100 Thieves exit VALORANT Challengers Finals, Cloud9 Blue advance

The second day of the VALORANT Champions Tour Challengers Finals has ended with Sentinels and Cloud9 Blue moving on to the upper bracket final. In the lower bracket, both NRG Esports and 100 Thieves were eliminated from the tournament and contention for Master 2 in Iceland.

Sentinels were fan-favorites at Challengers Finals, considering their rise to greatness after winning Masters 1 and adding Tyson “TenZ” Ngo to the roster. They have proven their worth after defeating First Strike Champions 100 Thieves and Version1 in the upper bracket of the tournament.

Cloud9 Blue has also risen to greatness after adding Erick “Xeppaa” Bach and Ricky “floppy” Kemery from their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster to their VALORANT division. With the addition of two CS:GO veterans, the team has been able to place high at the last four events. Now, they face off against Sentinels in the upper bracket finals of Challengers for a rematch from their previous match in the open qualifier. Sentinels came out victorious last time after sweeping Cloud9 Blue 3-0 in the finals.

NRG Esports and 100 Thieves are out of Iceland contention

NRG Esports was able to defeat XSET during their first match of the upper bracket but ultimately fell to Cloud9 Blue in the upper bracket semifinal. They fell to the lower bracket to face off against Version1, who has looked solid during the Challenger Finals. NRG was no match for Version1, who 2-0’d them in a dominant fashion.

Climbing through the Lower Bracket, @Envy and @version1gg win their matches to stay alive in the #VCTChallengersNA Playoffs!

Tune in tomorrow @ 4pm ET for the Upper Bracket Finals and more Lower Bracket action. pic.twitter.com/QQZyZp20Uu

— Nerd Street (@nerdstreet) May 1, 2021

100 Thieves, a question mark for the Challengers Finals, were unable to defeat Sentinels despite pushing them to a game three. After a one-sided Bind matchup, 100 Thieves fell to the lower bracket to face Envy — who had just come off a 2-1 win over XSET. 100 Thieves played Envy close, taking games one and three twenty-four rounds but missing overtime both times. Envy pulled away with the 2-1 win over 100 Thieves and they advance to play Version1 in the lower bracket.

With NRG and 100 Thieves both out of Challengers Finals, they no longer have a chance to make it to Iceland next month. However, whoever wins the match against Sentinels and Cloud9 Blue will be guaranteed one of the two spots for Iceland.