Back to the top: G2 prevails over LEVIATÁN to reclaim Americas crown

“The great Leviathan is that one creature in the world which must remain unpainted to the last," Herman Melville said in Moby Dick. Melville was, of course, referring to the titular monster in his book, but it took until the very last map of the grand final for the VCT Americas Stage 1 champion to be painted, and it was none other than the Leviathan of Americas that ended up on top once again.

In a thrilling five-map series, G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #1 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf took down LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #4 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena to claim its first Americas title since claiming all three in 2025 and its first with new signing BABYBAY . The series was played out on LEV's Fracture, G2's Haven, LEV's Ascent, G2's Pearl, and LEV's Split. As the team coming from the upper bracket, LEVIATÁN had a double map ban in the series, which allowed the team to stick to its guns and ban Lotus and Breeze. G2 won Fracture 14-12, LEV won Haven 13-11, LEV won Ascent 13-9, G2 won Pearl 13-10, and G2 won Split 13-11.

Play began on LEVIATÁN's Fracture, a map that G2 perma-banned throughout the entirety of Stage 1. While LEV went with a double-Initiator, double-Duelist comp with Breach-Tejo and Waylay-Neon, G2 went with a double-Sentinel look, pairing Sage and Chamber. On the historically attacker-sided map, G2 struggled early on. After winning the opening pistol, G2 fell to a light buy of four Classics and a Bandit, derailing its attack to start the map. Entering halftime, G2 had six rounds, which did not feel like enough. However, that all changed soon.

A run of three rounds through the bonus helped G2 claim its first lead since going up 1-0, and stellar retake protocol helped the squad to an advantage. When the teams got into overtime, experience carried G2 through a disciplined attack round and then a five-man retake, helping seal a 14-12 win.

On Haven, both teams fielded near-mirror comps, with Neon, Phoenix, Chamber, and Astra. The only difference appeared to be in comfort, with G2 going for trent on Fade and blowz on Sova.

Despite suffering a slow start, LEV played into its strengths on the map, with Sato on Phoenix and Neon on Chamber. After losing four of the opening five rounds to begin the map, LEV recovered smoothly, entering halftime tied 6-6. LEV claimed its first pistol round of the series to start the second half, which was about as back-and-forth as it could get. A battle of wits between who could survive the most players on a fast exec and who could kill the most on a Phoenix and Neon-fueled retake saw both teams struggle to pull away from each other.

Up 12-11 thanks to blowz's clutch, LEVIATÁN survived four in a four-on-four duel on the C site to close out the map.

LEVIATÁN had wind in its sails entering Ascent, a map they won against G2 on during the Upper Final. The Upper Final saw not just Neon make a case for being the best Chamber in the world during that matchup, but also saw LEV as a team make its case as the best on the map. With its tried and tested Phoenix-Neon comp with Chamber, LEV went up against the same look from two days ago, with G2 going for a comp highlighted by Phoenix-Yoru and Vyse. LEV began on defense once again, and after the matchup two days ago, G2 seemed affected by the success that Neon had with the Operator. A slower, more drawn-out attack saw G2 fail to make as much of an impact on the traditionally defender-sided map.

LEV entered halftime up 7-5, and after displaying one of the more impressive Ascent attacks in the Upper Final, ran into a bit of trouble early. After claiming the pistol and anti-eco, LEV stumbled a bit, giving up three straight rounds as a result of playing aggressive in its post-plant, even giving up a 1v3 clutch to a flanking jawgemo on the retake. LEV recalibrated effectively though, eventually using G2's own Cosmic Divide against them to shut down a would-be retake and take the map, 13-9.

Pearl seemed to have all of the ingredients in place for LEV to close out the series. spike on Neon, Sato on Phoenix, and Neon on Chamber had the early makings of a smooth map, but it was anything but that. G2 flexed its experience, with BABYBAY shifting his Vyse utility around the map and making its defenses hard to read round by round.

G2 wrapped up its defense half up 9-3 and followed that up with a pistol round win, but LEV didn't go out with a whimper. A mix of aggressive play on the front foot, playing in tradeable positions, and retakes with kiNgg's Cosmic Divide and Sato's Run It Back put LEVIATÁN on a run of seven straight rounds, preventing G2 from reaching map point. However, a well-organized exec on B with the Steel Garden helped G2 claw one back, and seal the map one round later.

You couldn't script it any better, right? The new kids on the block against the old guard of Americas, in a best-of-five series with the decisive map being Split. Both teams leaned into tradition with a double-Controller comp with Viper, while G2 went with jawgemo's Raze as the lone Duelist, and LEVIATÁN continued with Phoenix-Neon. LEV had good reason to be confident heading into the fifth and final map; they were undefeated on the map throughout the entirety of Stage 1, all while boasting an impressive 60% winrate on attack. Two days prior, LEV beat G2 13-5 on Split to secure its double map ban.

G2 began on attack, once again showing its dominance in the pistol rounds by beginning with a 3-0 run. They did run into trouble soon after, dropping five of the next six rounds before entering halftime down 7-5, setting the second half up for what should have been yet another dominant LEV attack. On this occasion, it was just not meant to be.

G2 claimed its seventh and final pistol round of the series, tying up the scoreline in no time. LEV, after shutting down G2's would-be bonus, recalibrated its economy to claim a 10-8 lead, but it was downhill from there. G2 was quick on its rotations, playing the map perfectly to funnel the attacking LEV players into stacks. When LEV did get the bomb down, its aggressive, forward approach was its Achilles Heel just days after it was its strength.

LEVIATÁN tried a different, slower approach to find the gaps in G2's armor, but G2's answer to that was to use BABYBAY as an anchor, armed with a Judge in hand. In the final round, LEV's slow approach became the very thing that swallowed it whole, as there was simply no time left to fight.