Alter Ego Celeste win FSL Valorant Circuit Open I
Alter Ego Celeste, the female Valorant team of Indonesian organisation Alter Ego, emerged victorious from a field of 40 aspiring teams to win the first Open tournament of the 2021 FSL Valorant Circuit on Sunday (21 March).
Alter Ego Celeste were on a different level compared to the rest of the competition as they absolutely dominated their opponents on the way to the finals. The team started the tournament strong with a 13-2 win over TiAMAT, followed it up with a 13-4 beatdown of Femelle, then absolutely destroyed Mad Army 13-1 to secure their spot in the finals.
Alter Ego Celeste's dominant showing thus far was fuelled by their frequent use of the Bucky shotgun, which allowed them to repeatedly take cost-efficient engagements early on then snowball their way to easy victories.
Mad Army survived the lower bracket finals to force a rematch with Alter Ego Celeste in the finals. Despite getting utterly dominated in their previous matchup, Mad Army outlasted Alter Ego Celeste in overtime to steal the first game of the finals in Haven, 14-12.
Alter Ego Celeste wasn't fazed by their narrow loss in game one and bounced back to take control of game two in Icebox, 13-5, and force the series to a deciding game three.
The decider at Bind was as close as it could get, as Alter Ego Celeste barely managed to eke out a 7-5 advantage at halftime. While Mad Army valiantly tried to rally back after the side switch, they only managed to take two rounds before Alter Ego Celeste closed them out 13-7 to claim the championship.
With their win, Alter Ego Celeste claimed the lion's share of SG$500 (or US$372) out of the event's SG$1,000 (or US$725) prize pool. They also claimed 10 FSL Circuit points to go towards qualifying for the FSL Elite tournament in October.
Meanwhile, Mad Army take home SG$300 (or US$223) and 9 points in consolation.
The 2021 FSL Valorant Circuit will run for eight months from March to October and feature a total prize pool of SGD$12,000. It will be split into four stages: FSL Open, FSL Open Overtime, FSL Wildcard, and FSL Elite.
The first stage of the circuit, the FSL Open, will be held monthly from March to August, with each iteration featuring a maximum of 40 teams competing for a cut of the SG$1,000 prize pool.
Teams will earn points by participating in each FSL Open and will be placed on the FSL Open Leaderboard, with the two top-ranked teams qualifying for FSL Elite.
The third to 19th-placed teams on the leaderboard will then play in the circuit's second stage, FSL Open: Overtime, in September. The winning team will take the third spot in FSL Elite.
FSL Wildcard will follow in early October, where teams that are either new to the circuit or have not yet qualified for FSL Elite will get one last shot at advancing into the final stage. FSL Wildcard will feature a SG$1,000 prize pool and a maximum of 40 participating teams, with the winners claiming the fourth and final spot in FSL Elite.
FSL Elite will be the final stage of the 2021 FSL Valorant Circuit. The four qualified teams from the previous stages will compete in an offline tournament in Singapore from 23-24 October, with US$5,000 in prize money up for grabs.
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