The VCT Americas Stage 1 capped off its penultimate weekend with a pair of swift 2-0 victories, setting up a do-or-die, high-stakes matchup with a flight to London on the line.

NRG NRG North America Rank #2 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold began the day with a dominant 2-0 win over 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 to continue its long lower bracket run, while 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #3 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra rallied behind its longest-tenured member to take down MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #8 zekken Zachary Patrone tex Ian Botsch Mazino Roberto Rivas Verno Andrew Maust aspas Erick Santos 2-0.

Here's a look at how the matches played out.

NRG KRÜshes KRÜ Esports 2-0

After showing signs of mortality through the group stage, NRG continued to flex its resilience, downing KRÜ 2-0 to end original LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #9 lukxo Lucca Travaioli Darker Sebastián Castro Cicuamia Virtyy Leandro Moreno erde Roberto Lobos cauanzin Cauan Pereira members saadhak and Less 's hopes of returning to the international stage in London. Just around a month ago, these two teams met in Group Omega, resulting in KRÜ winning 2-0. In the playoffs, NRG was a step above.

Play began on NRG's pick of Breeze, a map well-known for having Duelist player mada on Harbor and keiko on Jett as part of a double-Controller, double-Initiator comp. KRÜ went with a similar approach, with Dantedeu5 's Neon the only difference to NRG's pick of Jett.

In a clash of near-mirror comps, NRG appeared to be better suited on the map. keiko and mada combined for 26 kills on defense to help the team claim an 8-4 halftime advantage, but Champions Paris MVP brawk 's efforts couldn't go unmentioned.

Close your eyes and guess what gun brawk aced with here.

Despite dropping both pistols on Breeze, NRG was unshaken, closing things out in clean fashion 13-8.

While many teams have taken their own unique approaches to Haven, NRG and KRÜ went with mirror comps in this match, with Phoenix-Neon, Cypher, Sova, and Omen. Early on, KRÜ appeared to want to take the fight on A, which NRG at times accepted and dealt with by retaking or by taking fights in close quarters. NRG's retakes were nothing short of perfect. Through the first seven rounds of the map, six rounds ended with NRG defusing the spike, as part of a 9-0 open. KRÜ found some daylight on C to claim its first round, and chose to continue through to that sight, but were only good for one.

KRÜ won the pistol and anti-eco to start the second half, but it wouldn't get much better. NRG reached match point by shutting down the would-be bonus, and converted on match point two rounds later to win 13-4.

There's been a robbery: Asuna leads 100 Thieves to sweep over MIBR

When he's hot, he's hot. Asuna was the standout player in the second series of the day, which saw 100 Thieves down MIBR, shutting the superteam out of a second international event in 2026.

Play opened on MIBR's pick of Fracture. While Asuna's Raze on Bind has been an icon for as long as the map, agent, and player have been around, his Raze on Fracture may lift a finger to it following Sunday's performance. Starting on attack, 100T found most its success on the B site, using Asuna and Timotino to push generator while leaving inserts on site, tower, or main to poke a hole in MIBR's retakes.

100T only found seven rounds on attack, but Asuna was hot, recording 19 kills by halftime. A win in the pistol round gave 100T a bit of a cushion to lean on, but MIBR's attack began to gain steam quickly. In the blink of an eye, the lead was 10-9 in favor of the MIBR. A back-and-forth tilting of the scales followed, but against a broken MIBR buy, 100T closed out the map 13-11.

Breeze, 100T's map pick, has played host to different comps across the region, but Nbs 's comp has proven to be one of the more unique and successful out of the pack. With Harbor as a solo Controller, the comp leans heavily into some of the more Controller-like utility of other agents, like Cypher's Cyber Cage, Phoenix's Blaze, and Neon's Fast Lane. MIBR went with a double-Controller, double-Duelist look with Astra and Harbor while zekken and aspas were on Neon and Jett for a second-straight map.

100T opened the map with four straight rounds, and while MIBR didn't go down without a fight, it could do little to slow down what quickly became a 9-3 deficit at halftime. Asuna once again was the tip of the spear for 100T, picking up 16 kills in the half to lead all players. After 100T claimed the second-half pistol to go up 11-3, MIBR won three of the next four to put pressure on a potential comeback, but ultimately fell short, losing 13-7.

IGL versus IGL. vora versus Verno .

Asuna finished the series a head and shoulders above all other players in the server. While nobody finished with north of 40 kills, he ended the series with 50 while going 10-8 in first bloods and also claiming a match-best 1.56 rating.

Up next

While NRG and 100 Thieves may be chuffed to bits following big wins, there's work to be done even if they're knackered following a run of matches in the lower bracket. After taking down Group Alpha and Group Omega's leaders, the teams will go head-to-head in the lower semifinal, fighting for the region and the world's last ticket to Masters London. NRG leads the series 5-3 since the start of the partnership era. Before that, G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf and LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #4 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena will take to the stage in the Upper Final, with a double map ban in the Grand Final on the line.

VCT Americas Stage 1 will continue with the following matches: