The penultimate day of the VCT Americas Stage 2 Play-Ins has concluded, narrowing the field down to four teams fighting for two lower-bracket playoff spots.

Both matches were sweeps, with BABYBAY leading G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #4 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf in a Chamber-only role to sweep BESTIA BESTIA Latin America South Rank #1 Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro chubizin david David Olivares Tacolilla Vicente Compagnon Loss Lorenzo Suffredini de Biazzi loan . Later in the day, Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #11 Reduxx Yassin Aboulalazm Jerrwin Gurjiwan Gill Marved Jimmy Nguyen stand-in johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid cortezia Gabriel Cortez JonahP Jonah Pulice fell to KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #2 mwzera Leonardo Serrati Less Felipe de Loyola Basso Dantedeu5 Jesús Federico Larrosa heat Olavo Marcelo , making 2026 the first full season since 2023 that Sentinels will be absent from the international stage (excluding LOCK//IN São Paulo.

Here's a closer look at both matches from Saturday:

G2 bests BESTIA to get one win away from playoffs

After struggling with identity issues through much of Stage 2, G2 seemed to have found an answer against Chilean side BESTIA. Substitute-turned-starter BABYBAY turned back the clock, playing Chamber on map and reigniting memories of his play from the beginning of his G2 tenure.

BESTIA's pick of Breeze could not have started any better. A 6-0 start saw G2 snowball its economy into an eventual 9-3 halftime advantage. BESTIA went on a run of four straight to start its own attacker side, but G2 closed out the map with relative ease, 13-8.

After not playing Ascent for the entirety of Stage 2, G2 picked it and rolled out the double-Sentinel comp that it used last year, centered around a Chamber-Vyse pairing with jawgemo 's Yoru as the lone Duelist. Again, G2 started hot. A 4-0 run to open the map saw early momentum seized, followed by some back-and-forth that gifted G2 an 8-4 halftime lead.

leaf and valyn are more than enough to convert the 2v4 retake.

After a heroic 2v4 effort from leaf and valyn to claim the G2's second pistol of the map and third of the series, it was the beginning of the end. An anti-eco and bonus round conversion followed suit, with BESTIA managing just one round on attack before being eliminated.

With Ascent looking like a reasonable pick for G2 once again, it enters what could end up being a must-win match to reach the playoffs. BESTIA's year ends here, with one win collected from three matches played against VCT competition.

KRÜ Esports sends Sentinels packing

After missing out on extending its streak of Champions events attended last year, KRÜ has put an end to Sentinels' own streak. After reaching five of six international events from 2024-25, including both Champions events, Sentinels ends 2026 without a single appearance on the global stage.

KRÜ's pick of Ascent ended up being one of the weirdest Ascent games played all year. Sentinels won the pistol and anti-eco, and KRÜ won the bonus. The rest of the first half was absolute chaos. The next ten rounds alternated between the two teams; five rounds for SEN and five for KRÜ. Once on defense, Ascent became Less 's playground, as he dropped 13 of his 19 kills on that side to help his team to a perfect defense, resulting in a 13-7 win.

mwzera mwz down five for the ace.

SEN's pick of Haven brought forward mirror comps, with a Phoenix-Neon, double-Duelist comp with Cypher, Omen, and Sova. Strong retake protocols won SEN a 7-5 advantage by halftime, but that defense was no match for KRÜ's. Following SEN's second pistol of the series, KRÜ pulled off a five-pistol eco round win, which spelled the beginning of the end for Sentinels. A run of eight straight rounds saw KRÜ dominate, sending Sentinels home.

While KRÜ keeps its hunt for a Champions appearance alive, Sentinels will close the book on what has been a disappointing year. There were attempts to turn the season around, with seven players, two head coaches, and two stand-ins used throughout the course of the year, but the changes were ultimately not enough for SEN. With a 7th-8th finish in Americas, Sentinels recorded their worst regional finish to end a season since the beginning of Valorant's partnership era.

Up next

G2 and KRÜ will march on, set to take on the lower bracket's newest contenders in win-or-go-home showdowns. G2 will take on a rejuvenated ENVY ENVY North America Rank #9 Eggsterr Evan Grady nightz Christian Smith squad, while KRÜ goes up against Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #12 supamen Phat Le bao Bao Nguyen dgzin Douglas Silva Paincakes Jake Hass zerona Javan Varela .

The VCT Americas Stage 2 Play-Ins will wrap up on Sunday with the following matches: