CIS vs EU: EMEA Playoff Day 1 recap

EMEA is one of the most competitive regions in all of Valorant, which means we’re in for some good games this upcoming week.

Today, we’ll see the first round take place with NAVI vs Liquis, Guild vs forZe, FPX vs Flux, and Oxygen vs VGIA.

Here’s a live breakdown of each map as they take place.

Riot Games

FirePlus Pheonix(2) vs FireFlux Esports(0)

Ascent was as defensive battle as both FPX and FireFlux only gained two rounds on their attacking sides, pushing the match into overtime. As soon as overtime struck, it was clear that the first team to make a blunder on defense would be the loser.

FireFlux was eventually that team, as FPX held on to win the overtime game, 15-13.

FPX and FireFlux traded rounds on Bind ofr the first half, but it was all FPX when it was their turn to defend.

FireFlux lose the map 7-13 as FPX joins Guild as the only EU teams to stand up to their CIS counterparts.

Oxygen Esports(2) vs Giants Gaming(1)

Ascent was a back-and-forth momentum battle that saw both teams take chunks of rounds at a time.

It was Giants who were able to strike harder, though, and walked away with a 13-11 victory on the first map.

Giants brought it back in a big way on Split, only allowing Oxygen to take two rounds while the latter team was defending.

This goes down as an easy 13-2 victor for the Vodafone Giants

Breeze, the tiebreaker, was another chunk battle between these two teams, who traded rounds back and fourth until midway through the second half.

It was then that Oxygen stepped on the gas, while attacking. They won the last five rounds in a row to take Breeze 13-9 and the match 2-1.

NAVI(2) vs Team Liquid(1)

Team Liquid was the heavy favorite coming into this matchup, and looked that way on the first half of NAVI’s map pick of Icebox.

After a 9-2 defending half, Liquid completely fell apart on attack, only managing to win one round and never getting their economy off the ground. NAVI take Icebox 13-10

NAVI rode their momentum into Bind, which Liquid was expected to dominate. They took a 6-6 split in the first half, but their history came back to bite them on attack.

In the only two times we’ve seen NAVI on Bind, they’ve only taken two rounds. They added one to that total in this match, and lost the map 7-13.

Split was the best contest of the three maps, as NAVI took a huge lead and forced Liquid to mount a comeback.

After four rounds of holding NAVI to match point, Liquid cracked and lost the map and the series. They now have to battle their way to Masters 3 through the lower bracket.

Guild Esports(2) vs forZe(0)

Guild, one of the favorites to make it through the playoffs, showed that they were the better team on Icebox.

forZe could never get into a rhythm, despite winning both pistol rounds on defense. Guild win Icebox 13-4.

forZe had a much better answer on Haven, where they took Guild to overtime as the two tams traded rounds.

It was Guild that came out on top after two overtime rounds, winning Haven 14-12 and the matchup 2-0.

🎉 2-0 🎉

Huge congrats to the team, an amazing showing 🥰

See you tomorrow at 16:00 BST/17:00 BEST when we take on @GambitEsports#guildgang pic.twitter.com/Sk2QjfW9j9

— GUILD (@guildesports) August 12, 2021