Day 2 of the VCT Americas Stage 2 playoffs played host to a pair of key matchups in the upper semifinals. Four of North America's strongest teams were in action on the day, and the day ended with Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #5 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid and G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf setting up what will be their sixth duel on the Americas stage.

Sentinels asserts dominance over Cloud9 to secure top three

After clearing out the skeletons in its closet by capturing a playoff victory the day before, Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #6 Xeppaa Erick Bach v1c Victor Truong mitch Mitch Semago OXY Francis Hoang went up against American giants Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #5 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid . For all intents and purposes, a win would have been a massive upset for C9. Across the last three meetings, with head coach Immi at the helm, C9 was 0-6 in maps in VCT play.

The series opened up on Sentinels' pick of Corrode. The map started with Sentinels on a roll, winning the first five rounds of the map and showing no signs of slowing down. A Cloud9 timeout broke the early streak, which was the first domino in Cloud9's own five-round streak. SEN ended the half on top with a 7-5 lead, but that quickly dissipated with the C9 players claiming the pistol and anti-eco rounds to open their own attack half. Armed with plenty of delay utility, like the Snake Bite, Razorvine, and Seize, Sentinels found an edge over C9 on defense, at one point winning three rounds in a row on time en route to a 13-10 win.

The series then shifted to Cloud9's Icebox, a mystery map for them. Icebox was a perma ban map for C9 in Stage 2, with this match being the first time they were to play it in the stage. While SEN settled into its usual comp with Sage and Jett, C9 opted for a Raze and Iso comp, placing v1c on secondary Duelist duties alongside OXY . C9 switched over onto its attacker side tied 6-6, using an arsenal of plant denial utility to prevent Sentinels from having easy entry into either site. A smooth attack side, even despite a second-straight slow performance from OXY, helped C9 to a 13-9 win in its Stage 2 Icebox debut. The map win was C9's first against Sen since the 2023 season.

Given a choice between Haven and Lotus, C9 banned Haven. Both teams have plenty of film on Lotus throughout Stage 2, but to differing levels of success. Entering Friday's match, Sentinels had four Stage 2 appearances on Lotus, winning all four times. Cloud9 had five appearances, winning three times and losing twice, including one 13-5 loss to Sentinels.

Both teams fielded mirror comps, centered around the Viper-Omen Controller Pairing, Vyse, Fade, and Raze. After losing the opening pistol round on attack, masterful IGLing from johnqt helped Sentinels navigate away from C9's defense, often outdoing mitch , his IGL counterpart, to avoid the C9 stacks.

Zellsis on his feet after converting a nifty 1v2.

Sentinels entered halftime with an 8-4 lead, and gave up a round against a C9 force, but still managed to stay ahead. Wonderful control of C Mound and A Rubble made navigating the map a headache for the attacking Cloud9, who kept things close to end the map, but ultimately fell 13-10.

Zellsis, playing against his former colors, had a terrific performance, finishing with a game-high 1.18 rating, while zekken 's 55 kills were also a game-high. Sentinels now moves on to the upper final, awaiting the winner of the match between G2 and NRG. Meanwhile, Cloud9 will move to the lower bracket, awaiting the winner of tomorrow's match between 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #9 and Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #18 NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le icy Jacob Lange yay Jaccob Whiteaker .

G2 downs NRG in high-octane match

G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf and NRG NRG North America Rank #1 s0m Sam Oh brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold have only crossed paths twice since the Ascension squad's rise into franchising, and both meetings resulted in dominant G2 victories. An interesting storyline to follow was stand-in player BABYBAY 's performance against the NRG players, whom he knows well, having done content for them.

The series opened on NRG's pick of Corrode, a map that NRG has played once and G2 has experimented with three different comps in three appearances. Both teams went for the popular Viper-Omen double Controller pairing, and put their star Duelists on Waylay, complemented by JonahP on Sage and Ethan on his trademark KAY/O.

NRG used a successful 8-4 defender side to start the momentum on a high note. Nine of mada 's 17 kills on the map came with the Operator in hand, helping shut down G2's attack. G2 enjoyed success on their own defender side too, even picking up five straight rounds at one point to narrow the NRG lead to 10-9, only for NRG to close up shop 13-10.

The two teams approached G2's pick of Sunset with differing philosophies, with NRG going for a Sova-Breach double-Initiator look while G2 fielded two Sentinels, Sage and Chamber. Excellent play on defense gave NRG a 7-5 lead, but a similarly strong defense helped G2. jawgemo 's Neon ran from top mid to market, attracting crosshairs on several rounds, while JonahP's Sage disrupted the map. In a back-and-forth second half, both teams traded thrifty and half-buy rounds, at one point inciting head coaches JoshRT and bonkar to call three timeouts in five rounds towards the end of the map. Babybay had yet another standout game on Chamber, leading G2 in kills with 23 to help nullify mada's 26-kill breakout performance.

Ice cold from Professor P.

G2, as the second team in the map ban process, had the choice between Haven and Bind. G2 opted to play Bind, which may have been an unexpected choice. Haven has been a staple of the G2 map pool throughout 2025, playing it 14 times in VCT this year with a 10-4 record. In six Stage 2 matches, G2 banned Bind five times. G2's trent was placed on Tejo, a familiar pick of his, while JonahP was shifted onto Fade as part of a double-Initiator comp. NRG also fielded two Initiators, pairing KAY/O and Fade.

NRG captured the pistol and anti-eco rounds, overwhelming G2's defense. This continued for the next few rounds, but G2 quickly found an answer. G2 shut NRG out for the rest of the half, switching onto attack with a 10-2 lead. All of G2 entered halftime positive, with JonahP leading the charge at 15/5. NRG threatened to flip the script on defense, converting three straight wins to capture the pistol, anti-eco, and bonus rounds. Facing match point, s0m even converted a 1v4 to extend NRG's lifespan, but it lasted for just one more round, as G2 closed out a 13-7 win in flawless fashion. s0m, at 63/44, finished atop the leaderboard to end the match, but a well-rounded performance is what ultimately made the difference for G2.

G2 sets up a date with Sentinels in the upper final, while NRG will play the winning team between LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #11 Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena and KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #2 Dantedeu5 Jesús Federico Larrosa in the lower bracket.

Up next

Sentinels and G2's wins set up for what's become one of the Americas region's fiercest rivalries. The two teams, who have long secured qualification to Champions Paris as the region's top two teams on points, will meet for a sixth time in the upper final. In 2025 alone, G2 owns a 3-2 lead, though Sentinels won the last meeting with Babybay standing in for leaf .

The VCT Americas Stage 2 playoffs will continue through the weekend with the following matches: