GodLike Esports secured a swift 2-0 series sweep (13-6 Haven; 13-7 Ascent) over Reckoning Esports to become the first team to enter the Final of the Qualifier 1 of ESPL India Valorant PowerUp event.
GodLike started on the Attack in Haven, with Debanjan ‘DMKing’ Das on the Jett and stand-in Aman ‘Hoax’ Yadav pulling out the Phoenix. GodL hit B and RGE fell back, deciding to rely on their ability to retake.
With the smoke separating the two teams at B in the afterplant, RGE pushed with 4 men, creating a chaotic situation, allowing them to defuse in the meanwhile. Jit ‘tryst’ Duttachoudhury shut down GodL’s attempt to take Garage control with a quick 3k.
On their first buy round, GodL decided to take control of the A site, with RGE more than happy to play on the retake. However, a 3k from DMKing secured the first round for the Attackers.
Satya ‘Razzor’ Ray gave RGE an advantage on a thrifty, killing 3 with an A push. However, the round culminated into a 1v1 between Divyansh ‘Scarg0d’ Jain and Atharv ‘Rio’ Ahire, with the former coming out on top to secure the round and the lead for GodL.
Thereafter, GodL seemed to grow an affinity towards taking control of the C site, especially when allowed to do so, unchallenged. The Attackers ran to a 7-2 lead, with RGE continuing to allow GodL to take control of the sites but unable to find success on the retake, with the Defenders calling for a Timeout.
Not much changed after the timeout as GodL continued their charge towards sites, C and A on respective rounds, pushing the scoreline to 9-2 in their favour. Tired of conceding control of the site, RGE chose to take gun fights early and that yielded them their only full buy round of the half, which ended 9-3 in GodL’s favour.
Reckoning Esports won the second pistol round as well, this time on the back of a quadkill from tryst on the Omen. RGE converted the anti-eco to pull the lead back somewhat, with the scoreline at 9-5 in favour of GodL. However, with GodL on the buy, RGE were unable to win gun fights, thus handing the Defenders their first round of the half.
The Attackers though, showed they are not going to be pushed over on Haven and hit the A site successfully to pull a round back immediately. On a thrifty, DM’s unrelenting aggression with his Blade Storm activated on the Jett pushed RGE into a corner and into taking ugly fights at A, which worked in GodL’s favour, pushing the score to 11-6.
RGE seemed to have an immediate response, taking control of the B site. However, GodLike came in riding the Whitehorse of death on the retake, with a 3k from the Cypher securing the round and pushing GodLike to map point. Facing defeat on Haven, Reckoning chose to hit A but were quickly shut down, thus surrendering the map 13-6. DMKing showed up for GodL, acting as a pure entry, with 8 First Bloods on Haven.
Up next was Ascent, with Reckoning to start on the Defence. However, DMKing started from where he left off, with a quadkill from him sealing GodLike’s first pistol round of the series. The Attackers converted the anti-eco round, earning a 2-0 lead. This time though, Reckoning made sure they emulated GodLike and converted their full buy round by defending the B site.
GodLike though, chose to hit A thereafter, and their ability to defend their plants despite being outnumbered really shined through, winning successive rounds that way, especially with Shane ‘Whitehorse’ Kariwow securing a quadkill on the second, to race to a 4-1 lead.
Reckoning though, came back strong, with Rio converting a 1v1 during a retake to pull a round back. RGE then went on a run of their own, with a triple from Piyush ‘clouda’ Kalwania on the Omen seeing them level the scoreline. Another successful retake at A and RGE took the lead and could have replicated it in the round after. But, DMKing came up big in the postplant, with an ace to clutch the round and level the scores at 5-5. The teams traded rounds to end the half 6-6.
On the Defence now, GodL’s chemistry was evident as they racked up rounds in succession. Flawless rounds became a norm as GodLike raced to an 11-6 lead. Whitehorse then put GodLike up on map and series point, with a triple at A site. Reckoning hit B fast on the back of Killjoy’s Lockdown and seemed to have pulled one back. sh1vy though, almost clutch the round for GodLike on a 1v3, with Rio finally disposing off the threat in a 1v1 situation.
With the scoreline poised at 12-7, GodLike took a tactical timeout. Thereafter, Reckoning’s attempt find success in taking control of map area was shut down, thanks to some incredible display of chemistry and timing from GodLike, who secured Ascent with a scoreline of 13-7 and a place in the final of Qualifier 1 of ESPL India PowerUp Valorant event. DeathMaker once again proved to be the entry-extraordinaire, with 6 first bloods to his name.
Analysis:
Reckoning’s idea or tactical decision to allow GodLike to take control of sites and rely on their retakes backfired on Haven, with the opposition’s firepower and teamwork proving too heavy for them while attempting to do so. The team does have aggressive players in the form of Razzor, clouda and Ayan, all of whom did find some success whenever trying to take early fights. Perhaps, they showed too much respect to GodLike while on the defence and were left with too much to do on Attack. On Ascent, their inability to convert advantages into rounds on the Defence came back to haunt them on the Attack, with GodLike doing what Reckoning couldn’t – turning advantage situations into rounds. As far as GodLike are concerned, even though they are only a few days into their bootcamp and had to play with a stand-in, they looked comfortable with each other and the teamwork was visible when retaking sites or taking co-ordinated fights. Individual brilliance aside, GodLike look set to become a dangerous foe for the likes of Global Esports and Team Mahi if they continue their growth and progress with this pace.
