THE 100 Thieves are VCT Americas Stage 2 champions. The team won the STRONG during the grand final played this Sunday (6), in São Pauloand won his second consecutive title of the season, having also won the EWC trophy.
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Despite the defeat, LOUD ends its journey in the tournament with a significant comeback. The Brazilian team made the decision via the lower bracket and had to participate in two consecutive MD5 series before the final. LOUD and 100 Thieves are now turning their attention to Shanghai Champions.
LOUD highlights wear and tear and campaign to final
For LOUD, one of the main challenges was the short break between the last series. The team finished the fifth map of the previous match around 10 p.m. and had to wake up at 7 a.m. to prepare for the decision.
With little time for adjustments, changes had to be made virtually “freestyle,” according to players. Even with the frustration of finishing second, Luke highlighted the magnitude of the recovery built during the playoffs.
“We’ll look back and think: Look at the race we ran.”
Luxô also believes that the campaign still does not represent the team’s maximum potential. Before Champions, the goal will be to expand the card pool and fix specific points of the game. The player was confident in the possibility of LOUD competing for the top spots in Shanghai.
Darker, who accumulated defeats before leaving Tier 2, also spoke about the meaning of the campaign and cited More false as a reference for the career he plans to build: winning several titles while representing his country.
The ranking will always have historical significance for David, who will be the first Portuguese player to participate in a VALORANT Champions League.
100 Thieves wins a second consecutive title
On the other hand, 100 Thieves arrives at Champions on a good note. After the EWC title, the team also won Stage 2 of the Americas.
With the organization for six years, Asuna was voted MVP of the grand finals. Over the course of the season, the player had to adapt to the role of primary duelist and attributed part of his success to the relationship built within the team.
“Through the power of friendship, we triumphed,” Asuna joked.
Cryo highlighted the weight of winning two championships in a row, while Martino ranked the decision against LOUD as the toughest series he has ever played.
“I’m really shocked at how much they’ve improved over the year,” Martino said of LOUD’s evolution.
Bang, in turn, highlighted the training volume as one of the differentiators of the campaign and said that he believes that the work done during the season is finally being rewarded.
Champions Shanghai is the next goal
100 Thieves does not intend to drastically change its preparation before Champions. The technical committee summarized the philosophy with a simple “if it works, it works”prioritizing group trust and preventing external expectations from interfering with the work.
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For Asuna, Shanghai also represents an opportunity to change the way her past seasons ended.
The player hopes that the Champions will be the “happy ending” what was missing in previous years, when good campaigns ended in frustration.
LOUD also comes to the World Cup with high expectations. Even with a young team and still far from what the players themselves consider their best version, the race to lower categories and reaching the Americas final has shown rapid evolution.
The title 100 Thieves also symbolically ends a VCT Americas cycle. The current franchise era began with a clash involving the North American team and ends with the organization once again in the spotlight, this time lifting the trophy. NOW, 100 Thieves and LOUD leave São Paulo as adversaries, but head to Shanghai with the same goal: to compete for the main title of the VALORANT season.
Rachele Victoria
Rachele Victoria has a degree in Letters, an MBA in Innovation and has worked in the field of communication and gamer content for 10 years.
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