Leviatán win rollercoaster vs. KRÜ, reach first Americas final

In a nailbiter that went all five maps, LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee defeated KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo for the fourth time this VCT season, and the second time in the Americas Stage 2 playoffs. The series went back and forth with dominant performances from each team across various maps. KRÜ's season is not over, as they will represent Americas at Champions after clinching their fourth consecutive Champions berth. Leviatán will play G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive for a chance at their first trophy and to be the first seed for Americas at Champions.

KRÜ had gone into the match hoping for an end to their troubles against Leviatán, having most recently managed just six rounds in the upper semifinals in their third loss against their LATAM rivals in just three months. The teams had differing reactions to their most recent showdown, with KRÜ clinching their fourth straight Champions berth in a nail-biter with 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #4 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk . Leviatán had a let down with an uninspiring 2-0 loss against G2 Esports

Leviatán looked for a similar opening to their 13-2 first map victory on Thursday, opting to play on Icebox once again. The mixed Americas roster had not fallen on the map in eight straight tries prior to stalling against G2. A 3K pistol opener from Shyy provided a spark of hope for his team, but the pistol rounds were quite literally the only positive on Icebox for KRÜ.

Ultimately it was the exact same story of domination for the first map, with Leviatán in control the entire time en route to a 13-3 victory. aspas and tex combined for 31 kills on their attack. KRÜ tried to switch things up by placing keznit on Reyna, but the star duelist managed just one kill in the first half.

A mirror matchup with two Neons on Haven resulted in a battle of site hits and aggressive teamplay in a back-and-forth affair. KRÜ instantly looked more comfortable on their map pick, staving off Mazino's hot start to reach a 7-7 stalemate.

The finish would not deviate from the rest of the map. Melser picked up a 1v2 in a critical round 22 to bring the score to 11-11. C0M was left in three different 1vX situations in the final trio of rounds but failed to convert, leaving KRÜ with a 13-11 victory.

KRÜ put together six successful retakes in nine possible attempts on their defensive side. Keznit looked more like his usual self in map two, leading his squad with 27 kills and five first bloods.

The momentum from map two carried over to Sunset as KRÜ pummeled Leviatán to start on Sunset. Aspas' struggles (by his standards), carried over from Haven as he managed just three kills in the first half. A 2v4 clutch to finish out their attack side put KRÜ 9-3 up in a pivotal map three. The KRÜ B site executes just couldn't be stopped even with a variety of Cypher setups from tex.

Leviatán finally converted their first pistol round of the series to kick off the second half, but it would provide little solace. KRÜ continued their smashmouth style as Leviatán tried to slow things down on their own attack. The floods and aggression from KRÜ were the focal point of the plan on Sunset, as they ran over Leviatán to secure a 13-7 map victory. In 10 full-buy rounds from Leviatán, they managed just four wins.

Leviatán would have to keep their playoffs run alive by taking their first ever official game on Abyss. They started off looking right at home, putting aspas back on Jett and getting him the Operator as soon as possible. Five first kills from the duelist in the beginning nine rounds catapulted Leviatán to a 7-1 lead.

Mazino 's Harbor utility allowed his squad much space to work with on both their attacking and defending sides, setting them up with a 10-4 lead. But again, strong retakes provided KRÜ an opportunity to get back into the map. A timeout and call to force buy at 11-8 by Itopata supplanted by a Mazino 4K gave Leviatán four chances to close out the map.

A 1v1 from Shyy and an impressive 1v3 from mta kept KRÜ alive, but it was another force buy from Leviatán and massive multikill round from aspas that pushed the series to a fifth and final map.

Mazino and aspas' fragging combined with timely lurks from C0M and tex were the story of Abyss. Leviatán put together eight half buy rounds, converting seven of them on the way to the victory. Aspas looked much more comfortable on the Jett with his Operator, finding 10 kills with it while floating around the map on defense.

Ascent would be the decider, with Leviatán selecting the Cypher-Deadlock composition growing in popularity. An insane tex ace on the bonus round set Leviatán up nicely for a strong attack half. kiNgg 's calling routinely got his squad into sites by utilizing an attack-side operator from aspas and creative ability usage from the Deadlock.

Facing a 8-4 deficit, KRÜ would not go away meekly. On the back of finding their first pistol win since the beginning of Sunset, a 3K from keznit set up a bonus conversion that looked like it could help send the final map down to the wire.

But it was KRÜ's aggressive hits that caused them to lose their own footing. On a Leviatán eco round, KRÜ sent it up mid straight into a trap play that enabled a Mazino 3K and a 10-7 lead for Leviatán.

Bouncing back was however a theme of the series. A KRÜ eco of and a keznit 1v2 brought the final map to a 10-10 scoreline. Again, forced site hits into Leviatán stacks with both the KAY/O and Killjoy ultimates mowed down KRÜ, allowing Leviatán to close out the map and series on Ascent.

aspas had 90 kills in the series, with 71 of them coming in his three Jett maps. The star went a whopping 24-7 in first duels. Mazino was critical in the win, dropping 99 kills across Harbor, Breach, and Deadlock. KRÜ showed great fight in the series, with Shyy in particular having a great showing.

Leviatán will play G2 esports in their first Americas final on Sunday to crown the Stage 2 victor. KRÜ will have to wait until the conclusion of that match to see what their draw will look like for the Champions group stage in Seoul.