traded maps through the first five. To win the series, Liquid put together the first set of back-to-back map wins, and claimed the 4-3 result.

It is easy to say that Liquid needed the game to warm into the RLCS World Championship and they were just blowing out the cobwebs, but they will need to be much better in this series if they hope to advance to the semi-finals.

After going through the wildcard stage to qualify for the group stage, KRU Esports upset their South American rivals Ninjas in Pyjamas in their opening series. That was one of the tighter series we have seen so far, with four of the seven maps going to overtime. NiP looked to have the series within their grasp, but KRU eked out a 1-0 win on the sixth map before ending the series with a dominant 3-1 win on the final map to claim the contest 4-3.

With Liquid currently marked at $1.20 by most of the best esports betting sites, they are way too short for our liking, so we will be playing in the total maps market.

More esports betting tips

Despite coming in first for Oceania’s season, Pioneers did not qualify for the RLCS Spring Major and didn’t look too sharp at the RLCS Winter Major, where they won just one game across the three series. Those results and the fact that the Pioneers don’t have a coach explain why they aren’t expected to make it far in Germany.

Twisted Minds, the third seed in MENA, have been very consistent throughout the season and looked extremely good in the final split, with two silver medals from the Spring Cup and Spring Invitational. With those results, Twisted Minds proved they could hang around the best team from their region; however, it remains to be seen how they’ll do on the international stage, as they’ve yet to attend a Major this season.

Even though Pioneers have proven to be the top dogs in their region, the absence of a coach will be a problem on the big stage. Take the favourites at the moneyline.

PWR, Oceania’s second seed, are one of the most unpredictable teams in the RLCS 2022-23 World Championship. They started the season by winning the final two regional events of the opening split, then finished all three Winter Split events in fifth-eighth, and bounced back with a first, third, and second in the three RLCS Spring Split regional events.

In July, at the RLCS 2022-23 Spring Split Major, PWR won just one game against Ground Zero (3-1). However, they looked very good in their narrow defeat against Rule One (2-3).

Oxygen Esports had an excellent start to the season, but after a horrible run at the Fall Split Major, the European mix lost Finlay “rise.” Ferguson and replaced him with Dylan “eekso” Pickering. The new roster hasn’t looked that good, finishing Winter Split Major in 9th-12th place, and last split the team’s best run was a fifth-sixth finish in the Spring Cup.

Oxygen Esports have brand value, but results over the last two months suggest they can lose to anyone. PWR with a 2.5-map advantage is a solid bet at $2.00, but we’re getting far more value backing them on the moneyline at the top Rocket League betting sites.

Despite showing promise at the start of the season, G1 haven’t managed to find much success across the nine regional events, with just three top-four finishes in winter and fall. In the final split of the season, G1 finished the first two regionals in 9th-12th and ended the Spring Invitational in seventh-eighth.

There were also rumours that G1 wanted to make roster changes ahead of the RLCS 2022-23 World Championship, which can’t help the team’s morale.

KRU Esports have won three regionals this season, including the Spring Open and Spring Invitational. They finished top eight at the Winter Split Major but struggled to deliver in the Spring Split Major, crashing out in 13th-16th place.

Even though KRU’s placement at the last Major wasn’t convincing, they have the tools to make it far, and if they do, it’ll likely be thanks to Arthur “drufinho” Langsch Miguel. Considering what KRU and G1 have shown lately, we would argue that the RLCS betting odds on this match should be reversed.

Elevate are one of the weaker teams attending the RLCS 2022-23 World Championship, but they’ve had a good season. During the final split, they won two out of three events, losing only the APAC Spring Invitational (runner-up). Elevate also performed relatively well at the RLCS Spring Major, where they took a game from Team Vitality (1-3) and played a competitive match against Team Liquid (0-3).

Even so, Team Falcons are expected to crush Elevate on Thursday. Nicholas “Nick” Marrone’s men looked good in MENA regional events until the final split when they finished the Spring Open in fourth and Spring Invitational in third place, missing out on the RLCS Spring Split Major.

Poor results at the end of the split don’t make Team Falcons a weak side, but they probably shouldn’t be priced as $1.10 favourites to defeat Elevate. We like the underdogs to win at least one map.

?More esports betting tips

The three players have been a part of the Argentine team since 2021. During that time, KRü have participated in each and every international Valorant Champions Tour event that has ever taken place. Additionally, they were instrumental in the team achieving of a top-four finish in the Valorant Champions 2021.

As the only team to have competed in each and every international LAN tournament that has taken place since the inception of Valorant, KRü were an obvious candidate to represent the Americas in Riot Games’ new franchised leagues from 2023 onwards. That move has led the Latin American organization to seek out some new players.

KRü Esports finished in first place in a number of the Challengers competitions held in Latin America. However, there was a significant lack of consistency in the team’s performance. They are now going to have to compete with some of the top teams from North America and Brazil, so the decision to strengthen the lineup comes as no surprise.

KRü will maintain only two of their original players: Nicolas “Klaus” Ferrari and Juan Pablo “NagZ” Lopez. Both players have been consistently productive despite the fact that the team as a whole has been inconsistent on the international scene.

Given the new import rules, KRü Esports will now have the option of signing any player from inside their region. The team has access to an enormous transfer pool, and there is still time to make several transfer deals before the deadline passes on October 15.

