Latin America hosted many teams, but two stood out as the top dogs: KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro and LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee . Since the start of Valorant's international events, only KRÜ has attended every single LAN, while this is only Leviátan's second appearance. Finally, in 2022, Leviátan have announced themselves as one of the world's best.

Leviátan stems from the core of Australs Australs Inactive Capi Ignacio del Rio adverso Benjamín Poblete Tacolilla Vicente Compagnon Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro kiNgg Francisco Aravena , considered one of the best in LATAM South in 2021. After qualifying for Stage 3: LAS Challengers playoffs, their first defeat to KRÜ came in the upper finals, but both teams managed to qualify for the LATAM Challengers finals. There, Australs got the upper hand to the grand finals as they defeated INFINITY INFINITY Inactive ligasa Rodrigo Castillo MatiS Matias Salgado bnj Benjamin Rabinovich and KRÜ; sadly for them, KRÜ would prevail to qualify for Masters: Berlin, as Australs would have to fight through the grueling South American Last Chance Qualifier.

Before LCQ, Australs racked up a minor tournament win to give themselves momentum for a Champions appearance. It seemed to work as they blasted through Group A's FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #5 mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt nzr Agustin Ibarra and former Reykjavik representatives Sharks Esports Sharks Esports Inactive gaabxx Gabriel Carli prozin Wallacy Sales KILLDREAM João Ferreira Addicted Eduardo Torres . After beating Liberty Liberty Inactive guuih Guilherme Mariano pepa Matheus Colleto duhT Eduardo Teixeira Zanatsu Carlos Eduardo tockers Gabriel Claumann 2-0, Australs looked like they were poised for a ticket to Berlin. However, that all came crashing down as FURIA wiped them out, once again forcing them to miss out on a crucial international appearance.

In early November, Australs closed down their operations, releasing their Valorant squad. Two weeks later, ex-Australs teammates kiNgg , Melser , adverso , and Tacolilla , plus vaiZ from Meta Gaming Meta Gaming Inactive vaiZ Matías Barría lucasvade Lucas Vade Castro WKN Alvaro Bustos badzw Lukas Rivera NicoMachine Nicolas Valla would all find a new home in Leviátan. Under a new banner, Leviátan were ready to make their mark as one of the world's elite for VCT 2022.

Leviátan bolstered their roster with ex-KRÜ coach Onur as their 2022 kicked off in LAS Stage 1: Challengers group stage. Leviátan got off to a hot start as they swept through everyone; however, old foe KRÜ would deliver their only loss in the group stage in the final week. Leviátan soon took revenge when they beat KRÜ in the play-ins for a slot in the LATAM Regional playoffs.

The playoffs began with an upset as Leviátan's next opponent in the upper finals would not be their interregional rival KRÜ, but instead E-Xolos LAZER E-Xolos LAZER Latin America North Rank #1 Mited Luis Gutierrez Jow Juan Camilo Preciado Ordoñez Feniz Thomas Molina Virtyy Leandro Moreno Darker Sebastián Castro Cicuamia . Regardless of the opponent, the Chilean squad quickly dispatched LATAM North's representatives. With an automatic Masters: Reykjavik slot on the line, Leviátan had to attempt to exorcize their old demons KRÜ once more, a mission they ultimately failed. Having lost to KRÜ again, kiNgg and his squad were set to face Ninjas In Pyjamas Ninjas In Pyjamas Inactive . The LAS squad lost their first chance at an international appearance as the Ninjas prevailed.

Going into Stage 2, Leviátan added another ex-KRÜ coach, BeTony . With two ex-KRÜ coaches at the helm, LEV once again went 4-1 in group stages, with their only loss against KRÜ in week 3. After that loss to KRÜ, Leviátan made a change by adding Shyy in place of vaiZ, who was later benched. keznit and co. would continue the momentum as they defeated LEV in the play-ins, but the latter still managed to qualify for the LATAM Regional finals.

Unlike Stage 1, LEV began the playoffs with a loss to FUSION FUSION Latin America North Rank #9 prask Mike Cortbani Fresht Juan Pablo Preciado Winter Rei RAINMAKER Javier Cruz . Now facing elimination, they needed to win every match to earn their last chance at a Masters appearance. Fortune smiled upon LEV as they dispatched E-Xolos LAZER and won a five-map thriller against FUSION.

Finally, in a tale as old as time, Leviátan was set to play KRÜ as their final opponent. In a high stakes match where everything was on the line, Leviátan earned their spot for Masters: Copenhagen, a feat they achieved by defeating KRÜ 3-0, with the last map being a dominant 13-3. Leviátan would later automatically qualify for playoffs, as KRÜ came out on top against NIP to earn the final slot for Copenhagen. LEV Celebration After so many chances, Leviátan made it happen when it mattered the most. (Photo Credit: Riot Esports Latinoámerica)

Now on the global stage, expectations were high for Leviátan as they usurped their long-time rivals. Their first opponent were the Korean titans DRX DRX Korea Rank #7 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) . In a nail-biting series, LEV lost a crucial 13-11 on the last map, thus getting sent to the lower bracket. In the face of elimination, LEV shocked many as they won over NA representatives XSET XSET Inactive in a thrilling three map affair. Leviátan's luck would then run out as they went toe-to-toe with FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder in another three map series, this time losing the final map 17-15 in quadruple overtime.

Despite narrowly qualifying for the top four, Leviátan reached a milestone as their win over XSET gave the LATAM squad enough points for Champions qualification, sending long-time rival KRÜ to the South American Last Chance Qualifier.

VALORANT Champions Tour
@ValorantEsports
Thank you for the hype matches @LeviatanGG 🔥

We'll see ya at #VALORANTChampions
14:59 PM · Jul 18, 2022 ·
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Leviátan had quite a showing in their first LAN appearance.

Now tasked with the final test that is Champions, Leviátan must go through a vicious group with formidable opponents like Copenhagen finalists Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov and first-time Chinese representative EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) . The Chilean squad is set to play against the EMEA LCQ winner Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak , as both teams look to put a step forward to playoffs.

Having finally exorcized their old demons in KRÜ, Leviátan no longer live beneath their rivals' shadow. Now, they are ready to prove they won't live in anyone else's shadow either.