100 Thieves take down Sentinels in tense series, advance to First Strike Finals with TSM

The grand finals for North American First Strike are set as 100 Thieves have taken down Sentinels in a very close set, the first match yet in the region to go to three games. The newer 100 Thieves roster proved their worth, and we also got an Icebox map out of the two teams. 100 Thieves will play TSM in the grand finals tomorrow.

Beginning on Icebox, agent picks were interesting, as Hunter "SicK" Mims grabbed the Skye, while Joshua "steel" Nissan continued with his Cypher from the day previous. Sentinels were on the attack to begin, and they grabbed the pistol after some unfortunate aggression from 100T. While both Quan "dicey" Tran and Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan managed to afford the Operator for Round 3, it was Sentinels that came out on top again on A, setting them up with a 4-0 lead. Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk grabbed a nicely played 4k on his Reyna, and after a messy but successful A retake and a 3k OP round by Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella, 100 Thieves were right back in it. Late in the half, 100 Thieves took the lead for the first time thanks to an A hold by dicey and Asuna, and they’d leave the half still ahead at 7-5.

A 4k on the pistol round around the A site boxes for Spencer "Hiko" Martin kept the momentum in 100 Thieves’ favour, and while Sentinels grabbed the rifle round, a tremendous 3-kill lurk from steel put 100 Thieves on double digits and grew their lead. Sentinels weren’t down and out yet, though, and put together several good rounds tactically to keep things close. Their defense looked good, and they actually took it all the way to match point, but one more round for 100T sent things to overtime.

dicey and ShahZaM both went glass cannon Operator in the first round, and nitr0 clutched it out for the defenders. Ultimately, overtime didn’t last long, with Asuna ripping Sentinels’ A defense apart to win 100 Thieves Icebox, Sentinels’ pick, 14-12.

Compositions were standard for 100 Thieves’ pick of Haven, and they opened up a lead on attack with the pistol win. They worked a solid attack, and most of what Sentinels were able to do was off the back of SicK’s Phoenix. A 4k from SicK late in the half saw the tide turn, though, and things ultimately ended all tied up at 6-6.

100 Thieves took the second pistol round with a nice Garage defense by steel and C site retake, and they grew a lead until Jared "zombs" Gitlin scored a great 3v1 clutch with the Spectre. Resulting rounds went great for Sentinels, with players like Jay "sinatraa" Won pulling up with big moments and tying the game again at 9. Their momentum continued, and big plays continued, with Michael "dapr" Gulino outflanking nitr0’s flank and picking off 2. Sentinels were confident and 100 Thieves couldn’t do anything about it. They won Haven 13-9, and brought us to a third map.

Bind was the last map, and again compositions were normal for the two teams, though it’s worth noting sinatraa’s switch to Phoenix meant ShahZaM grabbed the Sova. Sentinels took the pistol and follow-up, before nitr0 and steel both clutched out rounds for 100 Thieves to tie things up - steel with the Guardian, ending at 3 HP. Big plays continued to happen, with Asuna grabbing three with a flashy midair Showstopper and dapr acing an anti-eco. It was 100 Thieves who edged out an 8-4 lead at the half, but it certainly felt much closer.

Sentinels grabbed a crucial pistol round off a misstep from dicey, but 100 Thieves forced the immediate next round and were successful. steel clutched up from B long with a Bulldog, and things started to get worrying for Sentinels due to the 10-5 scoreline. The following round was zombs’ turn to clutch with a Bulldog, though, and Sentinels started to bring things back. They finally managed to string some rounds together, but 100 Thieves were still right there, and great trading play by Asuna and Hiko brought them to map and series point. An aggressive push into A along with a weak buy from Sentinels put them through to the final.

First Strike North America Regional Final

100 Thieves

2

X

1

Sentinels

Semi Final, Best of 3 - December 5, 2020 - 11:10PM

14

Icebox

12

9

Haven

13

13

Bind

9

100 Thieves

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Hiko

0.00

243

58/43/30

+15

1.35

0.0%

151.8

28%

100%

2

0

Asuna

0.00

247

58/61/20

-3

0.95

0.0%

159.6

24%

52%

15

14

dicey

0.00

186

49/49/5

0

1.00

0.0%

110.4

9%

63%

10

6

nitr0

0.00

187

50/47/15

+3

1.06

0.0%

122.5

27%

60%

6

4

steel

0.00

207

49/54/14

-5

0.91

0.0%

133.1

22%

46%

6

7

Sentinels

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

ShahZaM

0.00

207

50/54/13

-4

0.93

0.0%

132.3

21%

38%

5

8

SicK

0.00

208

49/53/20

-4

0.92

0.0%

140.7

20%

43%

3

4

sinatraa

0.00

192

46/57/19

-11

0.81

0.0%

117.2

17%

42%

11

15

zombs

0.00

214

54/53/24

+1

1.02

0.0%

130.1

22%

47%

7

8

dapr

0.00

226

55/47/27

+8

1.17

0.0%

128.0

16%

56%

5

4