The first Americas Kickoff elimination match concluded with an Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #21 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le icy Jacob Lange yay Jaccob Whiteaker win, who sent FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #3 heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt home after a 2-0 series. EG will next play against either Cloud9 or MIBR to stay in contention, while FURIA will need to wait until Stage 1 to return to the server.

The teams went down to the lower bracket after Evil Geniuses' loss to LOUD and FURIA losing to Leviatán. In the past, this matchup has only taken place twice, with FURIA winning 2-1 in 2023 and Evil Geniuses taking a 2-0 in 2024.

“We underestimated LOUD, some would say we were overconfident,” supamen said regarding EG's game against LOUD. “We should have won, but minor mistakes cost us the series,” he added. “We've been training hard since for this match.”

In terms of the map veto, EG continued banning Haven, while FURIA took away Split, which they have played, and lost, twice in the past two months. EG selected Abyss as the first map, an off-season comfort, while FURIA opted to take the series to Fracture, which they have not played so far. Lotus remained as the decider, which FURIA took against 2Game Esports, albeit with a different lineup.

Heading into Abyss, a tactical fumble from FURIA granted Evil Geniuses a free defuse on the pistol. The teams showed interesting ideas in the first half, starting a back-and-forth in which the sides traded who would take proactive rounds. Two rounds with large mid fights helped EG push away, sending the map to the second half with EG in the lead.

EG overwhelmed FURIA's defense throughout the series

The North American squad took the second pistol round, further extending their lead. Two picks from raafa gave him a free Phantom, which he used to kill four and win the eco and follow-up round. Evil Geniuses avoided a draw after a round which they won with solo picks, and back-to back FURIA timeouts were not enough to get the Brazilian team back in the game. yay channeled his inner Boaster for the final rounds, playing an attacking Operator on Astra to score five kills in two rounds, winning a post-plant and later taking the anti-eco to reach match point. A fast retake and heat 3K was not enough for FURIA to defuse, ending the map 13-7 in EG's favor and sending the series to Fracture.

Evil Geniuses carried over the round winstreak to the second map, Fracture. MotherNature overwhelmed the site to secure the pistol, and EG defaulted onto B to win the bonus round. havoc found three kills to set the score 4-1, but supamen won a Brimstone 1v1 to take the next round. EG remained dominant throughout the half, forcing out FURIA's second timeout and ending their attack 10-2

icy helps win a thrifty

FURIA looked to keep their hopes alive with a flawless pistol win, and strung together a series of rounds. A thrifty win and hectic round gave EG enough of an ultimate advantage to end the game with a south-side crunch, sending FURIA home with a 13-7 on Fracture.

Evil Geniuses will next play against the winner of today's second elimination match, Cloud9 vs. MIBR. The former Champions have a long road ahead should they wish to earn Championship points and reach Masters: Bangkok, but FURIA was the first hurdle to overcome.

VCT Americas will continue with the lower bracket: