100 Thieves eliminate Sentinels from VCT Americas Playoffs
An exciting first day of the 2024 VCT Americas League Stage 2 playoffs has come to a close. With it, the road to continental conquest is cut short for two much-beloved North American teams, as Sentinels and Cloud9's year in the Valorant Americas scene draws to a close.
Sentinels Caught by Surprise
The first round of playoffs saw Sentinels face a well prepared 100 Thieves team to end the day. Sentinels' map pick of Haven was answered by 100 Thieves choosing to play a composition they had never played before. The picks saw 100 Thieves fly off to a 9-3 lead in the first half, as Sentinels looked to have no answers against a composition they surely had very little practice against.
Surrounded by a supportive cast of Sova, Omen, Cypher and Iso, Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk finished the game with 21 kills on a stellar Yoru pick. Matthew "Cryocells" Panganiban admitted after the series that they had basically "copy/pasted the composition from Fnatic".
Fnatic had used that exact composition just the day before in a quick 13-5 win over FUT Esports in the second round of the 2024 VCT EMEA Stage 2 playoffs.
100 Thieves Asuna came to play. (Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)Map 2 of the series saw 100 Thieves carry on the momentum of the first map. Their pick of Ascent saw them grab a quick 8-4 lead, as they played an outstanding attacking first half. Sentinels begun to warm up and slowly claw their way up the scoreboard as they managed to cut the lead down to 2 rounds. 100 Thieves, however, decided enough was enough. After a blood-rushing couple of final rounds 100 Thieves was able to close out the game and take the series win.
Cryo's ace in the 15th round of play was perhaps overshadowed by Sean "bang" Bezerra's overall map performance. On Omen yet again, bang finished the first half of Ascent with 21 kills, 6 more than any single Sentinels player was able to get over all of map 1.
Sentinels showed some great Valorant gameplay for the majority of Stage 2. In the end, however, after dropping only two maps for the entirety of the Stage 2 group stage, Sentinels was cut down by 100 Thieves.
A Teammate Struggles
Unfortunately for Sentinels, it seems Amine "johnqt" Ouarid was undergoing pain during the match. It is still unclear at the time what it is he was suffering from exactly, but it is likely to have affected his performance on the day.
Result: Sentinels 0 - 2 100 Thieves
Cloud9 and KRÜ Esports Put on a Show
Cloud9 saw their map pick claimed by KRÜ to start the series in very close fashion after a lights-out performance from Olavo "heat" Marcelo on KAY/O. Immediately afterwards, however, Cloud9 handed the South American team a rough loss on their map pick of Lotus in yet another tight game. Many would argue that KRÜ let the map slip through their fingers after a few tough round losses, a lesson from which they are sure to learn.
Cloud9 seemed to run out of steam coming into map 3 of Haven, on which they never looked ready to trouble KRÜ. The loss marks Cloud9 as the only North American team to have never qualified for an international competition since the league franchised at the start of 2023. A tough pill to swallow for an organization with such a rich history in North American esports.
Time For a Star to Step Back and Reassess
The results on the day mean that fans will not be able to see beloved star-performer Francis "OXY" Hoang play on the biggest event of the year, Valorant Champions 2024, taking place in Seoul, South Korea. Sentinels' star duo Zachary "zekken" Patrone and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo, however, if Leviatán manage to beat KRÜ today.
The VCT Americas Stage 2 playoffs still has much to say about who will be representing the region at Champs, and the pressure is starting to mount. You can find the full schedule and list of matches here.
Image source: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
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