SINNERS have clinched victory at BC.Game Masters Championship Season 1 after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over BIG in the grand final (11-13 Nuke, 13-2 Ancient, 13-11 Overpass).
It is only the second LAN trophy outside of Czechia for SINNERS in the organization's history, with their last coming in 2020 in Switzerland just before the coronavirus pandemic, and comes at a critical time ahead of the April 6 VRS invite cut-off for the IEM Cologne Major.
The team was ranked 32nd on the VRS coming into the event, sitting below the cut-off for a European invite to the IEM Cologne Major, but surged up the ranking by 14 spots following their title win — enough not only to make them eligible for an invite, but to put them on the cusp of a Stage 2 berth on our prediction page .
SINNERS were among the eight high-seeded teams invited directly to the playoffs, and delivered on that status with an opening win over BESTIA . But their biggest win, both for VRS points and notoriety, came in the quarter-finals, where they spoiled Guy "NertZ" Iluz 's debut event for G2 with a 2-1 victory.
Another large sum of VRS points came from a 2-0 win over BetBoom , who are playing a trio of LAN events ahead of the cut-off with two stand-ins, and a reverse-sweep over BIG in the grand final.
SINNERS even had a chance to take the title-deciding series in two after nearly coming back from 2-10 down on their Nuke pick, pushing all the way to round 24 before losing a 1v3 to Josef "faveN" Baumann . BIG 's meek offense from Nuke carried into Ancient, where they managed just two rounds, and SINNERS then ran away with a dominant T side on the Overpass decider before eventually putting to bed a comeback effort from the German organization at the eleventh hour.
Despite not coming away with the trophy, the runners-up finish still goes a long way for BIG in their own fight for a Major invite, with the team sitting only one spot below SINNERS on our prediction page.
BC.Game Masters Championship S1 top-eight:
1. SINNERS - $30,000 2. BIG - $10,000 3. BetBoom - $5,000 4. HOTU - $2,000 5-8. G2 - $750 5-8. Gentle Mates - $750 5-8. Tricked - $750 5-8. Monte - $750
The VRS impact of BC.Game Masters Championship S1: