The longest day yet of Americas Kickoff saw three back-to-back best-of-three matchups that distinguished the top six teams in the region. 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #3 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra and Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #5 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong Zellsis Jordan Montemurro penny Erik Penny OXY Francis Hoang defeated Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #32 supamen Phat Le bao Bao Nguyen Okeanos Anthony Nguyen dgzin Douglas Silva C0M Corbin Lee and LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #8 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena PxS Josh Brunelli 2-0 in elimination matches, while G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf dominated NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold with an unexpected brand of double-Duelist aggression.

100 Thieves squeezes past Evil Geniuses in close 2-0

An EG lower bracket run ran headfirst into 100T after the latter's loss to NRG last week. 100T emerged as the victor in a close 2-0, breaking the hearts of EG and putting an end to their Kickoff campaign.

EG brought the first map to Haven, pitting their standard Neon and Viper against 100T's Veto version. The Veto worked wonders for 100T on attack, as Timotino 's Neon paved the way onto the sites for Cryocells on Veto and bang on Viper to secure the postplants. Cryo collected 14 kills and 209 ADR in a 10-2 half for 100T.

While the Veto was effective on attack, its weaknesses materialized on defense. The single trip on the three-site map left 100T starved for information, leading to gaps around the map that EG took full advantage of as they pulled the score back to 10-8. Heroics from Timotino and vora were what dragged 100T over the line as they dragged the score to 12-9 and finally closed onto 13-11 with a long-awaited B site hold.

The second map of Bind was even closer than the first. Faced with Cryo's Chamber, EG kept the same Yoru-Waylay composition that they had played in their opening match but swapped the players on those agents, this time putting dgzin on Yoru and Okeanos on Waylay.

That change began to bear fruit particularly in the second half on EG's defense after a 7-5 first half slightly favored 100T. dgzin was everywhere around the map, deleting the attackers as soon as he saw them with both rifle and Operator as a 17-kill half for the Brazilian Duelist pushed EG to a 12-9 lead.

Faced with the opponent's map point on their home turf, 100T dug their heels in. Punishing EG's aggressive pushes got them up to 10, a 4K from Timotino got them to 11, and an attack Operator 3K from Cryo, who remained the safe pair of hands his team needed, forced overtime.

Overtime was chaotic, but the members of 100T were just a bit better as they won 15-13. dgzin ended the map with 29 kills, eight first kills, and 268 ACS, while Cryo trailed close behind with 27 kills, eight first kills, and 259 ACS.

Cloud9 knocks out LEVIATÁN in comfortable 2-0

In the second match of the day, Cloud9 made LEVIATÁN look readable in a one-sided sweep.

Starting with Bind, Cloud9 demonstrated a clear understanding of LEVIATÁN's preference for slow attacking defaults. OXY 's Operator repeatedly shut down LEVIATÁN's contact plays as he collected six first kills, while Zellsis ' Brimstone utility was always waiting for whoever remained when the time was running out as Cloud9 strolled to a 9-3 defensive half.

Sheriffs won LEVIATÁN the pistol round, but any hope of a comeback was immediately dashed as v1c won Cloud9 the eco round on time with a 4K, spurring the North American squad on to a 13-5 win. v1c was the main fragger with 23 kills to seven deaths and a 1.92 rating.

Breeze appeared closer at first. Cloud9 selected the map despite being 0-2 on it, adjusting their composition to include a KAY/O rather than a Yoru while LEVIATÁN debuted a Yoru-Jett lineup. After the first map, LEVIATÁN looked more willing to lean into faster rounds, overwhelming the B site multiple times, but C9 still held a 7-5 edge at the half thanks to a pistol and a bonus round.

LEVIATÁN got the second pistol and the follow-up, but those would be their last round wins in the series. Cloud9 played a patient attack, constantly finding gaps for lurks and picking apart the defensive setups for a 13-7 win. OXY topfragged with 20 kills and 15 deaths, while v1c was a thorn in the opponent's side as the Astra ended with 16 kills and only seven deaths.

G2 runs over NRG with double-Duelist changeup

The final match of the day pitted the world champions against the regional kings as both were on the hunt for a middle final spot. After G2 had previously shied away from double-Duelist looks, they stunned NRG with a rare form of Pacific-esque aggression, dominating them in a 2-0 and sending them down to the lower bracket.

Pearl was a complete shutout. Playing the map for the first time, G2 brought out a composition with jawgemo on Phoenix, BABYBAY on Yoru, and leaf on Veto against NRG's double-Initiator.

The map started bizarrely as NRG won the eco in round two and then immediately lost the anti-eco afterwards. From there, G2 took the momentum and ran away with it to a 10-2 half. jawgemo farmed early on in the rounds with six first bloods, while trent and BABYBAY proved reliable when needed in the retakes as the former went 16/3/4 and the latter went 13/4/4 in the first half alone.

The nail in the coffin was round 14. After NRG won the pistol, jawgemo pulled off an ace with a Classic of all weapons in the eco, crushing NRG's spirits as G2 steamrolled to a 13-3 win.

G2 again surprised compositionally on their map pick of Split, where they swapped off the Breach-Fade that they played previously in favor of a fast-paced Neon-Waylay frontline. Picking up where they left off on Pearl, G2 won the pistol and bonus for a 4-0 start on their defense.

Wind in their sails, G2 started getting almost excessive with their aggression and NRG punished them for it, working their way into the game as they won five out of the next seven rounds. The half ended still favoring G2 7-5 thanks to an ace from jawgemo in round 12 and a strong 15-kill performance from BABYBAY.

Heading to the attack side, jawgemo continued to shine. The Neon player armed himself with shotguns and went on a tear, entrying on the sites and letting valyn clean up the rest as G2 went on to win out 13-8. jawgemo topped the board by kills with a 23/12/5 KDA and a 1.43 rating, while his captain outdid him in the rating department with an 18/9/12 KDA and a 1.54 rating.

G2 continues their undefeated streak over NRG and has now earned two opportunities to qualify for Masters Santiago as they book their tickets to the middle final. Down in the lower bracket, NRG awaits the winner of 100 Thieves versus Cloud9 in a do-or-die match.

Americas Kickoff will be back on Friday, February 13 with the following matches:

• MIBR vs. FURIA (Upper final)
• 100 Thieves vs. Cloud9 (Lower round 4)