Giants move on to face EDward Gaming after eliminating KRÜ Esports from VCT Champions 2023.
Giants have set up a rematch with EDward Gaming in the deciding match-up of Group A after defeating KRÜ Esports 2-0 in the elimination series that sees the Americas LCQ winners being the third team to leave VCT Champions 2023. KRÜ joins the EMEA League champions Team Liquid as well as China's third seed, FunPlus Phoenix.
In a must-win series for both teams, it was KRÜ that started the first map of the series on the front foot. Their pick of Lotus looked to be the right pick despite Giants taking an early lead. KRÜ would go on to take seven of the first 12 rounds while Giants won five, one of which was the 10th-round, four-kill thrifty by Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas.
At the start of the second half, Giants would go on to win six rounds in a row, which also included another four-kill round, courtesy of Adolfo "Fit1nho" Gallego this time. Try as they might, KRÜ just couldn't make the right calls when it mattered most. However, this didn't stop Angelo "keznit" Mori from putting the team on his back with a four-kill round of his own. But in the end, KRÜ could only secure three round wins, giving the first map over to Giants.
On Giant's pick of Pearl for the second map, it was KRÜ's turn to start the map with a pistol round win to set the tone. They would go on to win the second round before swapping victories back-and-forth with Giants. But by round five -- which was also a semi-buy round win -- Giants would take the lead and went on to win the next five rounds. But KRÜ would take rounds 11 and 12 to keep the score tight at 5-7, essentially a reverse from game one.
KRÜ started the second half well, taking the pistol as well as the subsequent round after that to even things up. But this was also the point of Giant's power spike, which saw them take the next three rounds. Not to be outdone, KRÜ managed to win five rounds in a row after that to reach match point first. Unfortunately, they could not close it out as Giants managed to sneak the last two rounds to force an overtime.
In what could've been one of the great VCT comebacks of this season sadly ended prematurely as KRÜ looked completely rocked after Giants managed to tie the map. From there, overtime was all but secure for Giants, who took the next two rounds with relative ease. They live to fight another day while also securing the rematch against EDward Gaming in a few days time.
