VCT Americas NRG versus KRU Esports: NRG Victor takes knife kills on KRU as s0m lurks

VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Americas continued this week with an intense match between NRG and KRU Esports. Read on for the match recap and details.

NRG was under a lot of pressure as they entered the match, as losing was not an option. Despite being dubbed as one of the top teams in North America and the newly-formed Americas league, NRG's performance had not lived up to expectations. They had fallen down the leaderboard, below the Sentinels team, and were in dire need of a win to improve their standings. Winning this match was crucial for NRG, not only to demonstrate that they deserved their reputation as one of the best, but also to position themselves for a potential playoff spot.

On the other side of the stage, it hadn't been going all that well for KRU, either. They needed the win to not be completely at the bottom of the board. Having had four losses, a win was very much necessary to prove the team could compete. And who would be better to take down than the former top team of North America? With Angelo "keznit" Mori back on the team but still no wins on the board, it was all on KRU to prove that they had the talent to back up the big names on their roster.

NRG needed to win this map. However, it was a KRU pistol round win and another victory for the team in the second round. Fans were hoping that NRG would perform well on the particular map that they had chosen. It was crucial for NRG to get off to a strong start on this map to keep their fans' hopes alive and maintain their faith in the team's roster.

NRG was well aware of this and got it rolling with the help of Ardis 'ardiis' Svarenieks. Unfortunately for NRG fans, KRU hit back hard with a C retake and keznit's Jett gameplay. Between Victor "Victor" Wong and ardiis, the two leveled the score with KRU and some clutch kills. This put them in position to take the map.

Despite KRU getting back on the board with the next pistol, NRG was having none of it and hit back harder. NRG went fast and hard into the back site with Sam "s0m" Oh securing a kill on keznit through smokes. Meanwhile Victor hit back hard to get the defuse.

Although KRU also hit back, it was clear that keznit carried KRU with the first kills. Despite KRU's best efforts, NRG continued pushing on, inching ever closer to match point. As NRG hit match point, KRU took a timeout and stopped the map from ending there and then. Then, KRU claimed more rounds and postponed NRG cleaning up map one. However, it was to no avail as NRG closed it out with a final kill by s0m.

With NRG one step closer to climbing the leaderboard, the pistol round was NRG's to lose. Thankfully, Austin "crashies" Roberts secured it. As NRG settled into their second map, ardiis' Jett came out and it was clear that he loved playing the character. Meanwhile, s0m was back with more clutch kills while KRU was left open-mouthed and without any round wins. This ultimately forced a KRU timeout and a win in round five.

It didn't make a huge amount of difference as NRG's Pujan "FNS" Mehta hit back in round six with three kills onto KRU. This was complete with a flawless round seven for NRG via ardiis perfect kills. With eight wins completed for NRG, KRU had to burn another timeout. By halftime, NRG was powering on while KRU was still struggling to secure rounds.

After a strong first half, NRG needed this pistol to put themselves in the best position to secure the 2-0. With the pistol round secured by NRG, KRU needed a miracle. KRU managed to hold on and stop NRG from getting too far ahead, but NRG hit back harder to be at match point. With Victor and adriis in top form, KRU's fate was sealed.

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