Taylor “drone” Johnson’s late-game heroics helped TSM clutch out the first game against Spencer “Hiko” Martin’s 100 Thieves squad during the PAX Arena Valorant Invitational.
100 Thieves only needed to win two more rounds to secure the first game on Ascent. On the 21st round, the entire attacker squad slowly walked towards A-site, going through A-main. But drone was ready and waiting for them around the corner.
Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik’s Brimstone baited himself, which gave drone the perfect opportunity to spray down the entire 100 Thieves team for a 3-second ace.
With the momentum from his Ace, drone continued to play aggressively and pushed B-main earning him four quick kills with his insane aim. TSM then won the next two rounds to go up 1-0 in their best-of-three group stage match against 100 Thieves.
In the next game on Bind, Hiko decided to take matters into his own hands by clutching out crucial rounds for 100 Thieves. First, he secured a much-needed pistol round win after the half, and stopped drone from gaining even more momentum.
Hiko then closed out game two by clutching a 1v3 situation despite TSM getting their post-plant setup on the B-site. Hiko used his Showstopper ultimate to kill Stephen “reltuC” Cutler, who was holding B-garden. He then quickly dealt with Subroza and James “hazed” Cobb to even the series 1-1.
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During the final game on Split, TSM didn’t take any more chances and let Matthew “Wardell” Yu pick Jett and dominate the game with his Operator. TSM had an amazing start as the defenders and finished the game with a 13-7 score. Wardell eliminated any agent that was caught wandering around mid and finished with a 26/10/1 KDA record.
TSM finished their group stage run with a perfect 4-0 record and advanced to the Playoffs. Meanwhile, 100 Thieves have been eliminated from the tournament after losing to TSM and ex-CS:GO pro stack, Team Homeless.
The PAX Arena Valorant Invitational currently has four front runners who have secured the top seed from their respective groups. Both T1 and Sentinels have not lost a single map during their group stage run. Meanwhile, Immortals locked up the top spot in Group C.
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