Acend and Gentle Mates will meet in the semi-finals of the VALORANT Challengers Ascension 2023: EMEA. Admittedly, the French surprised in the group, where they suffered just one defeat.
On the other hand, Acend also played confidently in the group stage, with only one unexpected defeat by Dsyre. Still, today, the European team seems stronger than Gentle Mates.
Personally, I think that the French will start to slow down, because at this stage, they might not have enough spirit spent on the Long Stage of the tournament. Therefore, I would lean on Acend's team to win here.
Form Acend
The fourth team in the European ranking confidently won the VALORANT Challengers 2023 East: Surge Split 1, during which it rolled over its rivals.
They came out on top at the end of the regional season, also winning VALORANT Challengers 2023 East: Surge Split 2, again standing no chance.
As for their performance in the group stage of VALORANT Challengers Ascension 2023: EMEA, here Acend outplayed Digital Athletics, CGN Esports and SAW but also unexpectedly lost to Dsyre.
Acend's latest results:
- A 3-0 win over Enterprise Esports.
- A 2-0 win over Digital Athletics.
- 2-1 win over CGN Esports.
- 1-2 loss to Dsyre.
- 2-0 win over SAW.
Top scores for Acend:
- Fracture - 100% wins.
- Haven - 86% wins.
- Lotus - 86% wins.
- Split - 83% wins.
- Pearl - 80% wins.
- Bind - 75% wins.
- Ascent - 73% wins.
It is worth recalling that the European squad has so far refused the Ascent and Lotus cards.
Gentle Mates uniforms
The seventh team in the European rankings won both regional splits of VALORANT Challengers 2023 France: Revolution, showing a very confident game at the end of the season.
On top of that, Gentle Mates confidently took the group stage of the VALORANT Challengers Ascension 2023: EMEA, where they handily defeated Team Falcons and Case Esports.
Yet in the end, the French squad eased off a bit as they picked up a tough win over FOKUS and also suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of Apeks.
Latest Gentle Mates results:
- A 3-2 win over Mandatory.
- A 2-0 win over Team Falcons.
- 2-0 win over Case Esports.
- Beat FOKUS 2-1.
- 0-2 defeat by Apeks.
Gentle Mates top scorers:
- Fracture - 100% wins.
- Split - 89% wins.
- Haven - 83% wins.
- Lotus - 64% wins.
- Ascent - 50% wins.
In turn, the French team does not usually appear on the Pearl card.
Acend - Gentle Mates encounter statistics
The teams have not met before.
Prediction for the match Acend - Gentle Mates
An interesting meeting, as even the odds on the victory of both teams are equal. Still, the French team seems a little weaker, and the end of the group was not easy.
As for Acend, in terms of experience there are no questions to the team at all. Yes, the team is certainly not the main favorite, but still somehow justifies itself.
So in this case I would recommend to bet on Acend to win.
