After losing each of their upper bracket matches on the previous day, 100 Thieves and Team Heretics pulled through their respective lower quarterfinal matchups at the VALORANT Champions Tour 2024: Masters Shanghai (2024 VCT Masters Shanghai) Playoffs.

Before we delve into today's victories, let us talk about how 100 Thieves and Team Heretics found themselves on the brink of elimination in the lower bracket of the VCT 2024 Masters Shanghai Playoffs.

100 Thieves came to Shanghai as the Americas League's top seed team, having swept G2 Esports 3-0 in the grand final of the aforementioned tournament.

Directly qualifying for the playoffs of Masters Shanghai, 100 Thieves quickly dispatched FUT Esports in their match in the tournament. After that, they met up and got swept by Gen.G in the upper semifinals of Masters Shanghai.

On the other hand, Team Heretics traversed a gritty path thus far to the VCT 2024 Masters Shanghai Playoffs. With Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukaševičius out of the picture for Masters Shanghai, Team Heretics fielded former sub Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski as a stand-in for the tournament.

With PaTiTek as the new fifth guy, Team Heretics braved through the Swiss stage of Masters Shanghai. In this tournament, they earned the moniker of the tournament's Chinese team killer, being responsible for eliminating all three Chinese teams (Dragon Ranger Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, and EDward Gaming) from Masters Shanghai. Eventually, they hit a bump on the road as they fell to the lower bracket after losing to G2 for the second time in the tournament, this time during the upper semifinals of Masters Shanghai.

100 Thieves Send Paper Rex Home from VCT Masters Shanghai

To start the action of the lower bracket quarterfinals of VCT 2024 Masters Shanghai, 100 Thieves faced off against Paper Rex. The battle between the top seeds from the Americas and the Pacific ended with 100 Thieves sending Paper Rex home from the tournament.

It was 100 Thieves that drew the series' first blood, winning the first game on Breeze 13-5. However, they then lost to Paper Rex's map pick, Sunset, 13-10. With both teams not wanting to be eliminated, 100 Thieves ultimately prevailed as they won Icebox 14-12 in overtime.

For this series, the entire team of 100 Thieves played well. Top fragging for 100 Thieves was none other than Sean “bang” Bezerra with a total of 56 kills and 26 assists as Viper and Omen. Not far off, Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk joined Bang in the 50-kill club with his 51 kills and 22 assists in the tournament.

As for the rest of 100 Thieves, Kelden “Boostio” Pupello posted 49 kills and 13 assists, Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban had 48 kills and 14 assists, and Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic got 43 kills and 18 assists.

For Paper Rex's side, the high-fragging Ilya “something” Petrov top fragged for his team as expected. He recorded the highest total kills in the server with 60 kills alongside 16 assists. Meanwhile, the W-gaming duo of Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto and Wang “Jinggg” Jie were also in the 50-kill club, with F0rsakeN having 55 kills and Jinggg going for 51 himself.

Easy Picking in Breeze for 100 Thieves

To start the series, 100 Thieves had an easy picking in Breeze, winning their own map pick 13-5.

For the first half of Breeze, the North American team secured an 8-4 lead which featured a six-round win streak from them. Then, after winning the second pistol round, 100 Thieves finished off Paper Rex in Breeze in a cool 4-round win streak fashion.

In this game, Asuna was the best player on Breeze. As KAY/O, he recorded 22 kills, nine assists, and an Average Combat Score (ACS) of 320, all while only having ten deaths total.

Up next to Asuna, Bang came in second with 19 kills, eight assists, and 284 ACS. As Viper, he posted those stats while only dying eight times in Breeze, the lowest death count out of all the players from both teams.

As for the worst player on Breeze, the “not him” award goes to Paper Rex's Jinggg. Despite being in his pocket agent Reyna pick, Jinggg only managed eight kills, four assists, and a very low 145 ACS.

100 Thieves Stumbling in Sunset

Unfortunately, 100 Thieves could not close out the series on Sunset. They lost the second game of their series 13-10.

With an attacking Paper Rex to start the game, 100 Thieves found themselves in an 8-4 deficit in the first half. After halftime, 100 Thieves tried to salvage the game in the second half. A four-round win streak in the middle of the game gave 100 Thieves a 10-9 lead. However, they then went on a four-round losing streak, thereby spoiling their plan to sweep Paper Rex in Sunset.

