KRÜ puts 2Game Esports away in 2-0 stomp

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 has defeated 2Game Esports 2Game Esports Brazil Rank #2 gobera Vitor Gobo Zap Brenno Roberto pryze Luis-Henrique Viveiros lz Luiz Reche spike Rodrigo Lombardi silentzz Caio Morita 2-0 in the lower round 1 of Americas Kickoff. KRÜ survives elimination and will next face the winner of 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #8 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk versus NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #4 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold , while 2Game has been knocked out and will have to bide their time until Stage 1 begins.

Both teams came in seeking to bounce back from difficult 0-2 losses in their Kickoff openers. In the past, they matched up only once in a comfortable 2-0 win for KRÜ at the offseason Tixinha Invitational.

The two-map series played out on Abyss and Split, KRÜ winning Abyss 13-3 and Split 13-2.

2G opted to take the first map to Abyss. Both teams selected relatively standard compositions with slight variations, KRÜ bringing out Viper and 2G locking in double-Duelist. After taking the first pistol thanks to a 1v2 from Shyy , the LATAM squad repeatedly converted early picks into plants and round wins, snowballing to a dominant 10-2 first half.

A second pistol going the way of KRÜ gave way to an easy 13-3 map win on Abyss, 2G's only round win in the second half coming off the back of a brilliant ace clutch from lz . keznit and Melser constantly won duels for their side, the former finding 18 kills, 209 ADR, and a 1.58 rating and the later getting 16 kills, 158 ADR, and a 1.41 rating.

The second map was KRÜ's pick of Split. In a fashion reminiscent of the first map, KRÜ stormed their way to another 10-2 first half with a mix of site hits and contact plays, with Melser and adverso clutching multiple crucial rounds off individual skill. Some individual rounds got closer for 2G, but the gap in the final score ended up even further apart than the first map as KRÜ took Split 13-2. Once again, Melser and keznit ended at the top of the scoreboard with respective 1.52 and 1.42 ratings.

With this win, KRÜ progress in the lower bracket and will next face the winner of 100 Thieves versus NRG Esports on Feb. 1. Four more wins stand between them and a coveted spot at Masters Bangkok.