KRÜ Esports Win VCT Americas: Last Chance Qualifiers, Defeating Leviatán

In the grand final of the VCT Americas Last Chance Qualifier, KRÜ Esports defeated Leviatán, winning the final spot at Valorant Champions 2023. Leviatán's season was over after the all-LATAM championship game, which concluded 3-1 in their opponent's favor. The only two LATAM rosters faced off in a replay of the upper bracket semifinal in which KRÜ easily defeated Leviatán 2-0. Keznit won that series with a 1.66 rating and a 44-24 record across the two maps.

Also read: Zeta Division Wins VCT Pacific LCQ, Qualifies For Champions 2023

KRÜ vs Leviatán: Grand Finals Recap

Kicking things off on Split, KRÜ started off strong with a 4-0 lead. Albeit late in the day, round 5 was a thrifty win by Leviatán, finally getting them on the board. KRÜ led 7-1 and managed to finish the half at 9-3, securing a huge lead on their own map pick. Leviatán won the second pistol but went on to lose the anti-eco as NagZ got two kills with his Shorty. KRÜ won the map with ease as they beat Leviatán 13-5 with Klaus having the highest ACS of 1.49 on Skye.

For the second map, the teams headed to Pearl. Leviatán started the map by winning the pistol round thanks to Tacocilla's triple kill. The first half started off as a close affair but KRÜ managed to lead by two rounds, closing the half at 7-5. KRÜ won the second pistol thanks to Melser's quad kill fury. Round 14 saw a thrifty win by Leviatan as nzr got a triple on his Sheriff. The score got equalized at 8-8 as Leviatan managed to pick up some pace and closed the map at 13-8, equalizing the map count at 1-1. 

Despite dropping their previous match 13-4 to Cloud9, KRÜ chose Ascent for the third map. Even after dropping the pistol, KRÜ was successful on the offensive despite it being a defender-sided map. Leviatán was 4-2 down but KRÜ lost their grip on the lead, allowing a 7-5 lead at the half for their opponents. KRÜ won the second pistol with Klaus popping off and getting a triple kill. KRÜ easily managed to close the map at 13-6 thanks to keznit dropping 300+ ACS, leading 2-1 in the BO5 series.

Leviatán was on the precipice of being eliminated and having their season conclude early with Lotus as the fourth map of the series. fighting for dear life, they won the first pistol and anti-eco to lead 2-0 and even lead with a 4-1 scoreline until KRÜ seized the lead at 6-4 after five consecutive rounds before the halftime tie at 6-6. Leviatán chose to save in a 3v4 situation after KRÜ won the pistol and the bonus, leaving them with a 9-6 deficit on the defensive side of an attack-sided Lotus. Although Leviatán's effort at a trap play around the Raze Showstopper yielded first blood in the last round, it left KRÜ with complete access to the A bomb site. With only one kill on the 5v4 retake, Leviatán's season was ended by their LATAM rivals.

Keznit maintained his stellar performance from the LCQ throughout the series, dropping 167 ADR and finding 18 first-bloods. He was awarded the MVP title for the tournament for his incredible statistics. Keznit, NagZ, and Klaus are the only three players from the inaugural KRÜ appearance at Champions 2021 that are still on the team.

At Valorant Champions 2023, KRU Esports will represent the Americas League alongside Evil Geniuses, NRG Esports, and LOUD. They will face off against China's top three organizations as well as the top teams from the Pacific and EMEA Leagues.