VCT Americas started its 2025 season today with Kickoff, featuring a pair of North America vs. Brazil showdowns.

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #21 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le icy Jacob Lange yay Jaccob Whiteaker vs. LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira

VCT Americas opened with a storied match-up, pitting two champion-winning organizations against each other. However, 2024 was challenging for the former titans of Americas, with both missing Stage 2 playoffs. EG looked to renew its roster with icy and yay , while Loud brought in dgzin and v1nny after saadhak and Less moved to EMEA.

Split was chosen as the first map, with yay making his VCT Americas debut on Chamber. The pick proved decisive, contributing to a strong 8-4 defensive half. Though Loud closed the gap in the second half, pulling off a comeback into 14-12 overtime win. dgzin dominated on Raze, ending the game with an outstanding 28 kills.

yay's Chamber is back.

Moving on to Pearl, both teams traded rounds in a tightly contested 6-6 first half. Despite EG winning both pistols, Loud pulled ahead in the second half with electric performances from v1nny and cauanzin , closing out the map 13-10.

Loud advances to face 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 in the Upper Quarterfinals, while EG will take on the loser of FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #6 heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt and 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 in the lower bracket.

MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #4 artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez nzr Agustin Ibarra aspas Erick Santos vs. 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #8 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk

A match-up immortalized by TxoziN 's history-changing knife kill in 2023, 100 Thieves faced off against MIBR in the second match of Kickoff. During the offseason, 100T made just one roster change, bringing in zander to replace the departing bang , while MIBR went for a complete rebuild, signing World Champion aspas alongside nzr , xenom , and cortezia .

Starting on Lotus, 100T launched an explosive attack spearheaded by Asuna on Neon, ending the half 10-2. MIBR could not stop the bleeding in the second half, losing 4-13 behind Asuna's 26 kills and six first-bloods.

Asuna's ace stolen by his IGL

100 Thieves selected their old faithful Bind as the second map, sticking with the same comp crucial to their Stage 1 Americas victory last year. However, MIBR took an early lead on the attack, fueled by a resurgence from aspas and xenom, ending the half 8-4. In the second half, 100 Thieves reminded everyone why they were once so feared on this map, climbing back to an 11-8 lead before conceding a round. Propelled Cryocells 's 22 kills on Brimstone, 100 Thieves closed the map 13-9.

100 Thieves will move on to play Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #3 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid in the upper bracket, while MIBR will fight with elimination on the line against the loser of G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive and NRG/C9.

Kickoff will continue tomorrow with the following matches: