The Luminosity Gaming VALORANT roster has secured their playoffs spot in NA VCT Stage Two, less than a week after their organization unfortunately announced they were departing the new staple game. Their win over Cloud9 also ended C9’s chance of reaching the playoffs.
C9 decided recently to switch Curry and Vanity’s roles, putting the In Game Leader back on the controller (usually Brimstone) and delegating Curry over to be a heavy initiator (normally Breach) on map one Fracture.
Sadly for Cloud 9 the switch didn’t do much to avoid LG’s heavy attack though, with Moose making huge clutch plays during vital full buy rounds, and C9 losing away some rounds late in the half to go down 8-4 on the scoreline. C9 still managed to start a comeback on their attack side, tying the map at 11-11.
But Luminosity Gaming was able to hold off two straight A executes to finally close out their map 13-11, after a struggling game for both teams.
The momentum Cloud 9 gained from their comeback attempt thankfully carried over to the next map Icebox, with a strong start on the attack side. C9 focused all resources at taking map control via early pushes and getting constant entry kills, but Luminosity was able to bounce back thanks to some serious playmaking and retaking prowess led by TiGG (on Sova) and Mada (on Jett), finishing with a 7-5 lead for LG at half time.
C9, similar to the previous game, rallied back with some huge rounds to take a brief lead, however LG went on a streak of successful attack rounds thanks to well used utility, to close out the series with a 13-9 win on Icebox.
Just days before the start of the group stage’s fourth week of matches, the Luminosity Gaming organization announced their decision to leave VALORANT for the “foreseeable future” ahead of the start of the Riot run partnered Valorant Champions Tour system set to start in 2023. The organization said the roster would continue to play under Luminosity Gaming’s brand for the rest of the stage and that they are actively working to find the players a new home as soon as possible. With a 3-1 record, the Luminosity Gaming players have secured a spot in playoffs, and could even take the Group B first seed if they are able to beat OpTic next week paired with an Evil Geniuses loss. Hopefully this last couple of strong performances will be enough to attract the attention of other organizations, so the LG players are able to continue working on what they love, Valorant.
For Cloud 9, they are back home until the Last Chance Qualifier comes around, thanks to losing their last three matches since sending Xeta to T1 in a VALORANT trade that netted them Curry in return. It hasn’t been much time since the trade, so Curry still has time to prove that the move was worth it for Cloud 9.
