Crashies clutches in Envy’s match vs. Vivo Keyd at Day 2 of Masters: Berlin

Day 2 of VALORANT’s Stage 3 Masters: Berlin competition started with a surprising performance and ended with a banger. Fans got to see Envy in action and Vision Strikers overtook Southeast Asian team Paper Rex. Winners and elimination matches are starting to fill out with only two more teams set to debut Sunday.

After today, Group D and Group C are set for their next matchups, and tomorrow fans will have a better sense of how all four groups are looking.

Group B: Envy (North America) vs. Vivo Keyd (Brazil)

What a banger of a match fans got to see with Envy vs. Vivo Keyd. What it really boiled down to was a match between Envy’s Pujan “FNS” Mehta and VK’s Olavo “heat” Marcelo. The two of them had many clutch plays and carried their team on their backs for some rounds.

The first map on Icebox had viewers thinking that VK was going to run away with it. They won the pistol round and took the second round before Envy had any kind of answer, and then they ran away with five straight rounds.

Read more: Envy’s Marved: ‘There will be three NA teams in the top three in Berlin’

In the second half, Envy started winning several rounds in a row and took the map into overtime. The turning point of the match hinged on Austin “crashies” Roberts, who had two clutch rounds in the span of five minutes. In the end, Envy came from behind to win 15-13 on Icebox.

The second map was Envy’s pick, Bind. Envy turned around and did the same thing VK did to them in the first map and started with a six-round lead over VK. Just when it was looking like the match was a runaway for Envy, heat started firing up and helped his team win five rounds before halftime.

The second half was tight, but ultimately Envy came out on top and were able to take the 2-0 win.

Envy’s next match will be against whoever wins between KRÜ Esports and ZETA DIVISION, and Vivo Keyd will play the loser of that match to try to stay alive in the tournament.

Group C: Gambit Esports (EMEA) vs. Crazy Raccoon (Japan)

Photo credit: Riot Games

After going 0-2 at Masters: Reykjavík, Crazy Racoon were hoping to avoid an early trip home again, but their first matchup was against Russian team Gambit Esports, who showed Crazy Raccoon just how good the CIS region is.

To say this match was a stomp is an understatement.The first map on Bind was a quick gg for Gambit, only losing Round 3 to Crazy Raccoon before taking their victory and heading to the next map.

Japanese fans were hoping that Crazy Raccoon could at least put up some better numbers in the second map, but they didn’t do much better on Icebox. Gambit ran away with nine rounds before Crazy Racoon took a round. Both maps ended 13-1 in favor of Gambit.

Crazy Raccoon will now face Havan Liberty, who put up a similarly weak fight against 100 Thieves. That match will determine who stays in the tournament and who will go home first from Group C. Gambit Esports will go on to play 100 Thieves, which will be the second NA vs. EU matchup on Sunday after Sentinels face G2 Esports.

Group A: Vision Strikers (Korea) vs. Paper Rex (Southeast Asia)

Photo credit: Riot Games

Vision Strikers came into Masters: Berlin as one of the favorites to do well in the tournament, but their first map didn’t exactly prove that point. Paper Rex are the sole SEA team in Berlin, and they’re motivated to make their region proud.

The first map started out in Vision Strikers’ favor, with Paper Rex taking a few rounds in the first half. They really found their footing in the second half and were able to run away with four rounds in a row, but they lost their momentum toward the end of the match and ultimately lost Haven 13-9.

Paper Rex hit the ground running on Icebox as they took the first six rounds from Vision Strikers and looked pretty good going into the half at 9-3, but as the casters pointed out, there seems to be a curse going around where teams up 9-3 end up losing in the end, and that’s exactly what happened to Paper Rex. Vision Strikers ran away with the first six rounds of the second half and only let Paper Rex take two rounds the rest of the way, earning them the win on Icebox 13-11.

Paper Rex will now have to beat Turkish team SuperMassive Blaze to stay in the tournament. Vision Strikers will go up against Acend in the Group A winner’s match to determine the first team to ascend out of the group.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games