In this game, F0rsakeN had a near-30-kill performance on Sunset. Using his Breach, F0rsakeN finished with 29 kills, 10 assists, and 330 ACS.

As for the side of 100 Thieves, Boostio was the only player to crack into the 20s. Opting for Cypher on Sunset, he finished with 22 kills, four assists, and 244 ACS.

Overtime Conclusion in Icebox Ends with 100 Thieves Victory

With both teams one map a piece, it was 100 who ultimately came out victorious. They took Icebox 14-12 after going through overtime.

As what the final score would suggest, the battle on Icebox was close. 100 Thieves was only up by two rounds, 7-5, coming into halftime. In the second half, the two teams traded it out evenly with Paper Rex forcing overtime. With destiny on their side, 100 Thieves closed out Icebox in just one set of overtime.

In this map, Bang and Cryocells combined for 43 kills, with Bang having 23 and Cryo adding 20.

Despite losing the game, Something contributed 25 kills and five assists to go with a 289 ACS. Meanwhile, Jinggg, on Sage, posted 24 kills and six assists for Paper Rex.

Team Heretics Sweeps FUT Esports

Continuing the lower bracket playoff action in Shanghai, Team Heretics swept FUT Esports in their matchup.

The EMEA hopefuls won the first game on Bind 13-7. After that, Team Heretics wasted no time in sweeping the series, ending it in Sunset 13-4.

In this 2-0 sweep, Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish became the strongest foundation for Team Heretics. Using Viper and Cypher, Benjyfishy finished the series with 35 kills, 13 assists, and 244 ACS. Below him, Enes “RieNs” Ecirli posted 32 kills, 13 assists, and 242 ACS. As for the rest of Team Heretics, Mert “Wo0t” Alkan finished with 29 kills and seven assists, Ričardas “Boo” Lukaševičius had 27 for both kills and assists, while Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski got 27 kills and 15 assists.

Going over FUT's side, Ata “ATA KAPTAN” Tan was the only player from his team to record 30 kills, finishing with 31. Meanwhile, Mehmet “cNed” İpek only ended up with 25 kills and six assists as Raze on this series.

Team Heretics Starts Strong in Bind 

Team Heretics started the series strong by winning the first game on Bind 13-7.

Despite the 13-7 score, Team Heretics and FUT were on equal footing in the first half, with the scores tied 6-6 prior to halftime. Fortunately, after winning two of the first three rounds of the second half, Team Heretics ran away with the game by having a five-round win streak to close the map.

In this game, Benjyfishy had the highest amount of kills for Team Heretics. With Viper as his agent of choice, he finished with 17 kills and three assists.

However, FUT's ATA KAPTAN had the highest amount of kills on Bind. As Omen, he managed to get 21 kills and five assists in their losing effort.

Team Heretics Swiftly Sweeping FUT in Sunset

Up by one map, Team Heretics swiftly swept the series by ending FUT in Sunset 13-4.

In this lightning quick game, Team Heretics promptly gathered a 9-3 lead in the first half. In the second half, their four-round win streak went by a flash, thereby closing Sunset in just 17 rounds.

Benjyfishy and RieNs were the two highest fraggers in Sunset. The two players combined for 35 kills, with Benjyfishy getting 18 kills and RieNs securing 17 for himself.

100 Thieves and Team Heretics Continue Lower Bracket Climb in VCT Masters Shanghai Playoffs

Having won their matches, 100 Thieves and Team Heretics will face off against each other in the lower bracket semifinal of Masters Shanghai. The winner of their matchup will then go against the loser of the upper bracket final between G2 Esports and Gen.G Esports.

As for Paper Rex and FUT Esports, both of them finished in 5th-6th place. As consolation for reaching the 5th-6th place, Paper Rex and FUT are both going home with a $50,000 cash prize.

If you want to watch all the competitive VALORANT action happening in the 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour Masters Shanghai, you can watch all the matches on the official VALORANT Twitch channel. Additionally, you can also view replays and other Masters Shanghai content on the official VALORANT Champions Tour YouTube channel.

For more 2024 VCT Masters Shanghai news, follow us at ClutchPoints Gaming.