Week three of VCT Americas Kickoff wrapped up on Sunday with two of the region's powerhouses flexing their muscle in the middle bracket en route to setting up a rematch of last year's Stage 2 grand final.

In sweeping fashion, NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold downed 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #3 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra in the first match of the day, and G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf found the edge over Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #4 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong Zellsis Jordan Montemurro penny Erik Penny OXY Francis Hoang . Here's a more detailed look at how both matches played out:

NRG sweeps 100 Thieves in tight two-map series

Action on the day started with the world champions looking for a bounce-back after being trounced from the upper bracket earlier in the weekend. After falling in three maps to MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #1 zekken Zachary Patrone tex Ian Botsch Mazino Roberto Rivas Verno Andrew Maust aspas Erick Santos , NRG entered the middle bracket with a matchup against a dangerous 100 Thieves squad. Led by Timotino , who has been making his case for the best Waylay player in the world with his play through the start of Kickoff, NRG had its hands full.

The series started on 100T's pick of Haven, a map that became a dependable float for NRG in the tail end of 2025. They played with the Omen-Viper-Killjoy comp that was popularized by FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Alfajer Emir Ali Beder and Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #3 Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) ZynX Kim Dong-ha (김동하) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) , though with a bit of a twist on the location of keiko 's Viper wall. Meanwhile, 100T had a more off-meta Viper-Omen comp, with Cryocells on Veto, IGL vora on Fade, and Timotino on Neon as opposed to his more iconic Waylay.

Timotino looking like the American Dambi with four clean kills.

The opening moments of the map could not have been more back-and-forth. NRG's pistol and anti-eco were followed by a series of seven rounds in which the two teams alternated scores. By halftime, the score was 7-5 NRG. 100T started its attack side with some real vigor, seizing sites and using Cryo's Veto utility to shut down any retrake utility that might be used to flood for a retake.

100T went up 8-7 to seize its first lead of the map, but the tides suddenly turned. mada took on the role as the tip of the spear on defense, putting 100T on the back foot. The change in approach resulted in five straight NRG rounds to reach match point, which was converted soon after for a 13-8 win.

The series shifted over to Corrode, which at the end of 2025 became one of, if not the strongest, maps for NRG. The World champs stuck with their usual Omen-Viper-Sova comp, with mada on Waylay and IGL Ethan on KAY/O. 100 Thieves went with their usual double-Sentinel, Sage-Veto comp, while Timotino was on Waylay.

Like Haven, the series started with a quick exchange of rounds. 100T won its second pistol round of the series and converted the anti-eco, eventually seizing a 4-2 lead. By halftime, 100T held the NRG attack to six rounds. Moving onto its own attack side, NRG won the first three rounds of the half, getting an Odin into Champions MVP brawk 's hands early. 100T then used a strong attack, led by Controller player bang , to win five of the next six rounds to reach an 11-10 lead. Moments of heroics from the likes of keiko and skuba helped NRG storm back with its back against the wall, with the former finding a gap in the seams to shut down what would have been a five-man 100T attack.

Sneaky from keiko to prevent overtime and close the series.

brawk's 34 kills and 1.26 rating were the highest marks in the match, while mada's 33 kills were a close second. He also went 11-5 in first duels, the highest. Original 100T members bang and Cryocells dropped 33 kills in the losing effort, and will now see out the rest of their Kickoff in the lower bracket.

G2 sends Cloud9 to the brink of elimination

Entering G2 and C9's match, one of the biggest storylines was OXY 's return to the starting lineup. He replaced substitute Demon1 , and seemingly assumed the same agent roles as him.

The series opened on C9's pick of Corrode, the same map that G2 lost 13-3 in its 2-1 win over 100 Thieves two weeks ago. G2 adjusted its comp going into this match, moving away from the solo Waylay, double Initiator look that had trent on Tejo. G2 returned to the map with a reinvented comp, still using the Viper-Omen pairing, but now surrounded by Skye, Waylay, and Iso.

The early goings on Corrode weren't easy for G2. Shutting down the bonus round ended up being the only round win for the team for quite some time, as C9 seized an early 7-1 lead. Looking down and out, G2 leaned on BABYBAY and valyn heavily, as the pair combined for 22 kills to help their side salvage a 7-5 halftime score.

G2 opened its attack half dominantly, converting the pistol, anti-eco, and bonus rounds. C9 responded accordingly, though. They played back, maintaining passive control over the map and keeping up numbers to retake. A run of four C9 wins in five rounds halted G2's momentum, but G2 quickly put its foot back on the gas, converting with man disadvantages twice on a run of four straight to close the map.

Vintage jawgemo to close Corrode.

After stealing C9's map pick, G2 moved to its own pick of Bind. Both teams came out with near mirror comps, with Brimstone-Viper the Controller pair, Skye the single Initiator, and Chamber. The only difference between the two teams was in the Duelist selection: C9 opted for penny on Raze, while jawgemo remained on Waylay.

Bind opened similarly to Corrode. C9 seized early momentum, getting out to an early 5-2 lead. G2 played forward to open its defense half, with valyn creeping forward to catch the slow-rolling C9 off guard and jawgemo using his Lightspeed and Refract to pull in and out right as the barriers dropped. G2 went on two separate runs of three-round wins to reach match point, which was converted two rounds later.

Yup, BABYBAY's still got it.

While jawgemo appeared to have some rust left to shake off in G2's new team comps, leaf and BABYBAY stepped up in his place in the fragging department. Both players had 40 kills each, while valyn had 33 kills including a perfect 4-0 showing in first duels. For C9, penny impressed as the team's primary Duelist, finishing with the team's highest rating at 1.07, while OXY did not miss a beat in his return to the stage, dropping 37 kills in the losing effort.

Up next

100 Thieves and Cloud9 drop to the lower bracket, where they will now be one loss away from bidding farewell to their Masters Santiago dreams. 100T will take on the winning team between ENVY ENVY North America Rank #5 Eggsterr Evan Grady P0PPIN Matteo Weber Demon1 Max Mazanov Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo keznit Angelo Mori and Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #20 supamen Phat Le bao Bao Nguyen Okeanos Anthony Nguyen dgzin Douglas Silva C0M Corbin Lee , while C9 plays the winner between Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #8 N4RRATE Marshall Massey Reduxx Yassin Aboulalazm johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid Kyu Mirel Braco Hrustemovic cortezia Gabriel Cortez and 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 . NRG and G2, after settling as the region's two best teams at the end of last year, will meet in the middle bracket, with the winning team advancing to the middle final and the losing team being sent down the lower bracket.

VCT Americas Kickoff will continue after four days off with the following matches: