There's no doubt 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 is the best team in Riot's LATAM region. But after a year of building upon success after success, it could be argued that they're the best team in South America — including Brazil.

KRÜ has accomplishments few teams across the globe can claim. They are one of just three teams to qualify for all three international LANs this year, the other two being Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid and Crazy Raccoon Crazy Raccoon Inactive .

At Masters: Reykjavik, KRÜ beat Brazil's second seed, Sharks Esports Sharks Esports Inactive gaabxx Gabriel Carli prozin Wallacy Sales KILLDREAM João Ferreira Addicted Eduardo Torres . At Masters: Berlin, KRÜ topped that performance by first beating Japan's top seed, ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #2 Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe CLZ Hikaru Mizutani SyouTa Shota Aoki Xdll Yuto Mizomori , and then beating Brazil's top seed, Keyd Stars Keyd Stars Inactive , to make the playoffs.

An eight-team playoff featured three European teams, three North American teams, one Korean team, and KRÜ. No team in LATAM, Brazil, Japan, or SEA has had the success KRÜ has had.

After a second place finish in LAS in Stage 1, KRÜ has won everything in their region since, winning the LATAM title in both Stage 2 and Stage 3.

Their performance at home reflects their performance abroad when it comes to consistent improvement. KRÜ went 1-2 in Iceland, and then went 2-2 in Berlin. Despite getting off to a terrible start at Iceland — KRÜ won only a single round outside of the pistols and subsequent bonus rounds in two maps against FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder — they played competitively with their North American and European counterparts in Envy Envy Inactive Marved Jimmy Nguyen Victor Victor Wong crashies Austin Roberts FiNESSE Pujan Mehta yay Jaccob Whiteaker and G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive at Berlin.

KRÜ doesn't have to win a third match and reach the semifinals to continue their trajectory of growth while at Champions. The team can show their development by turning close maps with teams from top regions into map victories.

But can a team with so much success this year, particularly one constantly improving, be content with simply being competitive? Simply taking maps? This is an opportunity to end an already great year with a statement. KRÜ certainly wants to take advantage of it.

They certainly face an uphill battle, given their group. Their first match is against a hot Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak squad. The other two teams in their group include Sentinels, the Masters: Reykjavik champions, and FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #3 heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt , the champions of South America's LCQ who triumphed over KRÜ's LAS rivals, Australs Australs Latin America South Rank #5 TAFG nx1 Kramz Haitam mrtn .

If they want to build upon their past performances, they'll need to overcome a Brazilian opponent for the third straight tournament and then do something they haven't done before: beat a team from North America or Europe.

There's no better time than now for such a first.