?More esports news

?The franchise became the third Asian team to make an early exit from the tournament.

KRü displayed a praiseworthy performance at the 2021 Valorant Champions. However, they also faced a similar fate to XERXIA of being eliminated from the group stage if they were to lose this match.? ?

After losing to FunPlus Phoenix and XSET, respectively, KRü and XERXIA joined the lower bracket of Group C. Both franchises were beaten with a 2-0 score.? ?

The recent match between KRü and XERXIA was the first time that both teams had met each other, despite having appeared on the international stage on several occasions.

The teams started their series with Icebox as their first pick, and XERXIA decided on a typical composition. For the team’s duelist pick, Thanachart “Surf” Rungapajaratkul selected Jett. The move earned the player the status of someone to watch out for during the game.? ?

At the start of the map, KRü used a strategy made popular by FunPlus Phoenix to bag four successive rounds. The gaming strategy basically had the team purchasing up to Vandals in round two of the match.? ?

In the first half of Icebox, the Latin American team carried on with their strategy commendably well, while XERXIA, on the other hand, could not keep up and marred their performance with several mistakes.? ?Surf, who picked Jeff at the start of the map, was unable to make any proper impact with his agent, while Roberto “Mazino” Rivas for KRü displayed his expert use of Sage on the map.? ?

Despite the overwhelming difference in their performances, XERXIA were still able to bag a few rounds, stopping KRü from dealing out a full sweep. With a number of lucky timing advantages and clutches, the map ended with a 13-4 win for KRü.?

?The next map, Haven, was selected by XERXIA, and they tried and succeeded in making up for their previous failure. They blazed through the first six rounds with six consecutive wins after getting the pistol round.? ?KRü attempted damage control in the first half, but XERXIA obtained the pistol round in the second half and closed the map with a win. Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut and Panyawat “sushiboys” Subsiriroj gave a startlingly good performance, which helped the Thai team to end the map with a 13-7 win.?

?Contrary to the previous two maps, the third, Ascent, had no particular team in the lead at the start. The situation carried on to the second half, when KRü got into the lead by strengthening their attack.? ?They were able to use every chance they got to lay waste to their opponent’s defense. This led to a similar situation as the first map, and KRü won Ascent with a 13-6 score.? ?

Although KRü came out on top of the match and performed much better than in their game against FunPlus Phoenix, the team is yet to play as well as it did in the previous games.? ?With XSET claiming victory over FPX in the Group C winners’ match, KRü will take on FPX in the decider match to be held on September 8. The winner of the outing will advance to the playoffs, and the loser’s journey will be cut short.

?More esports news

The outcome sent the?Argentine?franchise?to the decisive match to compete for the final position in Group A’s playoff bracket. In order to advance, KRü Esports will take on?the winner of the elimination match between?LOUD and OpTic in a decider match.

The matchup between KRU and Guild was fiercely contested, especially given that two of the three maps finished in overtime for the teams. Guild has officially advanced to the event’s playoff bracket, being the first team to do so in the tournament.

This is Guild’s first?international Valorant Masters tournament appearance, whereas KRü has four international appearances, including three Masters events and a Champions attendance last year. After winning Group A, Guild will be the top-seeded team entering the knockout stage.

With the exception of the Fracture map, which concluded with a score of 13-6 in favor of Guild, this victory was not an easy one for the EMEA squad to achieve. The opening map on Bind finished in overtime, with KRü coming out on top despite trailing for the majority of the map.

Map three on Icebox was by far the most intense map in the tournament thus far. KRü led 7-5 at halftime, putting them just a couple of?rounds away from the playoff bracket. But Guild caught their rhythm in the second half, winning round after round against KRü and forcing overtime.

While?this was not the longest overtime period ever seen in a VCT match, fans were kept on the edge of?their seats for the entirety of the overtime. As the game drew to a close,?Guild took the lead after catching up to KRü during overtime.

Guild won rounds 28, 29, and 30, thereby seeing?the British franchise?make their?way?to the playoff stage, gaining points for their Champions dreams. This victory brings?them a bit closer to appearing in the grand final in their maiden Masters appearance.

?More esports news

KRü ESPORTS vs FNATIC VALORANT BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

?Thursday’s VALORANT Champions 2021 quarter-final bout between KRü Esports and Fnatic will see the two teams cross paths for only the second time in their history.

KRü eliminated Sentinels (2-1) from the tournament on Monday, producing what might be one of the biggest upsets of the year in VALORANT esports. The Chilean-Argentinian roster put on an incredible display, but we have to note that Sentinels did not play that well.

Fnatic stormed through Group D, picking up two closely fought wins against Cloud9 Blue (2-1) and Vision Strikers (2-1). Admittedly, five of six maps were very close and could have gone either way, but the European squad undeniably deserved to win both fixtures.

Fnatic enter this bout as the favourites on the esports betting sites, which is fair knowing that KRü had to produce a reverse-sweep to defeat FURIA Esports, while their only notable win came against the struggling Sentinels. But while KRü weren’t particularly clean, we disagree with the odds in this case.

Fnatic should win, but we don’t expect it to be 2-0. There is even a world where KRü spring an upset, but again, a 2-0 score is unlikely. A bet on overs makes the most sense.