FURIA and Sentinels kick off VCT Americas with victories

The VALORANT league in the American continent, the VCT Americas, is already underway. After one day of competition, we could see how Sentinels and FURIA Esports started on the right foot, winning their respective matches.

Sentinels had to suffer a bit against 100 Thieves, but they managed to win 2-1. On the other hand, FURIA crushed KRÜ Esports 2-0.

The first week’s actions continue today, Sunday, April 2, with the following matches:

• LOUD vs. MIBR
• Evil Geniuses vs. Cloud9

Join us to see everything that happened on the first day of VCT Americas 2023.

Sentinels suffer a little but beat 100 Thieves

The opening match of VCT Americas 2023 was between Sentinels and 100 Thieves, two popular clubs in the North American esports scene. After that, the best-of-three series was played in Fracture (Sentinels), Split (100 Thieves), and Ascent (decider).

Fracture

Sentinels surprised everyone at the start of the first map when three of their players made a role change in the lineup. Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi, who has been a starter throughout his career, switched to the controller role using Brimstone, Bryan “pANcada” Luna selected Killjoy, while Rory “dephh” Jackson used Breach.

The Sentinels managed to start the map with a good pace of play despite these surprising changes and took a decent victory on the defensive side with a score of 7-5. However, when changing sides, we noticed a great lack of coordination on the part of the Sentinels when attacking, as we noticed that the decision to change roles was not a good idea.

However, 100 Thieves relaxed after winning the fifth consecutive round, and Sentinels took advantage of this to come back and take the victory 13-11.

Split

In Split, we had a similar start to Fracture, as Sentinels took a small initial advantage that ended with a partial victory on the defensive side of 7-5. However, in this opportunity, 100 Thieves would not be careless on their defensive side and started to decipher the (somewhat improvised) plays of the Sentinel’s attack with their players in different roles.

Like Fracture, the map reached 11 at one point, but this time, 100 Thieves could send the map into Overtime to finally take the win 14-12. On this map, 100 Thieves relied on a spectacular level from Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk, who finished with 220 ADR, 334 ACS, and a 1.34 Rating to carry his team to victory.

Ascent

Finally, we came to the decisive map, which did not disappoint fans either. This time, unlike the first two maps, Sentinels had their backs against the wall on the defensive side, as they could not find a way to stop the advances of 100 Thieves, who took a partial 8-4 victory. In this first half, Sean “bang” Bezerra was responsible for wreaking havoc on the Sentinel’s defense.

Finally, in the second half, Sentinels used a big push after winning the first two rounds to begin the comeback. Zachary “zekken” Patrone was at his best and was one of the team’s mainstays on the attacking side.

However, a round from Sacy lifted Sentinel’s spirits and led them to the Overtime victory with a score of 14-12.

FURIA crushes KRÜ Esports on their debut

The Brazilians got off to a great start after landing two accurate blows on KRÜ Esports to take a comfortable 2-0 victory.

Split (KRÜ Esports) and Ascent (FURIA) were disputed maps in this match.

Split

FURIA started Split with a lot of confidence, there is no doubt about that, as they managed to win four consecutive rounds. However, KRÜ Esports reacted in such a way that they hit back with five consecutive rounds. This baffled FURIA, as they could not stop KRÜ’s offensives at any site. Thanks to this, the score ended 6-6 in the first half.

The match had a lot of tension in the second half, as KRÜ’s Angelo “keznit” Mori and Khalil “Khalil” Schmidt were playing at a spectacular level. Finally, however, FURIA’s experience and determination came to the fore, and they managed to take the victory 13-11.

Ascent

In Ascent, we could see how KRÜ had run out of fuel as although they managed to win five rounds in the first half on their defensive side when they switched sides; the Brazilians did not completely crush them. FURIA deployed an impenetrable defense in the second half and was so solid that the KRÜ boys could only plant the spike on one opportunity.

In the end, FURIA took the victory 13-5 and thus added their first victory of the VCT Americas 2023.

Header: VCT Americas