Game Changers Championship Day 3 Recap

The third day of the world championship saw the first two teams depart and another team lock in a top three finish.

Evil Geniuses vs Team Liquid Brazil (EG 0–2 TL)

With their tournament lives on the line, Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid, both top seeds from their regions, started off the third day of the Game Changers Championship on Split. Team Liquid showed resilience throughout their map pick, as they strung together multiple runs on their way to a 13–10 win despite losing both pistols.

On their opponent’s map pick, Ascent, Liquid’s struggles in pistols continued, but their success outside of the pistol rounds also continued, as they took a 8–4 halftime lead through to a 13–6 map win, taking the series 2–0 and keeping their tournament run alive.

Team Liquid advance to the next round of the lower bracket, while Evil Geniuses’ tournament run ended with a 7th-8th place finish.

KRÜ Blaze vs Chao Hui EDward Gaming (KRU 2–0 EDGS)

The other elimination match featured two teams who also breezed through their regional competition on their way to the Game Changers Championship, although they ran into powerhouses in their first round of the tournament.

The match would begin on Split, EDward Gaming’s pick, but KRÜ looked comfortable as they took a 8–4 lead at halftime and reached double digits shortly after with a pistol round win. They would continue their success in the second half, as they would close the first map behind big plays from conir on Omen.

The series then shifted to Ascent, a back-and-forth affair where neither team led by more than two rounds. The teams saw most of their success on their attacking halves, but ultimately a strong overtime performance from KRÜ was enough to take them across the line and into the next round of the lower bracket, sending EDward Gaming home.

BBL Queens vs Shopify Rebellion (BBL 0–2 SR)

After a strong showing in their opening match, only dropping three rounds against EDG, Shopify Rebellion was eager to continue their tournament run against a team that many believed to be a contender for the crown in BBL Queens, EMEA’s top seed.

The series would begin on Ascent, BBL’s pick, but it might not have seemed that way as Shopify Rebellion took a 10–2 halftime lead, closing out the first map quickly, 13–3, behind 18 kills each from florescent and meL.

After stealing their opponent’s map pick, Shopify looked to close out the series on Haven, where BBL looked to make a statement, winning the pistol round. Unfortunately for BBL fans, the pistol rounds would tally half of the rounds BBL would win on Haven, as Shopify’s lurks from Noia, sarah, and meL were too much to handle in tandem with the firepower of florescent and alexis, as SR took their map pick 13–4, taking the series 2–0.

Shopify’s victory sets up a highly-anticipated matchup against defending champions G2 Gozen tomorrow. BBL Queens heads now to the lower bracket against Team Liquid Brazil.

Bottom Line

Tomorrow the knockouts will continue in the lower bracket, as Team SMG takes on KRÜ Blaze at 9 AM PST, followed by BBL Queens and Team Liquid Brazil at 12 PM PST. A possible finals preview as tournament favorites G2 Gozen and Shopify Rebellion square off to wrap up the fourth day of competition.