The Guard The Guard Inactive JonahP Jonah Pulice trent Trent Cairns neT Michael Bernet valyn Jacob Batio tex Ian Botsch overcame M80 M80 North America Rank #5 Kyu Mirel Braco Hrustemovic Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato bao Okeanos Anthony Nguyen bdog Brandon Sanders 3-1 in the grand final of VCT Americas Ascension, securing promotion to the VCT Americas for the next two years.

The two teams dominated Ascension through and through. Of the 10 top-rated players, nine were in the grand final. The Guard showed clear superiority though, placing all of its players in the top six. NiSMO was the sole M80 player in the top five, finishing second with a 1.15 rating. trent was isolated at the top, with 1.28 rating and an abnormal 1.44 KD.

This win also got The Guard their revenge for the NA VCL, where M80 bested the team twice, becoming regional champions with the second win. This time, The Guard were the ones to secure two wins and claim a championship.

A trophy for The Guard, finally.

VCT Americas Ascension joined the six best teams of the region's Challengers circuits — two from NA, Brazil and LATAM — in a group stage used purely for seeding. The six teams then moved on to a double-elimination bracket, where the best team from each group got a first-round bye.

The Guard and The Union The Union Inactive Askia Estevão Ferreira GuhRVN Gustavo Ferreira pancc Fillipe Martins ntk Lucas Martins raafa Rafael Lima breezed through their groups matches, after the latter kicked off their Ascension run with a 2-0 stunner over M80. The latter then bounced back to finish Group A with a 1-1 record, as did 00Nation 00Nation Inactive artzin Arthur Araujo shion Gabriel Vilela b4rtin Bruno Câmara xand Alexandre Zizi bezn1 Gabriel Luiz da Costa in Group B. FUSION FUSION Latin America North Rank #18 Dobsha Juan-Diego Llobregat Xhowi Luis Enmanuel Corcino Garcia prask Mike Cortbani MiniNiwde Lenin Mateo Jrmzie and 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 were the two teams unable to secure a group stage win.

00Nation and FUSION opened up the playoffs, but were also the first teams to be eliminated in the lower bracket. The Union and The Guard — who relegated M80 — breezed through their semifinals, and the latter came out on top in the upper final in a 2-1 win.

After being knocked down to the lower bracket, M80 pieced together a flawless lower bracket where they eliminated 00Nation, 9z, and got revenge on The Union on their way to the grand finals.

The grand final was muddled with technical pauses and network issues, but The Guard still came out on top. valyn 's men were unable to close out a comeback on Ascent (13-11), but replied with three straight blows on Haven (13-3), Bind (14-12), and Pearl (13-9) to become the VCT Americas Ascension champions and the first team promoted to the VCT Americas.

Despite being the best player of the tournament in rating, trent took a backseat in the grand final and gave valyn the space to shine. The IGL clocked in over 60 frags and a 1.17 rating, as well as a game-high 217 ACS. valyn's 11 first kills pale in comparison to tex 's 23 and +14 opening differential. On Jett and Chamber, he drew first blood in about a quarter of the final's rounds.

M80's only map win came thanks to a 2v4.

A month ago, M80 defeated The Guard in a 3-1 win that crowned the former the NA VCL champions. Four months ago, M80 had claimed a 2-1 win over The Guard on their way to a win in the Mid-Season Face Off. This week, after several struggles, The Guard claimed back-to-back wins against M80 and have earned their spot in the 2024 and 2025 VCT Americas.

While no start date has been revealed for the 2024 leagues, Riot has previously said the VCT International Leagues will default to a two-split format going forward. The Guard's promotion will see them in the 2024 and 2025 editions of the VCT — later reverting back to the Challengers League in 2026 — during which the organization will earn similar benefits to the partnered leagues and the team will be able to reach Masters and/or Champions.

The Guard's future still looms in uncertainty. Last February, the organization was mostly gutted, reducing its workforce from dozens to under 10 people and putting its CDL and OWL teams up for sale. According to The Esports Advocate, The Guard's Apex Legends and Valorant ventures were exclusively focused on 2023 at the time of the layoffs.

The Guard are the second team promoted from a Challengers League to the VCT, after BLEED BLEED Inactive conquered the VCT Pacific Ascension earlier today. EMEA's Ascension will kick off its playoffs this Thursday, July 13, promoting its own team to the VCT on Sunday.