In the second-last upper bracket matches of VCT Americas 2026 Kickoff, MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #1 zekken Zachary Patrone tex Ian Botsch Mazino Roberto Rivas Verno Andrew Maust aspas Erick Santos defeated NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold in three maps, while FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #4 nerve Michael Yerrow artzin Arthur Araujo eeiu Daniel Vucenovic koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio alym Torogul Baidyldaev won over G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf in an upset.

MIBR fights back to win close series against NRG

Starting on Abyss, MIBR continued to run its double-Initiator comp with Jett and Cypher, while NRG ran a double-Controller and double-Initiator comp. NRG won the first pistol with a skuba ace and converted the bonus to get ahead early. It took until round six for MIBR to win its first round of the series, with a defuse ending with two alive. MIBR was struggling heavily to start its map pick, with mada stomping all over aspas as NRG reached the half up 11-1.

It would have to be a miracle for MIBR for Abyss to even be close, with Verno and aspas winning the second pistol round to complete the first step. The bonus conversion went from a want to a need for MIBR, but brawk stopped a split with three kills to take NRG to map point.

MIBR started to string together flawless rounds to make the scoreline a little nicer, but NRG closed the map out 13-6.

Next up was Split, with MIBR running double-Duelist with zekken on Yoru and aspas on Raze. NRG instead ran double-Controller and double-Initiator again, but with slight changes. NRG won the first pistol on Split, and converted another bonus round. NRG, at this point, had significantly converted more bonus rounds than losing them, offering another early lead. This time, MIBR won its first round sooner in the first half, on round five. The improvements from MIBR were faster, with more trades and cleaner site hits on the attack side. NRG remained ahead at the half, 7-5, but MIBR was in a much better position in comparison to Abyss.

MIBR won a tense pistol with a Mazino defuse to tie the map, and then converted the bonus to take its first lead of the series. Then, after winning his team the pistol, Mazino kept his form up to further extend the lead.

It looked like MIBR were in prime position to take Split away from NRG, but mada kept dominating the duelist matchup to tie the map late at 10-10. That was until aspas finally started winning rounds near-singlehandedly for MIBR, as the team won the final round before overtime. The map ended 13-11, and MIBR forced map three.

Breeze began with MIBR sticking to double-Duelist, but with aspas moving to Jett. NRG decided to match the double-Duelist from Split with one of its own, with keiko on Neon. MIBR won the first pistol off a great mid-round call, and also converted the bonus to take its first early lead of the series. NRG won its first round of Breeze on round five, but zekken was preventing NRG from winning any more easy rounds.

Some nice shots from mada nearly made the scoreline a bit nicer for NRG, but Verno closed out the map for MIBR at 9-3. NRG won the second pistol to start the comeback on map three, but was unable to convert the bonus. MIBR reached double digits, and just as it looked like NRG was going to tie the map late, Mazino and Verno clutched up to end Breeze 13-8.

The star of the series was zekken, who stepped up on Split to revitalize MIBR and played well on Breeze. He ended the series with a 1.22 match rating, 49 kills, and thirteen first kills.

With this win, MIBR makes it to the upper finals of Kickoff and will have three chances to qualify for Masters Santiago. As for NRG, the team moves to the middle bracket to face 100 Thieves.

FURIA upsets G2 with a dominant Abyss and Split

Starting on Abyss for the second time in the day, FURIA opted for a solo Waylay comp with double-Controller while G2 ran double-Duelist with BABYBAY on Yoru. FURIA won the first pistol on the defense side, but trent stopped the bonus conversion. The retakes from FURIA were clean as the team stepped out to an early lead, but G2 started to adapt to the flood retakes as the half went on. After reaching a 4-4 tie, FURIA won an important thrifty off a clutch Sheriff duel from nerve. G2 fumbled a couple of close moments, and FURIA took advantage by leading at the half 8-4.

FURIA won the second pistol round handily, with G2 hardly putting up a fight. It took a trent spam through a smoke for G2 to prevent the bonus conversion, giving the team hopes of a comeback. Yet, when the gun rounds came around, the Jett continued to get no value as the Waylay from alym would win rounds for FURIA. G2 struggled heavily on Abyss, while FURIA took the map 13-7 and the series lead.

Bind had to be a G2 win if the team wanted to stay alive in the upper bracket, and G2 returned to Babybay on Chamber and jawgemo on Waylay. FURIA opted for double-Duelist with Waylay and Yoru instead, starting on defense. G2 won the first pistol off a trent 1v2, but was unable to convert the bonus round. On the first true gun round of the game, leaf helped G2 extend its lead after an aggressive post-plant 2v3 win. Soon after, leaf took advantage of a bit of a whiff from artzin to help his team go up 6-2.

G2 put the pressure on FURIA, but when koalanoob got the Operator, he alone was able to win a bunch of rounds with it. It got close toward the end, but G2 did enter the half up 7-5.

G2 won the second pistol without the need for a clutch, giving the team a little more breathing room to start the second half. FURIA decided to force on what normally would be the eco, but leaf and Babybay denied that potential turn of momentum. Even with that purchase, FURIA still prevented the bonus round win thanks to some shotguns paying off in a chaotic round. Hitting double-digits, G2 forced a late timeout from FURIA. Even then, trent got his first ace in VCT to finish Bind in good spirits. G2 won Bind just as convincingly as FURIA won Abyss, ending it 13-6.

The series went to map three, to Split. G2 ran a solo duelist comp with jawgemo on Waylay and double-Controller, while FURIA stuck to double-Duelist with Waylay and Yoru. FURIA won the first pistol, and an Outlaw from eeiu converted the bonus round. Down 4-0 on the defense side, G2 took a timeout and needed to change things up. Round six was the first win from G2, a thrifty win due to a jawgemo Waylay ult. Even then, FURIA was winning easily and entered the half with a 9-3 lead.

G2 needed the pistol for a comeback, but FURIA once again handled G2 with ease on Split to get to double-digits quickly. The force afterward from G2 was countered by the Outlaw from koalanoob, and the game was effectively over as eeiu top-fragged the lobby. FURIA completed the upset over the three-time regional champs and defeated them on Split 13-3, winning the series 2-1.

With this win, FURIA will match up against MIBR in the upper bracket final, with a chance to qualify to Masters Santiago. As for G2, the team was sent to the middle bracket and will face off against Cloud9.