For the first time in Valorant history, the best teams in all of the Americas were brought together for a VCT split. Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid , FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #4 heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt , LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira , Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #7 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago OXY Francis Hoang , and LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee nataNk Nathan Bocqueho all took home opening wins on the road to Masters Tokyo.

Day One:

The split kicked off with a bang when 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk took on Sentinels in a clash of titanic fanbases. Both teams fell short of expectations at LOCK//IN against eventual winners FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder , but both had plenty of time to get up to speed before this match.

In an uncertain battle of potential heavyweights, the biggest surprise came at the agent selection screen when it was revealed that pANcada was playing the sentinel role while Sacy was transitioning to smokes.

Both teams battled for one of the most contested matches of the year so far. Fracture went the distance before Sentinels closed it 13-11, and the following two maps were decided in overtime. 100T battled back for a grueling victory on Split, but they let an 8-4 halftime lead slip away on Ascent as Sentinels secured the 2-1 victory.

World champ still got it.

The second match of the day was a grudge match between the rising star of FURIA and the Brazilian slayers in 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 . Although KRÜ had reset most of the roster that was undefeated against Brazilian opponents, the recent acquisition of keznit was sure to add the fire back into the narrative, especially against FURIA and dgzin .

FURIA breezed to an early lead on Split before a disastrous eco turned the tables. KRÜ salvaged a 6-6 half on the attacking side and stretched their lead to 10-8 before FURIA put their foot down for a heated 13-11 win.

Despite a 4-2 lead on Ascent, KRÜ were unable to keep pace with the Brazilian fury as FURIA cakewalked their way to 11 of the next 12 rounds and the easy match cleanup. FURIA's stars put up flashy plays, but it was supportive player Khalil to lead the way for FURIA with a +17 KD.

5 HP and a dream.

Day Two:

The battle for Brazil looked to be over almost before it began. Reigning back-to-back VCT finalists LOUD picked Split into an underdog MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #19 artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez nzr Agustin Ibarra aspas Erick Santos and steamrolled to an easy 13-5 victory. Three of MIBR's players were held to single digit kill totals, and the team totaled just three first bloods.

MIBR caught no breaks on Split.

Thankfully for the viewing audience as well as MIBR hopefuls, the underdogs found a spark of life. With eight clutches across both teams, Lotus was a nailbiter with momentum swings in either direction. Just when it looked like LOUD had finally stabilized, MIBR won a critical half-buy round to take the map 13-11. It was the first time LOUD had lost a map to a fellow Brazilian team in over a full calendar year.

The atmosphere died down on Haven while LOUD ran out to a 10-4 lead, but MIBR made it a series with a second half comeback that pushed LOUD to the brink. In the end, LOUD prevailed 13-11 to take the series 2-1. Across the series, aspas ' 66 kills dominated the server even in the maps where MIBR put up a fight.

A battle between Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #22 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le and C9 followed up the Brazilian brawl. This was the first match for the much hyped C9 superteam after they dropped yay and vanity , and no one was quite sure what to expect after the team brought in inexpensive free agents rather than sample the NA Challengers talent pool.

It didn't look pretty to start as C9 lost a chaotic pistol and fell into a 9-3 hole on Pearl. EG then fell apart, surrendering a 10-2 half back to C9 for the 13-11 in favor of the boys in blue. C9 kept the momentum up as they ran away with an 11-5 lead on Fracture. A streak of rounds was too little too late for EG as they fell 13-9.

One big brawl.

Day Three:

Splitting five matches into three days left just one game for Monday, but that game lived up to the billing as the first truly international battle of the Americas League. Both Leviatán and NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #1 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold made deep runs at LOCK//IN and had high hopes of battling for one of the three Americas slots at Masters Tokyo.

Uncharacteristically, NRG got the hot start to the series. In both halves of Pearl, they took the pistol round and early leads. However, Leviatán battled back in the later stages for a 13-11 win.

Outbrained.

The LATAM superteam only picked up steam from there. An 8-4 score at the half on Lotus belied the nature of Leviatán's dominance. They held both crashies and ardiis kill-less for the first 11 rounds of play. Heroics from Victor did little to stem the tide as Leviatán cemented themselves as contenders in the Americas League.

Looking Ahead: