NRG Esports defeated NAVI in a tight matchup in the first round of VCT Masters Tokyo competition. Ardis ‘ardiis’ Svarenieks laughed off the close match in the post-match press conference.
NRG Esports took down NAVI 2-1 in their matchup in Group A of VCT Masters Tokyo. The series was one of the more hyped-up games going into the tournament as it pitted two top IGLs, Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta and Kyrylo ‘ANGE1’ Karasov, against each other, and it saw ardiis face off against his former teammates.
The majority of NAVI’s roster was under FunPlus Phoenix last year along with ardiis. The squad qualified for every international tournament in 2022 and won VCT Masters Copenhagen. The series in Tokyo was heralded as a matchup between ardiis and his replacement on NAVI, Mehmet ‘cNed’ İpek.
ardiis told the press in a post-match press conference after beating NAVI that it felt good to defeat his former teammates.
“I mean, it would feel a lot worse if we lost. I mean, a free win, to be honest. I don’t know what else to say,” he said with a laugh.
NRG move on to the winners’ match in Masters Tokyo group stage
Sheesh! @ardiis is LETHAL. 5 rounds in a row for @NRGgg. #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/RUnbecDCU5
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) June 12, 2023
When asked about his performance specifically, the NRG player did say that he did not have the best series individually and was outplayed by his replacement on the first map.
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“I think I got diffed a little bit by cNed on Ascent but we still ended up winning… even when I don’t play well, we win. So yeah, hopefully when I do play well, we will win even faster,” ardiis said.
ardiis and cNed tied each other in kills across the series at 55. The NAVI Duelist did walk away with better first-kill statistics, but ardiis was also put on a supportive role in the second map and was not able to keep fragging out.
This was the two squads’ second matchup against each other across all of VCT competition. The core members of NRG and NAVI matched up against each other in 2022 at Masters Copenhagen, then under OpTic Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix respectively. The European squad took the series that day 3-1 and knocked FNS and his team out of the event.
The two teams could face off in a third matchup to decide their head-to-head scoreline later on in the tournament. But for now, NRG will move on to the winners’ matchup, against T1, and NAVI will fight for their tournament lives in the elimination matchup, against EDward Gaming.
