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Cloud9 Valorant wins TEN Global Invitational 2023
The TEN Global Invitational concluded over the weekend. The $26K tournament featured DRX, T1, EDward Gaming and Cloud9. The two-day tournament featured a group stage and a playoff stage. Let’s recap the tournament’s format, the playing roster and the results.
TEN Global Invitational 2023 Format:
The tournament was divided into two stages. The round-robin group stage had the four teams battling each other to secure a better seeding in the playoffs.
The playoffs had teams sorted according to seeding, with the bottom two seeds playing the first elimination game of the playoffs. The second seed played the winners of the first game, and the first seed played the winner of the second game.
The unique format ensured a maximum number of games and each team played every other team.
Playing rosters:
As mentioned earlier, four teams participated in the TEN Global Invitational 2023. The roster for the playing teams were as follows:
- Cloud9:
- Anthony “vanity” Malaspina
- Erick “Xeppaa” Bach
- Jake “jakee” Anderson
- Francis “OXY” Hoang
- Maxim “wippie” Shepelev
- DRX:
- Kim “Stax” Gu-taek
- Kim “MaKo” Myeong-gwan
- Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul
- Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung
- Cho "Flashback" Min-hyuk
- EDward Gaming
- Guo “Haodong” Haodong
- Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang
- Wang “nobody” Senxu
- Tang “Muggle” Shijun
- Wan “CHICHOO” Shunzhi
- Zhang “Smoggy” Zhao
- T1
- Son “xeta” Seon-ho
- Ha “Sayaplayer” Jeong-woo
- Lee “Carpe” Jae-Hyeok
- Ham “iZu” Woo-ju
- Lee “k1Ng” Seung-won
DRX opted to play with Flashback and foxy9 instead of Zest and Rb for the tournament. T1 also confirmed Kevin “xccurate” Susanto will miss the tournament and will not be playing.
TEN Global Invitational Group Stage recap:
The group stage of the tournament featured six matches. The round-robin group stage consisted of six Bo1s. EDward Gaming and Cloud9 came out on top. Both the teams finished the group stage with a record of 2W-1L. DRX and T1 only won over T1 and Cloud9, respectively and finished with a 1W-2L record.
TEN Global Invitational Playoffs recap:
With DRX and T1 being the bottom two seeds, they played the first Bo1 elimination game. After a close encounter on Split, DRX came out on top after a 5-7 half. In the first Bo3 of the tournament, EDward Gaming took on DRX.
Their clash started on Lotus with EDG securing a strong 9-3 lead over DRX. Unfortunately, the 9-3 curse came into effect, and DRX came back to force overtime. EDG and DRX exchanged attack and defense rounds before winning three rounds in a row to win the map 14-12.
DRX answered back on Breeze. They secured a strong 7-5 lead and converted it into a 13-9 win to force a third map.
DRX stomped EDG on Split. On offense, EDG could only win two rounds. DRX converted the strong lead to a strong 13-4 finish to secure the grand finals against Cloud9.
Cloud9 triumphs over DRX:
The Cloud9-DRX bout started on Split. Both the teams exchanged blows, and the regulation ended in a tie. DRX prevailed in OT to secure the first map.
Cloud9’s Ascent pick paid off as they completely annihilated DRX’s Yoru composition. DRX turned the tables on Lotus and dominated Cloud9’s defense to secure an 8-4 half.
It seemed DRX would run away with the series but Cloud9’s attack brought them back. Cloud9 dominated the second half to secure a 2-1 win over DRX.
This is an amazing start for Cloud9 as a team, the team was announced a few days back and starting on a good note will help the team’s confidence.
But, it is also to be noted, these are off/season events and they are more like practice. Additionally, DRX was playing with new players. But it also doesn’t take anything away from Cloud9 as it was their first tournament together and they had limited practice.
The next big off/season event will likely be Red Bull Home Ground Japan featuring 100 Thieves, Cloud9, DRX, Fnatic and more.
Follow all the ongoing and upcoming Valorant events on Strafe.
Featured Image Source: Cloud9 Valorant Twitter
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