G2 Gozen reverse sweep Shopify Rebellion 3-2 to win VCT Game Changers Championship

Berlin-based EMEA team G2 Gozen have become the 2022 VCT Game Changers Champions after pulling off a history-making reverse sweep against North America's Shopify Rebellion 3-2 on Monday (21 November).

G2 Gozen were the VALORANT tournament favourites, with a very dominant showing throughout the competition.

G2 first swept Thai team X10 Sapphire in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals 2-0, before taking down North American team Cloud9 White 2-1 in the Upper Bracket Semifinals.

They then swept Team Liquid 2-0 in the Upper Bracket finals to secure their grand finals slot.

On the other hand, Shopify Rebellion took the longer route, first defeating European team Guild X 2-1, but then dropping to the Lower Bracket after a 2-1 defeat from Team Liquid Brazil.

Shopify Rebellion began their lower bracket run by eliminating X10S 2-0, then taking on and overwhelming fellow North American team Cloud9 White 2-1.

Shopify Rebellion then exacted revenge against Team Liquid with a 2-0 sweep in the Lower Bracket Finals to secure their slot in the grand finals.

How the Grand Finals went

The first round was set on Pearl, where G2 were off to a good start, easily winning the first four games.

But it didn't take long for Shopify Rebellion catch up, with Diana "sonder" Zhang and Kayla "flowerful" Horton taking down members of G2, allowing them to finish the first half of the round 6-6.

In the second half of the first round, Shopify Rebellion ran away with the round, winning five consecutive games in a row, taking their team to an 11-6 lead.

G2 managed to take three more wins for their team but were unable to stop Shopify Rebellion finishing off the round 13-9.

The second round took them to Bind, where G2 won the first game with a Flawless finish.

Shopify answered back, winning two games in a row. Both teams went aggressive, keeping their score tied 9-9.

But it was Shopify Rebellion who were able to find the advantage in the last three games closing off games with a clean defence, bringing the North Americans to match point.

The third round was on Ascent, which G2 easily dominated, showing their expertise on the map and taking advantage of Shopify Rebellion’s mistakes to take 11 games in a row.

The North American team finally took three games through Clutch plays from Benita "bENITA" Novshadian and sonder.

But G2 showed that they were the rulers of the Ascent map, closing out the third round with a 13-3 win.

Once again, G2 started the fourth round looking great on Icebox, changing the pace and giving Shopify Rebellion no room to breathe for the first three games, with Mimi and Juliano finding members of the North American team on every turn.

Starting to feel the pressure, Shopify Rebellion made multiple mistakes that gave G2 the advantage. The EMEA team continued dominating the map, eventually winning the fourth round 13-2 and forcing round five.

In the fifth-round decider, Shopify Rebellion tried to go for a triple initiator draft on Breeze. However, this did not pay off, with G2 taking multiple flawless games.

With sonder unable to find her footing on this map, flowerful stepped up for her team, taking down members of G2 to make space for her team to take four wins 9-4.

However, Petra’s sharpshooting and Maryam "Mary" Maher's consistent performance shut down Shopify Rebellion’s attempt for a comeback.

Eventually, G2 closed off the round with an ace on the North American team, ending with a 13-5 win and the first in VCT history to pull off a reverse sweep, taking the first VCT Game Changers world championship, and the US$180,000 prize.

Mary was notably named the Player of the Game after consistently performing throughout the series.

Meanwhile, Shopify Rebellion bow out of the competition in second place, having been the only team that challenged and pushed G2 to the edge. They took home US $110,000 in consolation.

G2 Gozen Roster

• Julia “juliano” Kiran

• Petra “Petra” Stoker

• Michaela “mimi” Lintrup

• Anastasiya “Glance” Anismova

• Maryam “Mary” Maher

Shopify Rebellion

• Kayla “flowerful” Horton

• Diana “sonder” Zhang

• Kiana “KP” Lytle

• Lorrian “Lorri” Elad

• Benita “bENITA” Novshadian

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.