VCT Americas: Ascension kicks off on June 30 as 6 teams compete for one slot in the VCT Americas league for the next two years. The round-robin group stage and most of the double elimination playoffs bracket will be held in the Riot Games Brazil studio from June 30 - July 5. The remaining teams will finish the tournament at Pavilhão Pacaembu from July 8 - 9.
The group stage consists of two groups with three teams each from a different region. These teams will play a Bo3 against the other teams in their group for seeding for the playoffs. The top team from each group will be placed directly into the Upper Semifinals, as the other four teams face off in Upper Round 1.
Group A includes VCL North Americas champions M80, VCL Brazil champions The Union, and LATAM #2 seed FUSION. Group B features NA #2 seed The Guard, Brazil #2 seed 00Nation, and LATAM champions 9z Team.
Group A
Canada -
M80
M80
North America
Rank #5
Kyu
Mirel Braco Hrustemovic
Sato
Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato
bao
Okeanos
Anthony Nguyen
bdog
Brandon Sanders
For those who followed Challengers in North America, it should be no surprise to see M80 make VCT Americas: Ascension. The core of the squad (
NiSMO
,
johnqt
,
koalanoob
) comes from last year's
Ghost Gaming
Ghost Gaming
Inactive
koalanoob
Gianfranco Potestio
NiSMO
Marc-Andre Tayar
aproto
Alex Protopapas
brawk
Brock Somerhalder
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
team, which went toe to toe with teams such as XSET and OpTic Gaming in Challengers last year. The trio combined with other top Challengers talents
eeiu
and
zander
to create a team worthy of a spot in VCT Americas.
Since the inception of this year's roster M80 has lost just two matches, one in Split 1 and one in Split 2. M80 dropped just one map in the VCL playoffs, beating The Guard in the grand finals 3-1.
Across the entirety of the season, all five of M80's players rank in the top seven of players by rating in North America. Undoubtedly a favorite for the event, it will be interesting to see how teams from other regions match up.
Brazil -
The Union
The Union
Inactive
Askia
Estevão Ferreira
GuhRVN
Gustavo Ferreira
pancc
Fillipe Martins
ntk
Lucas Martins
raafa
Rafael Lima
Retelling a similar story of dominance, The Union comes out of Brazil with just two domestic series losses and not having lost since February. Easing through the playoffs, The Union swept 00Nation in both the Upper Finals and Grand Finals to secure their place in Ascension. This Brazilian squad has cruised through VCL Brazil, drawing comparisons to M80 and setting up a captivating opening match for Americas Ascension.
Since the addition of Askia as the main duelist player in May, The Union has gone 13-2 in map count. Similar to M80 in North America, all five players for The Union ranked in the top 15 of rating for Split 2.
Despite fielding relatively new talent across the roster, The Union does have international experience with ntk on the roster. The São Paulo crowd could also be an advantage for the Brazilian Challengers champs.
LATAM North -
FUSION
FUSION
Latin America North
Rank #18
Dobsha
Juan-Diego Llobregat
Xhowi
Luis Enmanuel Corcino Garcia
prask
Mike Cortbani
MiniNiwde
Lenin Mateo
Jrmzie
FUSION did not win both domestic splits that their fellow Group A competitors did domestically, but are LATAM North champions all the same. FUSION just beat out Split 1 champs
Six Karma
Six Karma
Latin America North
Rank #6
Mephisto
KILLY
rowancy
Constantino Grijalva
Peloncito
Oscar Israel Palacios Martinez
otaQ
Ryu
for the LATAM North spot in Americas Ascension. A 3-1 victory for FUSION in the grand finals of the Split 2 playoffs secured their placing.
Even though FUSION did not win both splits, the team lost just two matches during their season, both to Six Karma in Split 1. In the LATAM finals against 9z Team from LATAM South, FUSION were swept handily, winning just 14 rounds across three maps.
Darker and Mited lead Split 2 in rating, and have been a part of FUSION dating back to the Champions Last Chance Qualifier for South America last year.
Group B
North America -
The Guard
The Guard
Inactive
JonahP
Jonah Pulice
trent
Trent Cairns
neT
Michael Bernet
valyn
Jacob Batio
tex
Ian Botsch
The Guard should be a familiar name to VALORANT esports fans. The North American roster stormed onto the scene at the start of last year, winning VCT NA Stage 1: Challengers and making an appearance at VCT Masters: Reykjavik. After losing Sayaplayer to T1 and picking up tex as a replacement in the offseason, many looked to The Guard as an early favorite for Ascension.
Although not as dominant as M80 in North America, The Guard earned their spot in São Paulo.
After finishing second in both regular season splits, The Guard took down
Moist Moguls
Moist Moguls
Inactive
aproto
Alex Protopapas
sym
Tyler Porter
brawk
Brock Somerhalder
flyuh
Xavier Carlson
thief
Brady Dever
3-0 in the Lower Final of the Challengers playoffs after losing to them earlier in the tournament.
Players like trent and valyn were considered talented enough for roster spots in franchising before the season. With the most international experience at Americas Ascension, The Guard looks to feed off that to rejoin the best of the best in the Americas.
Brazil -
00Nation
00Nation
Inactive
artzin
Arthur Araujo
shion
Gabriel Vilela
b4rtin
Bruno Câmara
xand
Alexandre Zizi
bezn1
Gabriel Luiz da Costa
The second team from Challengers Brazil, 00Nation has the most Cinderella-like story of any team at the event. In Split 1, the newly formed team went 2-5, missing out entirely on playoffs. After bringing in
xand
and
bezn1
to the team ahead of Split 2, 00Nation finished third in the regular season before taking down
ODDIK
ODDIK
Inactive
in the Lower Final of playoffs in 2-1 fashion.
That last victory secured their place at Americas Ascension. 00Nation contains a few players with international experience with shion , xand, and bezn1. shion led all of Split 2 in clutch success rate, and tied for second in rating. xand, since joining from KRÜ, went 98-54 in first duels.
LATAM South -
9z Team
9z Team
Latin America South
Rank #3
Tacolilla
Vicente Compagnon
suther
Tomás Zurita
delz1k
Joaquin Espinoza
NagZ
Juan Pablo Lopez
Mikey Tap
Luciano Pensa
9z Team are the champions of LATAM after taking down FUSION in the LATAM Finals in scintillating 3-0 fashion. Having been stuck behind
KRÜ Esports
KRÜ Esports
Latin America South
Rank #2
keznit
Angelo Mori
Mazino
Roberto Rivas
adverso
Benjamín Poblete
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
C0M
Corbin Lee
nataNk
Nathan Bocqueho
in LATAM for the past few years, 9z will finally have their chance on the international stage in São Paulo. Through both splits and playoffs in LATAM South, the Argentinian/Chilean squad dropped just two series.
All-around team play is the name of the game for 9z, with all five players in between a K/D of 1.10 - 1.20 during Split 2. Duelist player Tuli dropped 100 first kills across Split 2 and led the region in ACS, while his four other teammates landed in the top six of rating.
9z have been stuck under Leviatán and KRÜ's shadow in the LATAM region since the beginning of the VCT ecosystem, but now they have the chance to stand with them in the VCT: Americas league.