There's no doubt KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #4 saadhak Matias Delipetro mwzera Leonardo Serrati Less Felipe de Loyola Basso Dantedeu5 Jesús Federico Larrosa heat Olavo Marcelo is the best team in Riot's LATAM region. But after a year of building upon success after success, it could be argued that they're the best team in South America — including Brazil.

KRÜ has accomplishments few teams across the globe can claim. They are one of just three teams to qualify for all three international LANs this year, the other two being Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #7 Reduxx Yassin Aboulalazm Jerrwin Gurjiwan Gill Victor Victor Wong stand-in johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid cortezia Gabriel Cortez JonahP Jonah Pulice and Crazy Raccoon Crazy Raccoon Inactive .

At Masters: Reykjavik, KRÜ beat Brazil's second seed, Sharks Esports Sharks Esports Inactive gaabxx Gabriel Carli prozin Wallacy Sales KILLDREAM João Ferreira Addicted Eduardo Torres . At Masters: Berlin, KRÜ topped that performance by first beating Japan's top seed, ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #13 Absol Kazuki Fujinoki SyouTa Shota Aoki SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe eKo Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡) Xdll Yuto Mizomori , and then beating Brazil's top seed, Keyd Stars Keyd Stars Inactive , to make the playoffs.

An eight-team playoff featured three European teams, three North American teams, one Korean team, and KRÜ. No team in LATAM, Brazil, Japan, or SEA has had the success KRÜ has had.

After a second place finish in LAS in Stage 1, KRÜ has won everything in their region since, winning the LATAM title in both Stage 2 and Stage 3.

Their performance at home reflects their performance abroad when it comes to consistent improvement. KRÜ went 1-2 in Iceland, and then went 2-2 in Berlin. Despite getting off to a terrible start at Iceland — KRÜ won only a single round outside of the pistols and subsequent bonus rounds in two maps against FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #8 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Cloud Kirill Nehozhin Alfajer Emir Ali Beder — they played competitively with their North American and European counterparts in ENVY ENVY North America Rank #9 Eggsterr Evan Grady Demon1 Max Mazanov Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo keznit Angelo Mori GLYPH Conner Garcia and G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive at Berlin.

KRÜ doesn't have to win a third match and reach the semifinals to continue their trajectory of growth while at Champions. The team can show their development by turning close maps with teams from top regions into map victories.

But can a team with so much success this year, particularly one constantly improving, be content with simply being competitive? Simply taking maps? This is an opportunity to end an already great year with a statement. KRÜ certainly wants to take advantage of it.

They certainly face an uphill battle, given their group. Their first match is against a hot Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #23 purp0 Semyon Borchev nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin kamo Kamil Frąckowiak trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Kicks Kimmie Laasner squad. The other two teams in their group include Sentinels, the Masters: Reykjavik champions, and FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #9 basic Luis Henrique Ferlin Tessaro Shyy Fabian Usnayo artzin Arthur Araujo eeiu Daniel Vucenovic koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio , the champions of South America's LCQ who triumphed over KRÜ's LAS rivals, Australs Australs Inactive leadssj Kimbo maxhinh9 nx1 chubizin .

If they want to build upon their past performances, they'll need to overcome a Brazilian opponent for the third straight tournament and then do something they haven't done before: beat a team from North America or Europe.

There's no better time than now for such a first.