Day 13 of Skyesports Valorant League 2021 featured a nail-biting series between Punjab Pinnacles and Mumbai Aces.
Before the match, both Mumbai Aces and Punjab Pinnacles were branded underdogs. With Mumbai winning only one Valorant series against Chennai Clutchers on the opening day of Skyesports Valorant League 2021 and Punjab yet to win any series, both of them clashed shields.
Either way, both Valorant teams have a long way to go before they can, in any way, impact the top four positions in the points table. Punjab sat in the 7th position with zero points and Mumbai just above them with only two points.
At the end of the series, Mumbai Aces' Valorant roster stood victorious, winning the series 2-1.
The maps chosen by the two teams throughout the map veto process were:
- Bind
- Haven
- Ascent
Skyesports Valorant League 2021 Day 13 match recap
Map 1: Bind
In the first Valorant map Bind, Mumbai Aces started strong, winning four consecutive rounds. The streak was broken by dominating retaliation from Punjab’s duelist KnightRider’s aggressive Operator plays.
Punjab Pinnacles won another round after that. The first half looked rocky as both teams ended up trading rounds off each other and ended the first half with a 6-6 stalemate.
Going into the second half, Mumbai showed a similar performance to the first half and secured two rounds right off the bat. Quickly building upon their dominance, Mumbai pushed their lead to 11-8. Punjab Pinnacles wanted to keep it competitive and took away back-to-back 5 rounds to close the game with a 13-11 score.
After losing three consecutive series, Punjab seemed to be on a promising start with this win.
Map 2: Haven
The second match of the series took place in Valorant map, Haven. The match started strongly for Punjab's side as they won the first pistol round. The game was nothing less than a nail-biter as both teams traded round wins. Punjab’s sh1vy, with his fabulous display of a clutch in the sixth round, tied the scoreline 3-3.
The scoreline remained tied until Mumbai finally made a breakthrough, taking the lead and ending the half 5-7. The second half saw yet another pistol-round victory from the side of Punjab Pinnacles.
Even the second half showed no different pattern than the first. Both teams, locking jaws, not giving away an inch for the match. Punjab took away the 23rd round to set themselves up for match point. However, Mumbai was not ready to give up on the match yet and secured the 24th round to take the game to overtime.
But Mumbai spectacularly took away two consecutive rounds in overtime to draw a line to the match.
Map 3: Ascent
It was the third and decider match of the series being played out in the Valorant map Ascent. The winner of this Valorant match takes the all-important two points away as the loser has to swallow yet another series defeat.
Yet again, Punjab Pinnacles started strong, winning three consecutive rounds. Being an equally strong force, Mumbai took two rounds to settle the scoreline to 3-2. Like the second match, Mumbai Aces again ended the first half with a 5-7.
But this time around, Mumbai built on their already established lead and scored 5-9. Punjab’s Valorant roster quickly retaliated to shorten the gap to 8-9. In a powerful move to shut Punjab down, Mumbai pushed forward to take the score to 10-12 and get themselves set for match point.
With everything on the line for the Punjab Pinnacles, they won two consecutive rounds to push yet another match to overtime. The two sides traded every other round to push the game to the third overtime with a stalemate of 14-14.
But to Punjab’s absolute disdain, Mumbai Aces went the extra mile to secure the win for themselves with a scoreline of 14-16.
Despite Punjab’s mind-boggling performance, it was not enough to go up against Mumbai and secure a win. With Binks, strixx, and Rafa in the driver’s seat, the third match win secured the series for Mumbai Aces and earned them the much-needed two points.
Points Table after day 13
With the top four spots left unhinged and Mumbai securing two points, they go up to the 5th position in the points table, pushing Kolkata down a berth in the Skyesports Valorant League 2021.