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 have defeated Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #6 B3ar Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄) whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) Levius Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) 2-0 in the Champions 2024 group stage. They will next play against FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder for a spot in playoffs as the second seed from group A. Bilibili are now eliminated from the tournament, the second team to end their run.

This matchup is a first for both teams, as they were drawn into, and eliminated from, separate Champions 2023 groups. The event was Bilibili's only other international appearance, as well as KRÜ's only other international tournament since LOCK//IN in early 2023.

The map veto mostly favored KRÜ, who had shown relatively better performances across a wider map pool. Bilibili were forced to ban one of their better maps in terms of winrate, Ascent, and leave open weaker options. They did have a far better winrate on the decider map, Sunset, but the first two maps would be unfavorable regardless of how the selection went.

Starting on KRÜ's map pick, Bilibili took the Lotus pistol round to kick off their attack. They won the anti-eco, and the teams began trading trading rounds. The pistol win kept BLG in the lead, but they called for a tactical pause when they were up 5-3. A 4K from Knight helped them win their sixth, but the traded rounds continued, as the teams went on to win their respective half-buys and ecoes from that point, ending the half 7-5 in Bilibili's favor. Setting up whzy was key for their offensive success, as he went 5-2 in opening duels and found two triple kills to win his teams a pair of rounds.

Shyy celebrates after a bonus win gives KRÜ the lead

After the break, the Latin American squad won the second pistol round without a single death. They earned a second flawless the following round, and took advantage of their economic advantage to take lead, pressuring their opponent's buy round and only losing two players during their bonus. heat and Melser helped their team extend their lead, going up 10-7 and forcing BLG's second timeout.

A fumbled round left an opening for Knight to punish KRÜ, giving the attackers an eco round and burning KRÜ's first pause. The offense was able to take another two rounds, and a ninth for Bilibili was not enough to faze their opponents, who closed out their map 13-9 after a Shyy triple.

KRÜ maintained their form going into Bilibili's map, Icebox. A quick keznit flank let him pincer the Chinese roster's pistol post-plant on B, which gave KRÜ a second pistol win. mta was valuable throughout the defense, finding a triple kill and two opening kills to extended his team's lead to 5-0. The gap forced Bilibili's tactical pause, which helped put them up on the scoreboard. BLG enabled whzy, netting him a 2K and catching his mirror off-guard to leave B open for the taking.

KRÜ successfully retake into a Viper's Pit

KRÜ were not shaken, as they managed to claw back round seven despite retaking into a pair of ultimates and post-plant setup. Two more rounds followed for KRÜ, which forced bail to use his final pause of regulation. Bilibili identified lurking as a possible weak spot in the defense, and they were able to leverage the information into back-to-back round wins. KRÜ's defense cleaned up the final round of the half, denying BLG any hope of building momentum.

The Americas team forced a shootout on A to win the second pistol, and an empty B site gave them the anti-eco. keznit and heat helped take KRÜ's third bonus round of the series and reach match point. Flex1n was active, however, denying KRÜ their victory. Bilibili were unable to replicate their success, and KRÜ ended map two with a 13-4 scoreline.

“This victory was what we needed,” Shyy said after the series. “We'll be more confident thanks to this win.” In response to whether their regained confidence would take KRÜ on a run, Shyy was positive. “Yes, of course,” he replied. “This is the beginning of something historical.”

KRÜ will now play against FNATIC in the group A decider, a rematch of the iconic Champions 2021 series in which KRÜ eliminated FNATIC and cemented their run as one of LATAM's best-ever performances in a tier 1 esport tournament.

When asked about their next series, Shyy mentioned his wish was granted. “I've always said since making Champions that I want to play DRX and FNATIC,” he said. “I want my revenge after Copenhagen.”

Meanwhile, Bilibili are the second VCT China to be eliminated, following FPX's loss to Sentinels in the group B elimination match. Bilibili have failed to win an international series ever since they first eliminated NRG Esports in Champions 2023.