The Brazilian squad Vivo Keyd toppled Acend, knocking them to the lower bracket at VALORANT Champions 2021. The upset victory over the Europe, Middle East and Africa team, Acend, marks the second win for the Brazilian region at Champions, with Vikings beating Crazy Raccoon on Dec. 1 in a decisive 2-0.
The 2-1 match victory for Vivo Keyd comes off the back of a superstar performance from their Jett player, Olavo “heat” Marcelo. Across all three maps, heat had a server-high 57 kills on 252 Average Combat Score.
“We came here four weeks ago and practiced so hard at our boot camp,” heat said in the post-match interview. “We were looking forward to this so much. The only thing I can say that defined the moment was relief for winning.”
The Vivo Keyd supporting cast of Leonardo “mwzera” Serrati — who is on loan from Gamelanders Blue — and Murillo “murizzz” Tuchtenhagen were also out in full-force. The Brazilian trio has showed early on that they need to be taken seriously and that their team is a real contender to get out of their group. A stand-out performance from Jonathan “JhoW” Glória’s Cypher on Breeze was also crucial in converting the map and the match.
“To have [mwzera] on our team is amazing because he’s an incredibly calm player and confident,” heat said. “So when I feel a little too hyped I look to my side and he’s there and he’s so calm. This is invaluable to have on our team.”
Vivo Keyd’s Jonathan “JhoW” Glória did, however, use a Cypher camera on Breeze that was previously deemed illegal during a match between X10 and Galaxy Racer during the Southeast Asia Challenger Playoff.
Acend looked dominant on their home turf of Bind, winning out 13-3, but Mehmet Yağız “cNed” İpek and the international team wasn’t able to deal with the Brazilians on Icebox or Breeze. Leading the way with 266 ACS, cNed’s individual performance was strong, if not the hard carry fans have come to expect of him.
“We knew we couldn’t underestimate them,” Acend’s Patryk “starxo” Kopczynski said in a press conference. “We don’t underestimate anyone. They just played really good.”
This is Vivo Keyd’s second international LAN, having played at Stage 3 Masters Berlin. They were not able to get out of the group stage after losing to KRÜ Esports in the deciding match. Now, Vivo Keyd are poised to get out of Group A if they beat the winner of the match between Envy and X10 Crit.
“We just needed our team to be able to show our game and show ourselves,” heat said. “And this, right now, is just a win. It’s just one game and we have a lot ahead of us and we have a lot to show here.”
