Day 2 of VCT Americas Kickoff featured FURIA FURIA Brazil Unranked heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt matching up against 2Game Esports 2Game Esports Brazil Unranked gobera Vitor Gobo Zap Brenno Roberto pryze Luis-Henrique Viveiros lz Luiz Reche spike Rodrigo Lombardi silentzz Caio Morita and NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Unranked FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold taking on Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Unranked Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago neT Michael Bernet OXY Francis Hoang . FURIA and Cloud9 have advanced to the upper quarterfinals, while 2Game and NRG will fight for the lives in the lower round 1.

FURIA vs. 2Game Esports

FURIA versus 2Game featured 10 players who played in Challengers last season, eight of whom were playing their first match in VCT Americas. Six of them were stand-ins—five on the side of FURIA due to visa delays for the main roster and one for 2Game in gobera due to spike still being too young to play. The FURIA substitute roster was a last-minute arrangement comprising players from YFP YFP North America Unranked jakee Jake Anderson stellar Brenden McGrath penny Erik Penny thief Brady Dever fiziq Lucas Blow and Turtle Troop Turtle Troop North America Unranked wedid Matthew Suchan jowa bdog Brandon Sanders Kaoticcc for only this match, as the team confirmed that the main roster will return for their next.

The match kicked off on 2Game's pick of Haven, where both sides immediately brought out Tejo and Breach. FURIA took an early 5-1 lead off the back of a round 2 eco, but 2Game took a timeout and managed to pull things back to a 7-5 half in favor of FURIA. 2Game won the second pistol, but FURIA went on to win every remaining round with well-coordinated floods, taking Haven 13-7. bdog and Add3r led their team with ratings of 1.33 and 1.18, but gobera led the server individually with a rating of 1.62 and 23 kills.

Lotus saw a mirror matchup between the two teams featuring Tejo, Breach, and Vyse. Despite the similar compositions, the map was anything but close as FURIA consistently demonstrated superior postplants and floods, dominating 13-5. penny was unstoppable, recording 22 kills, 228 ADR, and a 1.95 rating.

On top of being a win for FURIA, this win was also a clear statement from some of the brightest prospects in North American Challengers. “They're all some of the most slept-on players,” stellar spoke of his teammates in the post-match interview. “They all deserve chances, and so I wish somebody would take the chance eventually.”

FURIA will face LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Unranked Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee nataNk Nathan Bocqueho with their main roster in the upper quarterfinal on Jan. 19, while 2Game will fight for survival versus the loser of LOUD LOUD Brazil Unranked dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira versus KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Unranked keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro on Jan. 24.

NRG Esports vs. Cloud9

This matchup was the first showing for two North American rosters with differing expectations from the offseason. NRG faced high expectations after earning offseason trophies from the SEN City Classic and the SOOP League, while many had questions for Cloud9 after they made two unexpected roster changes deep into the offseason.

NRG elected to take the first map to Fracture, locking in the Breach-Sova composition famously run by Evil Geniuses during the dominant run on the map in 2023. Cloud9 steamrolled their attack, ending the first half with a 10-2 lead as NRG could find no answers to their repeated site hits. Xeppaa in particular seemed to walk on water, racking up 19 kills in 12 rounds.

NRG answered back with a round streak of their own, taking things back to 10-7. Cloud9 seemed to stabilize in round 19 as they crept up to 12 but struggled to close things out, allowing NRG to force overtime. Pushed to the limit, Cloud9 finally won Fracture 14-12. Xeppaa ended the map with 28 kills and a 1.13 rating, but s0m was the overall standout with 30 kills to 15 deaths and a rating of 1.72.

Cloud9 chose Lotus for the second map. This time, the first half was much closer—a back-and-forth 6-6 with hero plays from both sides, including an ace from Xeppaa in round 6 as part of his ongoing highlight reel and a 1v3 clutch from Ethan in round 11.

NRG grabbed a 9-6 brief advantage with a bonus round conversion, but the rest of the map was all Cloud9 as they won out trades and postplants utilizing Xeppaa's Tejo and mitch 's Breach utility. This time, Cloud9 was ultimately able to end things in regulation, taking Lotus 13-10. Xeppaa continued to put on a show and ended the map with 26 kills.

In the post-match interview, Xeppaa expressed excitement at the prospect of playing G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Unranked jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf for their next match, stating, “If we can't beat the best, then we don't deserve to be here.”

Cloud9 will face G2 on Jan. 19, while NRG will play the loser of Sentinels Sentinels North America Unranked N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid versus 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Unranked zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk in the lower bracket on Jan. 24.

VCT Americas will return tomorrow for the first day of the upper quarterfinals, featuring:

• KRU Esports vs. LOUD
• Sentinels vs. 100 Thieves