KRU Esports secure a spot at Champions Los Angeles through VCT Americas Last Chance Qualifiers

VCT 2023 - Americas League - Last Chance Qualifier marked a thrilling week of fierce competition among the seven remaining teams from the Americas scene, all vying for a coveted spot at the highly anticipated VCT 2023 - Champions, set to kick off in Los Angeles on August 6, just a few days away. The Last Chance Qualifiers delivered an astonishing turn of events, with KRÜ Esports emerging as the ultimate underdog story. In the regular season, KRÜ Esports had faced a tough road, going 0-9 and seemingly being the least favorable team at the start of the LCQ. However, against all odds, they refused to back down. Fuelled by passion, determination, and unwavering teamwork, they battled their way through multiple knockout matches, displaying an unfathomable level of grit.

KRU takes the Americas scene by surprise

The LATAM giants commenced their noteworthy run at the event with a resounding victory against mibr subsequently continuing their domination by mercilessly pummelling FURIA, Leviatán, and Cloud9, to secure their rightful place in the Grand Finals. Awaiting them in the climactic showdown was none other than Leviatan, a formidable opponent who had fought fiercely against Sentinels and executed a captivating reverse sweep against Cloud9 in the Lower Brackets. The stage was set for a highly anticipated rematch, offering Leviatan a golden opportunity for redemption against their LATAM counterparts.

Split

Proceedings commenced on Split, KRU’s map pick and they were quick to demonstrate their dominance. Nicolas "Klaus" Ferrari led the way on Offense guiding the team to a 9-3 lead by halftime boasting a 1.66 rating on 287 ACS. Even after changing sides, Leviatan had no room to operate as KRU’s defense held their ground firmly especially after letting the pistol round slip from their grasp. Shortly afterwards, the scoreboard read 13-5 in KRU’s favor and they had the upper hand to start the Grand Finals.

Pearl

Leviatan couldn’t let KRU build momentum and walk through the rest of the maps unchallenged. Pearl being their map pick presented itself as the perfect opportunity to strike back and tie up the series early on. However, they weren’t very convincing in the first half of the map with KRU pulling off multiple defusals one after the other. Going 5-7 into the second half, the scenario for a comeback was looking less ideal but Leviatan persevered and after an unfortunate pistol round, they embarked on a eight round streak to close out the map and level the playing field in the Grand Finals matchup.

Ascent

With the series tied on a map each, Ascent marked an opportunity for either team to post a lead and put the opposing team under pressure. Once again, however, KRU ended up getting the better start posting up a 7-5 score by halftime and following that up with six more rounds to Leviatan’s one in the second half to finish the map and go up 2-1 in the series. Angelo "Keznit" Mori, the matchup’s MVP, had a noticeable impact on this map, in particular on the Offensive end boasting a 317 ACS while playing Jett.

Lotus

Being down 2-1 to KRU, especially with their recent standout performances, wasn’t the ideal situation Leviatan imagined themselves to be in. Nonetheless, coming into the map, they looked unbothered and ready to tackle the situation with a clear head and a reformed motivation. Contrary to the previous maps, KRU did not manage to establish a lead early on, and for an instance it seemed that a comeback from Leviatan was shaping itself. Nevertheless, Keznit, once again, took it to himself to throw a spanner in the work leading the attack with 1.43 Rating on 284 ACS. His efforts were extremely crucial to the matchup’s outcome as the team closed out the map 13-10, emerging as the winners of Last Chance Qualifiers consequently securing their spot at VCT Champions Los Angeles 2023.

Don’t forget to check out our event page and also the VCT 2023 Hub for more information about the season.