KRÜ round out Champions team list with 2-1 win over 100 Thieves

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 have crushed 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk ' dream of a Champions berth this year after narrowly edging out the Americans in a 2-1 series.

KRÜ are the final team to qualify for Champions 2024 and have capitalized upon their impressive first-stage performance, despite their 1-3 record in the Stage 2 regular season. Newcomer mta was a key element in securing the win for KRÜ, saving the series with late-game moments on Ascent.

100 Thieves just missed out on Champions 2024 after a fourth-place finish in Stage Two and losing the tiebreaker in Champions points to Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid . Despite the loss, eeiu and Cryocells continued a streak of impressive form from Masters Shanghai and Stage 2.

The map veto initially seemed to favor 100 Thieves with Ascent as the decider following Icebox and Lotus. Ascent had been the American team's best map in 2024 by win rate at 71% and with notable wins over Sentinels, LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira , and G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf . In contrast, Ascent had been KRÜ's worst map by win rate at just 17%.

A 1v2 from eeiu in the pistol kicked off an explosive start on Icebox for 100 Thieves. Despite occasionally struggling to manage the time in the round, 100 Thieves looked in control with a 4-2 lead. KRÜ could thank Melser for landing an instant flick in a 1v2 to cut down their opponent's momentum and force 100T onto an eco. The individuals were evenly matched in the first half with Cryo and keznit trading impact kills to ensure a 6-6 scoreline.

keznit provided further impact with a 3K in the second pistol to give KRÜ a buffer against 100T's habit of putting an Operator on Cryo as fast as possible. Although KRÜ managed to deal with Cryo, it was a 2v4 from Asuna and eeiu that put 100T back in the driver's seat at 9-8. KRÜ followed up with just a single round for the rest of the half as the site duos of Cryo and bang on B and Asuna and eeiu on A played off each other perfectly to secure the first map 13-9.

Cryo's Operator dominated the field with eight multikill rounds and a 78% first engagement win rate. The American Jett's 27 kills and 324 ACS lit up the server as 100T cruised on the defense.

“Once we got to defense we had a lot of confidence and knew that [KRÜ] are not that great with their util,” said 100 Thieves coach Zikz after the first map.

KRÜ got off to a much better start on Lotus with a pistol and back-and-forth rounds on the generally less favorable defensive side. 100T immediately responded to a KRU thrifty with a thrifty of their own. Boostio 's lurks frequently found impact in slower rounds while KRÜ relied on some excellent shooting from heat combined with set plays. A heroic 3K from eeiu in a 3v5 kept the half even at another 6-6 scoreline.

Streaks of three rounds each were traded after another KRÜ pistol. Shyy 's performance skyrocketed in the second half with late-game multikills while the trio of bang, Cryo, and Boostio forced out every round of regulation. Ultimately it was the savior plays from Shyy that made the difference as KRÜ narrowly closed out the win 13-11 to tie up the series.

heat and Shyy took turns putting their team on their backs in each half with heat taking 16 kills in the first and Shyy taking 17 in the second. Shyy put up 300 ACS and 25 kills to close the map. KRÜ also benefited greatly from a slight advantage in first engagements with 56% win rate.

100 Thieves came back in full force on Ascent by taking four rounds straight after losing the first gun round to gain a 6-4 lead. KRÜ was largely nullifying Cryo's Operator but Asuna and eeiu provided enough map-wide pressure to carry 100 Thieves across the line in the later stages of rounds. Some late-half exploitation of the A site gifted KRÜ the final two rounds of the half to keep the deficit close at 7-5 for 100 Thieves.

A massive 1v3 from eeiu cancelled out a KRÜ pistol to maintain his team's two-round lead at 9-7 and force out KRÜ's final timeout. 100 Thieves responded with another clutch, this time a 1v2 from Boostio. A pivotal 4K from mta at 7-11 down gave KRÜ stability to regain control of the game. Another mta multikill in the following round forced 100 Thieves down to a low buy and made it a one-round game at 11-10 for 100T. KRÜ were insistent on keeping heavy stacks towards the A site and the calls from Melser proved to be on point to even up Ascent 11-11 and force out a final timeout from Zikz. A 1v1 from keznit over eeiu followed to put KRÜ on series point at 12-11. A missed KAY/O molly from Asuna to break Shyy's Killjoy ult sealed the game as KRÜ took the series 2-1 with a 13-11 on Ascent.

mta's impact in the final rounds of Ascent could not be understated, with the newcomer bringing in multikills and impactful utility to close out the game on top of having a team-high of 19 kills.

KRÜ are the final team to qualify for Champions 2024 and will face off against LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee in the lower bracket final tomorrow.

100 Thieves have been eliminated from VCT Americas Stage 2 and Champions contention.