VALORANT Champions Seoul 2024 Lower Finals: Team Heretics vs Leviatán Preview

Incheon is aflame after an incredible Day 1 in the arena. Both Americas teams took the L last night after fans were treated to back-to-back 3 map series. Now, with the departure of Sentinels after last night’s series against Team Heretics, Leviatán remains as the sole Americas representative. In the other corner? Team Heretics, the last hope of the EMEA region.

The Lower Finals today will kick off at 4pm KST (9am CET), with the 2 teams taking on one another in a Bo5 series for a shot at the Grand Finals stage (where EDG already awaits) and the Champions title.

Leviatán vs Team Heretics: Setting the Stage

Leviatán: Stop them early or get run over

Coming off the back of a bitter loss to EDG last night, Leviatán have now fallen to the Lower Bracket. If they are to survive and make it to the Grand Finals, they will have to go through EMEA’s finest.

Leviatán’s form at Champions 2024 so far has been just a little shy of immaculate. Their record against other teams at the event would have been flawless - if not for the existence of Chinese teams. Both losses they suffered at this event came at the hands of Chinese roster - Trace Esports and EDward Gaming for that matter, which perhaps suggests an unfamiliarity with the region’s playstyle as a whole.

Despite that, Leviatán still boasts one of the most stacked lineups in the world to date. Of course they have aspas, World Champion, naturally. LEV also has tex, who has quickly cemented himself as the no.2 on the roster in terms of fragging power and is typically the 2nd fragging axis that LEV revolves around especially in those clutch situations.

In terms of raw roster power, LEV are very much one of the biggest offenders when it comes to just being able to stat check opponent teams. After all, when you have a stick named aspas, might as well swing as often as you can right?

Team Heretics: Youth is our superpower Top 2 at Shanghai, looking to top that

However, coming in off the back of taking down Champion’s most overrated team, Team Heretics will be looking to further cement their status as the best EMEA team of 2024.

The recognition and plaudits they earned for their  Shanghai finals appearance, their Stage 1 and 2 performances, as well as attending every international this year - not to mention the top 3 at Seoul - have rightfully crowned them as EMEA’s finest in 2024.

Heretics is widely considered one of the strongest tactically driven rosters in the world, but they too have no shortage of firepower, boasting some of the most talented rookies to grace the EMEA stage in recent times. In terms of the mechanical matchup, it's extremely even to the eyetest, with the slightest of edge going to LEV for the experience on some of their members.

VALORANT Champions Seoul 2024 Lower Finals Match-Up

Both teams have already squared off once before in the Upper Bracket of this Champions. In that last series, LEV ended up walking away with a clean 2-0. Despite a closely contested Map 1, LEV very much ran away with the series after LEV seized the momentum following the start of the second half. From there, Heretics went meekly into the night as LEV closed it out with an 8-2 scoreline in the 2nd half.

However, an important factor to note, and one that has come into play in many of the matches in Seoul is momentum. A team is only as strong as their spirit and we’ve seen it, with games such as EDG vs SEN, SEN vs Gen.G, LEV vs Heretics (part 1), and so on and so forth.

Leviatán is coming into this series off the back of a loss. A heartbreaker of a loss in fact, as EDG had clawed their way back into the series. Meanwhile, Heretics were a map down and behind in score against Sentinels on the 2nd map before they fought their way back. Hence, all the momentum, and all the confidence, is surging with Heretics at the moment coming into this series.

The other factor to consider is the turnover time of less than a day. With so little time to prep, we’re expecting even more of a brawl today as players will have to rely on their individual mechanics more often to deliver in those crucial moments.

VALORANT Champions Seoul 2024 Preview and Prediction

Coming into this series, Heretics have proven that their Abyss is a true all-star in terms of drawing out their team’s power. Meanwhile, LEV just lost on the map to EDG. Meaning, there will be little chance of Heretics getting to slam in the Abyss.

After the last time the teams clashed on Lotus, and Heretics’ overall dismal performance the last time the two teams clashed, it is likely the team will move away from it for this series.

A bold prediction would actually be for Bind to make a reappearance in this series.  Leviatán have struggled the last few times on the map and it has historically been one of Heretics’ strongest maps, making it a powerful map choice for the EMEA side.

For LEV’s side, it’s a no-brainer that they will be looking to take Icebox as their opening map. Having beaten Heretics on it before and it being the clearest no.1 strongest map for the Americas team’s side, we may be treated to a second round of Icebox.

The last contender that may rear its head is Sunset. Both teams favor playing on the map albeit with different styles. LEV favors the Breach-Neon combo, whereas Heretics favor the more tried and tested KAY/O-Raze.

The true test will most likely come in how well Heretics can limit aspas’ impact on the map, as Heretics are most certainly the slight underdogs coming into this matchup. Aspas delivers on all 3 duelists (Raze, Jett, and Neon), however of the 3, his Jett is the most impressive, especially when paired with his steady OPing.

Sunset or Bind would be strong contenders for the series in that sense, as it would allow Heretics to run their Neon while putting aspas onto Raze. Therefore, our final prediction would be Icebox, Bind, Sunset, Haven, and Ascent. (LEV ban Abyss, Heretics ban Lotus) In no particularly discernable order.

Catch the action live on Twitch and YouTube. You can also watch the tournament on VALORANT Esports Website. You can also follow the games on Strafe.  Follow Valorant Champions Tour on X/Twitter for latest updates on Champions 2024.

Stay tuned on Strafe YouTube for exclusive interviews, press conference and more.

Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games 

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