The Challengers Leagues in Brazil and Latin America have concluded, and two teams from each region have locked in their spots for Americas Ascension.

Ascension is the annual clash between Challengers teams to claim one available spot in VCT Americas. In 2023, The Guard The Guard Inactive JonahP Jonah Pulice trent Trent Cairns neT Michael Bernet valyn Jacob Batio tex Ian Botsch (now G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf ) became the first team in Americas to ascend and will represent the region at Champions this week.

The top two teams from North America, Brazil, and LATAM will play in a single round robin group stage, each match a best-of-three. The top four teams from the group stage will face off in a double elimination playoff bracket to crown a champion.

Challengers League Brazil: Galorys and 2Game Esports

Galorys Galorys Inactive prozin Wallacy Sales RgLMeister Matheus Rodigoli Urango Victor Rodrigues lukxo Lucca Travaioli Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato was the first Brazilian team to secure their place in Ascension with a 3-1 victory over THE 7 THE 7 Inactive sw Jadisson Rayan tkzin shion Gabriel Vilela pollo Julio Silva prince Lorran S. Ferreira in the grand finals of Split 2 on Sunday.

After an underwhelming 3-6 regular season in Split 2, the team rallied and blazed a path through play-ins and playoffs, only dropping a series to THE 7 in the upper bracket final.

Despite THE 7's higher placement in playoffs, Galorys' victory sent 2Game Esports 2Game Esports Brazil Rank #3 gobera Vitor Gobo Zap Brenno Roberto pryze Luis-Henrique Viveiros lz Luiz Reche spike Rodrigo Lombardi silentzz Caio Morita to Ascension based on circuit points. 2Game amassed 115 points versus THE 7's 80 throughout the year. The four-map final opened with a thrilling 13-11 victory for THE 7 on Lotus. However, Galorys successfully adapted to THE 7's Iso-centric double duelist compositions and comfortably took Bind 13-8, Split 13-6, and Ascent 13-7.

Both teams' controller players distinguished themselves; THE 7's pollo recorded top kills on three out of four maps, while lukxo demonstrated a 20/10 K/D on Bind and a server-high 1.20 rating in the series. Galorys' duelist Sato also consistently performed throughout the series with an impressive 270 ACS and 171 ADR.

All 10 of the players representing Brazil are newcomers to Ascension and will compete for the most coveted prize in Challengers.

Challengers League LATAM: RETA Esports and All Knights

In Latin America, the top two teams in circuit points from the LATAM North and LATAM South leagues converged in a four team double-elimination bracket to qualify the top two teams.

RETA Esports RETA Esports Inactive Tacolilla Vicente Compagnon suther Tomás Zurita defeated All Knights All Knights Inactive NicoMachine Nicolas Valla Cebando Ezequiel Ramos Dantedeu5 tinchoff Martin Garcia in an exceptional 3-2 reverse sweep in the winner's match to secure the first spot on Saturday.

All Knights took Haven and Lotus convincingly, with All Knights' duelist Dantedeu5 leading with a combined 42 kills and 13 first kills to only one first death. However, RETA rebounded on Bind thanks to headliner performances from two familiar faces: NagZ and delz1k , both of whom formerly played for 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 . The last two maps were strong displays of mental fortitude from RETA as they won Ascent 13-10 from behind 10-7 score and Abyss 13-9 from an 8-8 score.

All Knights had one last chance to qualify in the decider match against E-Xolos LAZER E-Xolos LAZER Latin America North Rank #1 Cebando Ezequiel Ramos Mited Luis Gutierrez Feniz Thomas Molina Virtyy Leandro Moreno Darker Sebastián Castro Cicuamia the next day and capitalized on it in a close 3-2 victory.

The five-map series played out in back-and-forth fashion. At first, it seemed that the previous loss had affected All Knights as they dropped Haven 13-5, where E-Xolos' duelist Virtyy dropped a stunning 27 kills and 436 ACS. However, All Knights countered with a 13-5 of their own on Sunset. Map three was the closest in the series, with All Knights barely closing out Lotus 13-11 after a dominant 10-2 first half.

In the decider on Ascent, All Knights sealed E-Xolos' fate on the back of a remarkable performance from Cebando on Omen, who racked up 22 kills and a 1.75 rating. Virtyy topped the scoreboard for the series with 98 kills, 30 of which were first kills.

Of the 10 players representing LATAM, NagZ, delz1k, murizzz (formerly of MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #4 artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez nzr Agustin Ibarra aspas Erick Santos ), and adverso (formerly of LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee nataNk Nathan Bocqueho ) will seek returns to tier one, while the rest will reach for the summit as fresh faces.

Americas Ascension 2023 trophy The best of the best will vie for the ultimate prize. (Photo by Pavilhão Pacaembu/Riot Games)

Ascension

Ascension will begin on Sept. 10 in Monterrey, Mexico. The six participating teams will compete in a round robin of best-of-three matches, with the top four advancing to the double elimination playoff stage starting Sept. 18.

The teams qualified for Ascension are: