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Stage 1 of the VCT 2022 EMEA Challengers is underway. Twelve teams in the region will compete among themselves to qualify for the Stage 1 Masters event.
The reigning Valorant Champions Acend faced Guild Esports in a Bo3 series in Week 2 of the tournament's Group Stage. Acend had a good start to the series, claiming the first map (13-11) with a comeback victory.
However, Guild Esports had strong fundamentals and refused to be trampled over. They won the remaining maps in a row, with easy victories on Breeze (13-9) and Fracture (13-4).
After encountering their first loss of the tournament, Acend currently stands 3rd in Group B of the VCT 2022 Stage 1 EMEA Challengers. Meanwhile, Guild Esports is atop the leaderboard.
Kiles talks about Acend's expectations ahead of meeting Fnatic in Week 3 of VCT Stage 1 EMEA Challengers
In a conversation with Sportskeeda Esports' Adarsh J Kumar, Acend's Kiles talks about the team's performance against Guild Esports and their expectations for the VCT 2022 Stage 1 EMEA Challengers.
Q) How do you think Acend performed against Guild Esports in your Week 2 fixture?
Kiles: No one from the team was at the right level required for the match, and we did not have enough energy. A lot of things just didn't work out for us today.
Q) How would you describe your opponents, Guild Esports', performance in the matchup?
Kiles: They played really well. It was one of their best performances yet, for sure.
Q) This is the first time in VCT EMEA Challengers that we have seen cNed pick up Chamber. How do you think that worked out?
Kiles: It was decent. cNed has been really sick for the last few days. He couldn't even play Valorant the last couple of days, so it was good enough.
Q: On Breeze, we saw Acend play a double-controller setup without a Duelist. What led to the changes in the team composition, and how prepared were you for them?
Kiles: We have been training with this Agent comp for a while now, and we have been trying a lot of new things. So, we went ahead with it. Although it usually works out for us, today was not the case.
Q: Acend will face another top-tier European contender, Fnatic, in their Week 3 fixture of the VCT Stage 1 EMEA Challengers. What are your thoughts on this matchup?
Kiles: They are a good team on the whole. They have great strategies as well as skilled individual players. They made a change recently, and I think the new guy is also really good. It will be an exciting matchup.
Q) Over the next few weeks in the VCT Stage 1 EMEA Challengers, Acend will face the likes of BBL Esports and G2 Esports in the tournament's Group Stage. What do you think about these teams?
Kiles: I think BBL made a roster change recently, but I don't have much to say about them. As for G2 Esports, they also went through several roster changes, so it will be really hard to play against them. It was never easy against G2.
Q) Although Acend failed to obtain a favorable outcome in the matchup against Guild, how confident are you in winning your remaining matches and qualifying for the VCT Stage 1 EMEA Challengers Playoffs?
Kiles: We are always confident. We know that it's impossible to win every single game. It's normal to lose. We are just learning and moving forward.
