VALORANT Champions Group Stage Day 1: NAVI and DRX secured win – The first day of VALORANT Champions saw intense matchups where NAVI secured a win over Team Liquid. Meanwhile, DRX from Asia Pacific defeated raining champions LOUD. Here is the full-day recap of VALORANT Champions Day 1.
Day 1 of #VALORANTChampions gave us two epic matchups! Relive the biggest moments. pic.twitter.com/tP6CwkUWrN
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 7, 2023
NAVI defeated Team Liquid
In the first match of the day, NAVI comfortably defeated Team Liquid on both maps. The first map of the match was Fracture. Despite taking early leads, Team Liquid failed to capitalize on the lead in further rounds as NAVI secured an impressive comeback and a map win with a 13-11 scoreline.
In the second map, Bind, we saw an intense fightback from both teams. Once again, Team Liquid took a good start in the first half but crumbled later on. In any manner, both teams managed to push the game into overtime. Finally, in the 32nd round, NAVI pulled the map in their favor with two consecutive wins. With this victory in VALORANT Champions Group Stage Day 1, NAVI moves further in the winner’s bracket. Meanwhile, Team Liquid will have to continue their run through the lower brackets.
DRX defeated LOUD
Although both teams were highly competitive, LOUD was clearly favored in this clash. However, DRX surprised everyone with a 2-1 victory over the reigning champions, LOUD. In the best-of-three series, the first map of the match was played on Lotus. LOUD started with four rounds in a row in their favor, but DRX counterattacked with a whopping 7 rounds in their favor. In the second half, there was a continuous exchange of rounds, but LOUD managed to secure the first map with a 15-13 score in overtime.
The second map was DRX’s own map pick, and the first half was completely dominated by DRX with an 8-4 score. Even in the second half, they did not let the lead slip and secured the map with a dominant 13-6 score. After a tied score, we moved to the decider map of Ascent. The first-half dominance saga for DRX continued even on this map with an 8-4 score. In the second half, LOUD took a handsome start but crumbled later on.
With this, DRX secured the map against NAVI in the winner’s bracket, moving LOUD into the lower bracket run.
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