Bren Esports and Looking for Org both started the second round of the double round-robin group stage with a bang after they handed unbeaten teams Action PH and Naos Esports their first taste of defeat in the VCT 2022 Challengers PH on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Both falling in a 2-0 sweep in their first encounters, Bren and LFO got back at Action PH and Naos respectively with 2-1 victories to improve their playoff bids.
It was LFO that exacted revenge to its last week tormentor when it outlasted Naos in the three-game thriller in the opening match of the day.
LFO drew the series first blood as it rode an impressive first half in the opening map to score a 13-5 Game 1 win. Naos, which fell short of its comeback bid in the opening map, made sure to get the job done in Breeze. It overcame an 8-4 half time disadvantage to squeeze past LFO and take a tight 15-13 overtime win in Game 2.
Unbothered by its collapse in the second map, LFO was quick to atone for its mistakes as it once again used a searing 9-3 start in the first half in Ascent to pull away with a 13-9 series clincher.
Bren, on the other hand, completed a reverse sweep to take down Action PH in the third match of the day. It was the latter which scored the first point of the series following a dominant 13-4 win in the former’s map pick in Icebox. Bren returned the favor in the second game as it clobbered APH 13-3 in ascent.
The third game, however, was not played as APH forfeited the match due to technical issues, handing Bren the Game 3 win and the series victory.
In the second match, South Built Esports completed its redemption of Zeal Esports with a 2-0 sweep. SBE slipped past Zeal with two hard-earned victories; the first one in Haven where SBE rallied back to take a 13-11 come-from- behind win.
The squad then prevailed over Zeal in a tightly contested Game 2 with a 16-14 overtiime win to close out the series.