In the LATAM side of the upper semifinals of the Americas Last Chance Qualifier, 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 readily handled LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee nataNk Nathan Bocqueho in 2-0 fashion. Both teams remain in the tournament, as Leviatán drops to lowers and KRÜ advances to the upper finals.

KRÜ's victory continues their blistering form so far in the LCQ, having defeated both MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #4 artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez nzr Agustin Ibarra aspas Erick Santos and FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #6 heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt prior to their win over Leviatán. Their run is a direct turnaround from their regular season performance, having failed to win a match in the VCT Americas League.

When asked about the mood surrounding the team yesterday, Klaus likened it to the atmosphere from the KRÜ roster in their Champions run in 2021. When asked what a similar run would mean, keznit preferred to stay in the moment.

“I'm more focused on the present.” keznit said, “Take things step-by-step and map-by-map, and I will see where it takes us from there.”

In the server, keznit was certainly focused. The star duelist player for KRÜ continued his scorching hot LCQ form in the series, going 44-24 in K/D and dropping 218 ADR across the two maps.

After this Melser 1v2, everything was downhill for Leviatán.

On Split, KRÜ Esports dominated in every facet of the game. After losing the opening pistol, they rattled off nine of the next 10 rounds on attack behind a combined 29 kills from keznit and Melser . KRÜ went 14-4 in first duels in the first map alone. Despite a couple of attack round wins of their own, the comeback was not on the cards for Leviatán as they fell 13-5.

Leviatán's map pick of Lotus looked like it might be more of the same after KRÜ jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. Some nice plays from kiNgg and Shyy kept Leviatán in striking distance at half with a couple of clutches to cut the deficit to only 7-5. KRÜ's attack side proved to be too much for their LATAM compatriots as they closed the series out 13-7 on Lotus.

“I play the same against anybody,” keznit said in a post-match interview. “I'm ready to face anybody. It's fun to play against Leviatán as we are friends outside of the game, but inside the game it is a different story.”

keznit currently leads all players in the Americas Last Chance Qualifier in ACS, K/D, ADR, KAST%, and rating. His rating of 1.46 dwarfs the next-highest number from kiNgg at 1.23, despite KRÜ having played the most rounds of any team at the tournament.

KRÜ Esports had lost seven straight maps vs Leviatán dating back to June of last year. In the regular season matchup between the squads, Leviatán cruised in 13-4,13-4 fashion.

Since that victory over KRÜ at the start of May, Leviatán has struggled mightily, winning just two maps over five series losses. They will now face Sentinels in the lower bracket of the LCQ tomorrow, hoping to keep their season alive.

KRÜ will look to continue their Cinderella run at the Americas LCQ when they face off against Cloud9 in the Upper Finals, the first North American roster they will have faced in the tournament. Cloud9 took down KRÜ in the regular season in a close 2-1 series in Week 8.