100 Thieves
100 Thieves
North America
Rank #2
bang
Sean Bezerra
Cryocells
Matthew Panganiban
eeiu
Daniel Vucenovic
Boostio
Kelden Pupello
Asuna
Peter Mazuryk
have won First Strike North America after beating
TSM
TSM
North America
Rank #13
seven
Johann Hernandez
gMd
Anthony Guimond
sym
Tyler Porter
POISED
Kevin Ngo
aproto
Alex Protopapas
in the grand finals 3-1.
They won the first two maps of the series, Split and Bind, by close margins. Split went into overtime and finished 15-13 and Bind went 13-11. While TSM took a map with a 13-7 win on Ascent, 100 Thieves responded by cruising to a 13-7 win on Haven.
Spencer " Hiko " Martin said in his broadcast interview with Sue "Smix" Lee that the team was least prepared for Split, the first map of the series. He said he decided earlier in the day that he should play Raze on the map despite having not practiced the character on Split.
Despite that, the team expected to have to play it today. Nick " nitr0 " Cannella said 100 Thieves hadn't practiced Split for two weeks because they instead focused on Icebox. "We looked at the map pool and said, 'Okay, we can ban Split until the finals, basically," he said. "We knew that they were going to pick it because it's obvious that we banned it every other best-of-three."
"So we just talked, had the discussion today, and basically just made the magic happen," he said laughing.
The magic indeed happened. They pulled off the overtime map victory off the back of the team's three veterans: Hiko, nitr0, and Joshua " steel " Nissan.
Initially, it looked like the moment was too big for 100 Thieves' pair of teenage stars. But, as the series progressed, they began to warm up. For Peter " Asuna " Mazuryk, that came on the second map of the series.
His aggression allowed him to flourish on the map and even set him up for an ace with the help of a 3k from his Showstopper ultimate. But TSM kept him from running over them.
"We knew coming into that he was gonna go a little wild," James " hazed " Cobb said. "So when you go against a player like that, you just have to trust your aim and your teammates to cover you, you know, trust your setups, trust what you've practiced. Mentally you have to plan for it — this guy is gonna run at you, no matter what the situation he's gonna run at you and you have to just challenge him, you have to beat him. And that's it."
Even outsiders who had never seen Asuna play before could see his aggression coming thanks to his announcement on Twitter that he would give up his life to see his teammates clutch.
Regardless, that expressed gameplan seemed to be executed well. While TSM were able to largely shut down Asuna himself — while he had the highest ACS of the match, he also had more deaths than kills and went 18 and 18 on first kills and first deaths — they could not shut down Hiko's clutches, especially on Bind.
He won four clutches on the map, including two that were 1v2s. They made up the bulk of his six clutches he prevailed in across the series. He was the only player in the server to win clutches on Bind and his six clutches across the series were just one clutch less than the seven clutches the other nine players combined for.
But what frustrated TSM wasn't Hiko — it was themselves.
"In my opinion, [clutches are] more of a mistake from the team who lost the clutch than it is a victory for the guy who won it," hazed said. "The team who's up numbers and who's in the prime position shouldn't lose. They have to make more mistakes. And I think we just made a lot of mistakes. We allowed him to have that opportunity to win — and props to him, he took advantage and he won those rounds — but we shouldn't let it happen."
nitr0 attributed the team's ability to take advantage of those clutch opportunities to their experience. He noted that you learn how to outplay and out-position your opponent over years of Counter-Strike experience and 100 Thieves' veteran trio have been on top North American teams for a long time and have built up that ability. "I think it really comes into fruition whenever you see us in clutches. We're just comfortable."
Despite the heartbreaking defeats in the first two maps, TSM did not give up hope. hazed said that he and Yassine " Subroza " Taoufik began cracking jokes after the second map. "We're like, 'Guys, imagine the story: 3-2 comeback,' and we just all start laughing. We're having a good time," he said.
That inability to be shaken by early defeats showcased their own veteran experience and the team responded. hazed said the team didn't play any differently on Ascent, he thought it was possible their comms were better because they had been poor throughout the rest of the series, but couldn't definitively identify what the difference was immediately between that map and the rest. For awhile, that 3-2 comeback looked to be a possibility as TSM cut the deficit to 2-1.
But 100 Thieves stepped on the gas and kept Haven firmly out of reach for much of the map. Of course, you could once again attribute their ability to keep their performance up over the course of a long story to their veteran experience. But nitr0 identified another factor.
"I know [Hiko] plays like 14 hours a day because he streams and practices and stuff like that. And I know the two kids play like all the time. And then [steel] plays a little bit less but he puts down like a lot of server time," he said. "So, we have a lot of people who just enjoy playing the game in general."
And on top of that, he felt the roster has something special to it.
"Even if we were down I was still believing that we could win. And I experienced that in CS:GO when we were on top as the number one team on Team Liquid. And I felt that today with my teammates as well, like we were gonna win it, I was 100% sure that we were gonna win it even if we lost Ascent we were still gonna win it. So that's super good signs for an early team."
Their victory over TSM capped off a run in which 100 Thieves had to best the two most decorated teams in North America — Sentinels and TSM — to win First Strike. "It was pretty much a perfect storyline going into it," nitr0 said after expressing he was happy to have to go through both teams to win it. "It was going to be hard, but we knew that we could do it. And we put a lot of work in and we finally came out for this tournament. We felt really prepared going into it."
While they finished short of the title, TSM felt like their performance in First Strike was a good reminder that they're still in contention for the best team in North America. "We were only a couple of rounds from that being a 3-0 [in our favor], if you really look at it," hazed said.
At the start of the interview, hazed immediately identified the biggest factor in their loss: it was the pistol rounds. They were 1/8 in pistol rounds across the series, winning the first pistol round and losing all seven of the ones that follow. "That's just unacceptable. You got to win some pistols if you want to close out these games."
He later identified another weakness that he said the team would focus on addressing before their next tournament appearance: losing to eco-rounds. That flaw likely stood out the most on Haven as both Asuna and Quan " dicey " Tran shined with the Stinger throughout the map.
"If we can tie up those loose ends, we'll definitely be winning," hazed said.
But to do so, they'll likely have to go through 100 Thieves again. They are now on top of North American Valorant, and they don't intend to go anywhere.
"We just need to make sure that we keep putting in the work because being on top is no joke because everyone watches you," nitr0 said. "So I'll try to bring my experience to teach everyone the best way to stay on top."
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