Brother buff is real. Team Liquid (TL) smashed through the EMEA VCT Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) off the backs of siblings Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom, booking a trip to VALORANT‘s year-end World Championship. The squad claims the EMEA region's final spot at the global tournament after a resounding 3-1 victory over Guild Esports in the LCQ Grand Finals.
The EMEA LCQ featured eight teams vying in a double-elimination bracket for the region's absolute last slot at VALORANT Champions. Liquid had come off a rather subpar performance at the EMEA Stage Three Challengers Playoffs, missing a chance at advancing to Masters Two Berlin.
But since then, the team brought on Nivera, which allowed ScreaM to return to the duelist agents he has always been more comfortable on. The new addition, meanwhile, seemed to fit right in and had no problem playing various filler roles as Liquid needed.
TL breezed through the LCQ's Upper Bracket (UB), dominating 2-0 over One Breath Gaming and Guild in the quarters and semis. In the UB Finals, they then came away with a 2-1 victory against G2 Esports—a team who has always seemed to have Liquid's number.
In the first map on Ascent, Liquid and G2 went blow for blow, ending the first half tied at 6-6. As they swapped to the attackers side, Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen proved the difference maker on Jett, racking up 16 kills in the half to claim seven consecutive rounds for TL.
While they dropped the second map on Bind, ScreaM and crew bounced right back on Haven, up 8-4 at the half. Even as their opponents grabbed back some rounds in the second half, the Benrlitom brothers put the team on their backs, helping TL beat G2 for the first time in over a year.
Making it to the Grand Finals after a surprising Lower Bracket run, Guild threatened to snatch the Champions slot away, claiming the first map in convincing 13-5 fashion. But after the invigorating win over G2, Liquid just had the willpower and would not surrender easily.
After the rough start on Haven, TL overpowered Guild in the next three maps, starting with a nail-biter of a game on Ascent. The final scoreline went in Liquid's favor, closing it out 13-10 to tie the series. The team's win on Split was much more convincing, claiming six straight rounds at one point to distance themselves from Guild.
The final map on Breeze was even more thrilling. The teams stood tied at 3-3, until Liquid pulled away thanks to the sibling duo to secure an 8-4 gap by the half. However, Guild chipped away until the TL's advantage shrunk to only two rounds. An opportune timeout cooled Liquid's heads, allowing them to grab a win on an eco round. This put enough of a dent in Guild's plans, propelling TL to a 13-7 finish and a spot secured on the world stage.
Team Liquid will now represent the EMEA at the VALORANT World Championship alongside Masters Berlin winners Gambit, as well as Acend and Fnatic who qualified off circuit points. The concluding tournament of the inaugural VCT campaign will unfold this December at Berlin, Germany.
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