Day 2 of VCT Americas Kickoff featured FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #5 nerve Michael Yerrow artzin Arthur Araujo eeiu Daniel Vucenovic koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio alym Torogul Baidyldaev matching up against 2Game Esports 2Game Esports Brazil Rank #13 Brinks gobera Vitor Gobo ambitioN Gabriel Lima lz Luiz Reche frz Leandro Gomes and NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold taking on Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #4 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong Zellsis Jordan Montemurro penny Erik Penny 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 Rank #63 Dark3st furbsa Jackk stallion nabil and Turtle Troop Turtle Troop Inactive wedid Matthew Suchan jowa Jordan Wang bdog Brandon Sanders Kaoticc 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 North America Rank #12 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena PxS Josh Brunelli with their main roster in the upper quarterfinal on Jan. 19, while 2Game will fight for survival versus the loser of LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #11 lukxo Lucca Travaioli Darker Sebastián Castro Cicuamia Virtyy Leandro Moreno pANcada Bryan Luna cauanzin Cauan Pereira versus KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #1 saadhak Matias Delipetro mwzera Leonardo Serrati silentzz Caio Morita Less Felipe de Loyola Basso Dantedeu5 Jesús Federico Larrosa 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 Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio 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 Rank #7 N4RRATE Marshall Massey Reduxx Yassin Aboulalazm johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid Kyu Mirel Braco Hrustemovic cortezia Gabriel Cortez versus 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #3 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra 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