The Americas Stage 2 playoffs have kicked off, with Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #8 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago neT Michael Bernet OXY Francis Hoang and G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty stand-in trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice taking wins in their opening matches. The victories will next pit them against the top teams from the group stage, Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #2 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid and NRG NRG North America Rank #3 s0m Sam Oh brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold . Their opponents, meanwhile, descend to the lower bracket, up against each group's fourth seed in an elimination series.

C9 defeats LEVIATÁN 2-1 after trading comebacks

The bracket began with Cloud9 up against LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #9 tex Ian Botsch Okeanos Anthony Nguyen Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee , two teams that need to perform in order to reach Champions: Paris. Historically a matchup that favors the North American squad, having had a 4-1 record in the VCT head-to-head, LEVIATÁN had come out on top in the teams' most important encounter during the 2023 LCQ. Most recently, C9 took the win in the Stage 1 group stage, helping bar LEVIATÁN from playoffs.

The match opened on C9's pick, Corrode, where LEVIATÁN found an early lead on defense. Initially going up 8-2, thanks in part to Controller duo kiNgg and Okeanos , LEVIATÁN was able to secure a strong round advantage heading into the second half. C9 quickly regained their footing, however, with a seven-round streak after switching sides propelling them up to double digits.

OXY 's turnaround, having started the first twelve rounds with only two eliminations and 12 deaths, was impressive, as he recovered on defense with 16 eliminations and a 2.17 rating. In the end, Cloud9 took their map 13-10, leaving their opponents on the back foot for the remainder of the match.

A similar start on Haven followed, as Cloud9 dominated on offense (with OXY's Jett ending the half with 16 eliminations) to secure the first half 10-2. LEVIATÁN recovered on their own attack half, as Sato 's spearhead broke through the C9 defense with 19 kills and 4 opening eliminations. Mirroring the first map, LEVIATÁN's comeback granted them a 13-10 win on their pick, sending the series to a decider.

Lotus was a more back-and-forth affair, as Cloud9 took the pistol round but LEVIATÁN soon took the lead. Okeanos was unstoppable, with 18 eliminations and two quadruple kills ultimately helping his team win the first half 7-5. A four-round streak followed for the Argentinian-based team, securing double digits, but Cloud9 maintained the series' theme and performed a flawless comeback to win the map 13-11 and the match 2-1.

The win tightens the Americas Championship points table, with the extra point creating a four-way tie between teams at six total points. LEVIATÁN was already mathematically eliminated ahead of the knockouts, needing to reach the grand final to book their flight to Europe. This means they can no longer afford a loss, while Cloud9 still has a second chance should they fall in a future match.

G2 sweeps 100 Thieves with sights on the Americas treble

The next series pit G2 Esports against 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #6 Kess Drew Lee zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Asuna Peter Mazuryk , as the former looks to secure a perfect Americas season, having won Kickoff and Stage 1 earlier in the year. The Ascension team has already guaranteed a Champions appearance and a return to VCT Americas next year, while 100 Thieves still needs to gain points in order to return to the marquee VCT event for the first time since 2022.

With the regular season having exposed 100T's relatively weaker map pool, G2 banned their opponent's best map, Bind. This forced the series to start on Sunset, where G2 remained unrelenting. 100 Thieves was only able to win four rounds overall, both post-pistol eco rounds and the following anti-ecos. In the end, G2 won the map with a dominant 13-4, inching closer to a match against Group Omega top seed NRG.

G2's BABYBAY continued his improvement throughout the tournament, topping the leaderboard with a 1.54 rating, but his teammate jawgemo was hot on his heels with a 1.53 rating of his own. The Champions winner was unleashed on Neon, having played her only a handful of times compared to his highest picked agent this Stage, Yoru, as he ended the map with seven opening kills and 18 total eliminations.

The second map was a similar showing, as G2 earned a six-round streak after losing the opening pistol round on Haven. This set them up for a 9-3 half, but the eponymous curse did not strike in 100 Thieves' favor. jawgemo continued his prowess with 20 kills in the first half, this time on the Yoru. G2 remained dominant after taking the second pistol round, and 100T's two attacking round wins were not enough to stifle the damage, as the favorites secured Haven 13-5 and took the win with a clean sweep.

The Americas Stage 2 playoffs will continue with the upper bracket:

• Sentinels vs. Cloud9
• G2 Esports vs. NRG