Day three of Americas Kickoff is in the books, with the first of the 2025 Champions teams taking the stage. As expected, both NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold and MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #1 zekken Zachary Patrone tex Ian Botsch Mazino Roberto Rivas Verno Andrew Maust aspas Erick Santos took wins to advance closer to Masters Santiago.

NRG puts Cloud9 in their place

In their first VCT match since their Champions win, NRG took on Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #4 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong Zellsis Jordan Montemurro penny Erik Penny OXY Francis Hoang . Their last matchup was in Stage 2 last season, where the winner of the game decided the final team going to Champions. NRG came out of that match with a narrow victory, and went on all the way to become world champions. Cloud9, on the other hand, had their season end there, another year having missed out on reaching the international stage.

While the teams were closely matched in 2025, they have wildly diverged since then, with NRG showing today why they became world Champions. Map one was a statement 13-2 victory, with a 2.02 rating performance from Champions grand final MVP brawk .

Map two started off similarly dominant, with another 10-2 half making Cloud9 seem utterly outclassed. NRG's new pickup keiko had a chance to shine, leading the charge on Neon.

However, Cloud9 started putting things together as they moved to the second half. OXY , who had been shut down all day, finally started to come alive and get his team in the game. Unfortunately, it was too little too late, as NRG's lead proved insurmountable, as they eventually closed the map out 13-9.

Cloud9 have been sent down to the middle bracket, where they 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 next week.

MIBR survives ENVY's comeback for a 2-0

Hyped up as one of the strongest Americas rosters built in the off-season, MIBR's debut was highly anticipated. They delivered on those expectations in map one of Abyss, as they cruised smoothly to a 13-7 win against ENVY ENVY North America Rank #5 Eggsterr Evan Grady P0PPIN Matteo Weber Demon1 Max Mazanov Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo keznit Angelo Mori . Interestingly, the ex-Sentinels star Duelist zekken moved to the Controller role, playing Astra in tier one for the first time in his career. The map also saw a big performance out of Mazino , coming back from a relatively underwhelming year on KRÜ.

Map two of Corrode started as a complete wash in favor of MIBR. Inspire managed to steal the pistol round for ENVY with a 1v2, but MIBR proceeded to sweep the entire rest of the half for a 10-2 lead.

The match seemed all but wrapped up, but ENVY found a way to claw back. A second pistol round, followed by a 1v3 from keznit on the bonus round gave them the momentum to start the comeback. They strung together seven rounds in a row, bringing the score all the way up to 9-10, almost completely eliminating MIBR's lead.

However, MIBR eventually managed to recollect, and prevented overtime, closing out the map 13-11.

ENVY's loss sends them down to the middle bracket, where they will face 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 next week. MIBR moves on in the upper bracket to face the other winner of the day, with a challenging match against NRG up next.

The first week of Americas Kickoff will conclude tomorrow with Sentinels vs. FURIA, and G2 Esports vs. 100 Thieves.