KRU Esports secured their place in the playoffs of Valorant Champions Tour Stage 3 Berlin Masters with an arduous win over Vivo Keyd (13-11 Split, 13-11 Haven). The Latin American representatives seal the second seed from Group B, with Envy sealing the top seed from the Group.
Vivo Keyd made light work of ZETA Division in the Group B eliminator. KRU Esports, on the other hand, were handed a humble lesson in Valorant in an arduous defeat against Envy. The two teams met each other for the first time in the history of Valorant in this Group B decider, with a spot in the playoffs on the line.
Vivo Keyd opted to pick the Split, with KRU Esports going for Haven. Vivo Keyd ended up choosing Icebox as the potential decider.
Split
KRU started brightly on the Defence, shutting down an A execute attempt through the vents area to win the pistol. Angelo “keznit” Mori copped a triple kill with his Paint Shells at B heaven to make it 2-0. Vivo Keyd waited and waited before exploding onto B on their full buy on the 3rd round to get themselves on the board for Split. A triple kill from Nicolas “Klaus” Ferrari nullified the zonal Lockdown from Jonathan “Jhow” Gloria at B to secure the round for KRU.
However, VK started playing some methodical and rotational Valorant that confused KRU at every turn, equalizing the score at 4-4. A 1v1 conversion from Jhow gave VK the lead but Klaus produced a clutch of his own to tie things up at 5-5. Another clutch, this time from keznit, fragging heat at B rafters to defuse the spike and hand KRU the lead. KRU won the second-half pistol as well, going A through vents and strangling VK’s A defence. Jhow shut down another vents execute attempt from KRU to force them into a two-man save and cut the deficit to three.
A triple kill from Lucas “ntk” Martins at A made it a one-round game at 10-9. But, keznit was the protagonist once again for KRU. The KRU Raze popped off with a triple kill on the vents execute and another triple kill at A to bring up the map point. The prospect of losing the map breathed life into VK’s defence, with two consecutive shutdowns pushing the score to 12-11 and into the last round of regulation time.
KRU took a tactical timeout and opted to go for a late A execute, diving into the other side of a defensive Cosmic Divide from Gabriel “v1xen” Martins to get the spike planted in time and defend it to close out Split 13-11.
keznit was the difference for KRU against VK. The Chilean duelist was clinical with his utility usage, especially the Paint Shells. VK’s inability to win either pistol and shut KRU down at vents contributed to the fine margins in the 13-11 defeat.
Haven
A double kill from Juan “NagZ” Pablo Lopez opened up A site, with KRU winning the pistol. However, a 1v1 clutch at A from Jhow put VK on the board for Haven. Another A execute from the Attackers made it 3-1 in their favour. But, Murillo “murizzz” Tuchtenhagen popped off with an ace to retake C site successfully. v1xen and Jhow shut down the A execute to tie things up at 3-3. VK soon established a 6-3 lead, with a triple kill from Olavo “heat” Marcelo at C making it 7-3.
A double kill from Joaquin “delz1k” Espinoza on the back of Guiding Light to peek beyond the Cosmic Divide denied VK the defuse on the 11th round. KRU gravitated towards A for a late execute. But, ntk denied them control of the site with a triple kill to seal an 8-4 lead for VK. The Brazilians opened up a 10-4 lead soon on the back of the second-half pistol. But, KRU pulled things back once their full-buy arrived, making it a three-round game at 10-7.
KRU took back control of C site on the back of a Lockdown from Klaus, with Roberto “Mazino” Rivas sticking the defuse to cut the deficit to two. keznit denied ntk the 1v4 postplant clutch at elevator boxes to tie things up at 10-10. The Run it Back from murizzz pulled the rotation and allowed Jhow to take control of A site, converting the postplant to take the lead.
VK used Jhow’s Lockdown at B but chose to fall and hit C immediately. However, delz1k spotted the attack in time to activate the Nebula to deny any control to equalize the score one more time. An A split shutdown brought up the match point for KRU, who shut another A execute down to close out Haven 13-11.
delz1k’s holds at C site were instrumental to KRU’s comeback on Haven.
Postlude
KRU Esports secure the second seed from Group B and book their place in the playoffs of VCT Stage 3 Berlin Masters. Two 13-11 map defeats for Vivo Keyd sees the Brazilian challenge end at VCT Stage 3 Berlin Masters. However, Vivo Keyd have qualified for Valorant Champions as the second seed from Brazil, pocketing 225 Circuit Points as a result of their top 12 finish in Berlin.
