Evil Geniuses, DRX, and T1 victorious on Day 1 of VCT Masters Tokyo 2023
Evil Geniuses (EG), DRX, and T1 were all victorious on Day 1 of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo as they won their respective matches in the group stage.
VICTORY for @EvilGeniuses!
They take the first series of #VALORANTMasters Tokyo. #EGWIN pic.twitter.com/vOcjldmatz
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) June 11, 2023
North America’s Evil Geniuses was the first to battle it out with their opponents, Türkiye’s FUT Esports. EG managed to sweep FUT in two games, pummeling FUT in Split 13-5 and surviving overtime in Lotus 14-12.
During their series against FUT, EG’s Kelden “Boostio” Pupello almost reached fifty kills as he recorded a 46/30/8 KDA, recording 11/11/3 on Split as Astra and a whopping 35/19/5 on Lotus as Killjoy.
Paving their way! @DRX_VS gets the series win. #DRXWIN #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/cPHHUKKnKk
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) June 11, 2023
Meanwhile, the first day of VCT Masters Tokyo 2023 also saw two South Korean teams winning against Chinese representatives. The first of them was DRX’s 2-0 sweep on Attacking Soul Esports (ASE).
After losing to Paper Rex in the VCT Pacific League, DRX looked initially looked flustered going against ASE as evidenced by the close 13-10 scoreline in the first game on Fracture. However, DRX came to their senses in the second game on Pearl and finished it 13-7 to completely sweep ASE.
What an EXPLOSIVE series! @T1 kicks off their #VALORANTMasters journey with a series win! #T1WIN pic.twitter.com/XSAueHs0ZY
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) June 11, 2023
Following their South Korean brethren, T1 also picked up a win against Chinese team EDward Gaming.
T1 averted losing in the first game of their series against EDward Gaming on Fracture by closing it out 13-10. The game was uncomfortably close for T1 as the first half ended in a 6-6 tie. Luckily, T1 opened up the second half with a four-round win streak to put themselves ahead, 10-6, and eventually win the game without ever losing the lead.
Then, T1 fell on Haven as EDward Gaming came back stronger, ending the game 13-7 in favor of the Chinese representatives.
After that, the third and final game of the T1-EDward Gaming series on Pearl reached an overtime conclusion that saw T1 win the series. Tied 6-6 on halftime, T1 was on pace to win the game as they had a five-round win streak to start the second half. However, EDward Gaming put their foot down and proceeded to win six rounds for themselves and reached map point first before ultimately losing Round 24 to extend the game in overtime. In the end, T1 was the one victorious as they closed the game in overtime 14-12
Following the outcome of Day 1 of VCT Masters Tokyo, Evil Geniuses, DRX, and T1 all move up to the Winner’s Match in their respective brackets, with EG and DRX facing each other next in Group B’s Winner’s Match. Meanwhile, their respective opponents all drop to the lower bracket where they all need to survive the Elimination and Decider matches for a chance to qualify for playoffs.
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
