G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf took to the stage and dominated in the VCT Americas Kickoff Middle Final, downing former Upper Finalists MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #7 zekken Zachary Patrone tex Ian Botsch Mazino Roberto Rivas Verno Andrew Maust aspas Erick Santos 3-0.

In a show of dominance, last year's Americas Triple Crown winners won by a margin of 22 rounds over three maps. The series played out on MIBR's pick of Breeze, G2's pick of Haven, and MIBR's pick of Corrode. G2 won Breeze 13-6, Haven 13-4, and Corrode 13-7.

Play opened on MIBR's pick of Breeze, which put star Duelist aspas on Jett. As G2 continues to reinvent its tweaked comps, it opted for a double-Duelist look with jawgemo on Neon and BABYBAY on Yoru.

MIBR claimed the opening pistol round of the map, but failed to capitalize to start. Early on, a map with four Controllers was navigated well by G2, led by in-game leader valyn . With all five members of the team playing around the smokes well, G2 rode a 4-0 start to enter halftime up 7-5. valyn and jawgemo combined for 23 kills at half, and that momentum was carried over into the second half without pause.

A mix between the slow, disciplined approach that is natural for valyn's playstyle and a more fast-paced, chaotic run-down behind jawgemo and BABYBAY let G2 press on and off the gas pedal, allowing for the likes of valyn and leaf to clean things up.

G2 dropped just one round on attack, which came during a lighter investment into its bonus round, en route to a convincing 13-6 win. Entering the game, MIBR had claimed wins over NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold and FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #5 nerve Michael Yerrow artzin Arthur Araujo eeiu Daniel Vucenovic koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio alym Torogul Baidyldaev , allowing just 10 rounds total, but G2 appeared to have cracked the puzzle on how to beat them. Even with halls removed, the G2 players found it easy to lurk up and make the map their own, dominating 13-6.

Often touted as an IGL's playground, G2's pick of Haven was the most dominantly won. Haven was another map that G2 tweaked its comps on, as it picked up a comp popularized by Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov in Pacific, with jawgemo on Phoenix, leaf on Yoru, and BABYBAY on Chamber. While G2 rolled as an early adopter of what could be defined as a newer meta, MIBR rolled with the more original meta comp with Omen, Viper, and Killjoy.

G2 started the map winning the second of four pistol rounds in the series, which included a sweep on Haven. G2 used that momentum to claim the first four rounds of the map. While it did lose some steam by giving up a three-round run to MIBR, a disciplined approach to attacking played to the strengths of the comp, with BABYBAY's Operator clearing long angles with great precision.

After losing the second half pistol, MIBR looked to turn the tide with a G2-esque, five-man Stinger force buy, but that ultimately failed. With the technical shooting prowess of the G2 players and the comp suiting all of them, G2 put on a disciplined defense side, giving up first blood just once en route to a sweep in the half, ending the map 13-4.

On MIBR's map pick of Corrode, G2 again showed proof of its evolving nature, with a reinvented comp that uses Iso and Skye. Meanwhile, MIBR went with the solo Waylay comp that NRG famously won Champs with, featuring a double-Duelist pairing of KAY/O and Sova while also having two Controllers in Viper and Omen. Corrode was the closest map of the series, but that does not prove to be all too close.

MIBR won just its second pistol round of the series to start the map, but the wheels fell off shortly after. An eco round with four pistols and one Bucky tore MIBR apart on the B site. G2's unconventional comp was effective at shutting down some of MIBR's strengths on the map, mitigating the effect of aspas's Operator through jawgemo's Double Tap. G2 won eight straight rounds, with the Duelist logging 12 kills each in an attack half that G2 ended up 9-3.

MIBR seemed out of answers, and with both timeouts burned with a comp that historically has had more success on defense, it entered its attack half needing a lot. G2 claimed its second pistol round of the map and fourth of the series, and MIBR looked to respond once again with a force buy, this time with three Stingers, a Sheriff, and a Bucky. While the buy was a little different from Haven, the outcome was not, as G2 converted the anti-eco. MIBR claimed a round against a weaker G2 bonus, even going on a 3-0 run, but the end result was seemingly unavoidable.

valyn had a match to remember, finishing with series-high marks with a 1.54 rating and 65 kills, going +32. He also went 6-1 in first duels while Duelist players jawgemo and BABYBAY also wreaked havoc in that regard, going 11-8 and 10-5, respectively. In the losing effort for MIBR, Controller and secondary Duelist player zekken had a 1.10 rating with 42 kills, while IGL Verno had the most kills for the squad with 43.

Up next

G2 punches its Santiago ticket as the self-proclaimed champions of mid, recovering from its loss to eventual Upper Final winners FURIA by winning three straight in the middle bracket. Meanwhile, MIBR falls to the Lower Final, where it is now on the last of its three Bo5 chances, up against reigning world champions NRG.

VCT Americas Kickoff will wrap up with the following match:

• MIBR vs. NRG (Lower Final)