Leviatán defeat G2, take Americas trophy

LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee took home the VCT: Americas Stage 2 trophy after taking down G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf in a close series. The win gives Leviatán their first championship and secures their spot as the #1 seed from Americas for Champions 2024.

For G2, it's another finish just a step short of a title, following their third place finish at Masters Shanghai, and second place finish in the Stage 1 playoffs.

The teams met up for the fourth time this season, with G2 handling Leviatán fairly easily in the upper bracket final in the most recent matchup. G2 opted to veto Icebox and Sunset with their two map ban advantage, taking out Leviatán's best map and G2's permaban respectively.

G2 chose to open the best-of-five on Lotus. aspas picked Neon for the first map, a notable selection considering the star's relative struggles on the agent against KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo . Those issues were soon forgotten as the duelist quickly surpassed his lower final kill total on the agent. The first half was headlined by valyn 's dominant performance, leading the lobby with 15 kills and calling a strong defensive side.

Leviatán fought back on their own defense side by winning a few critical low-buy rounds despite constant struggles in retake situations. Led by star plays from Mazino and aspas, Leviatán upped their aggression and pace early on defense to force overtime after facing a 9-6 deficit.

Spurred by two uses of Mazino's Breach ultimate in overtime, Leviatán surprised the favored G2 by taking map one 15-13. It was more of the same from Mazino to finish, as the initiator elevated his already impressive play by finding 18 kills in the final nine rounds on Lotus. In total, he earned 34 kills across the map, the most of any player in Americas Stage 2.

The chaotic energy carried over into Haven, with three thrifty rounds converted in the first four rounds of the map. The map played out similar to the first one but with the roles reversed, as G2 used great retake executions to bounce back from a 10-7 losing position and force another overtime.

Overtime on Haven was marked by massive team fights and flurries of trades. Once again, however, it was Mazino who closed the door on G2 with a 3K and Breach ultimate in the final round to secure a 16-14 win and bring Leviatán one map away from a title.

The economy management was a major reason why Leviatán got the win on Haven, even without converting a pistol round win. The mixed Americas squad put together 24 full buy rounds compared to their opponents' 15.

While it was much more of a team effort for Leviatán than in the first map, C0M in particular was key in the win. Always good to cause disruption with a timely flank, he led the lobby with 28 kills.

Leviatán looked to close out the series on Bind in 3-0 fashion. Even with a miraculous 2v5 from leaf and icy, G2 were faced with a 8-2 hole to begin the map. A major round saw C0M continue his stellar play from the previous map with a 1v2 to break the G2 economy.

The post plant setups from G2 were messy, as players were continuously picked off early on into retakes from Leviatán. A 3v5 win to finish the half at 8-4 kept G2's hopes alive heading into their attack half.

Piggybacking off the nice finish to the first half, G2 flipped the script by winning their own retakes and opening defensive duels to buoy themselves out to a 9-8 lead. A 1v1 win for C0M was the only positive for Leviatán in the second half as they dropped their first map in the series 13-9.

Of the 19 rounds where the bomb was planted, 14 of them ended in defusals. Leaf played extremely well on the map, leading the lobby with a whopping 232 ADR. JonahP came alive after a slow first half, and his 15-2 performance on G2's defense half was a major reason why G2 dominated the back end of the map.

On Ascent, it was aspas' attack Operator play that headlined the first half. G2 hardly fought for early map control on the defensive side, allowing aspas to pick off several unsuspecting players throughout multiple rounds on the way to a strong 8-4 half for Leviatán.

Those four rounds would be all that G2 would see on Ascent. Across their five attack rounds, only valyn and JonahP would contribute to the eight kills G2 found as aspas ran rampant on Jett to secure Leviatán their first VCT Americas championship.

Mazino finished with an impressive 90 kills across just four maps to lead the way, with aspas not far behind at 81. Not a single player for Leviatán finished negative across the series even with the overtime battles to begin the match. In contrast, leaf was G2's only player who managed more kills than the lowest fragger on Leviatán.

The win for Leviatán felt like a long time coming after many labeled the roster a superteam during the offseason. C0M and aspas will have a chance to become the only two-time Champions winners in Seoul.

For a G2 squad that had dropped just two maps since returning from a top-three finish at Masters Shanghai, it was a disappointing result. There were some uncharacteristic misplays throughout the series that cost them rounds at critical junctures.

Leviatán were placed into Group C for Champions 2024 alongside Talon Esports, Team Vitality, and Trace Esports. G2 are the second seed in Group D, facing off against Paper Rex, EDward Gaming, and FUT Esports.