Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
Four in the top eight. Americas has made its case as the strongest region in all of VCT by sending all four of its representatives to the Champions Shanghai playoffs, but the region is now running into some problems: each other.
Neighbors, friends, and scrim partners in Los Angeles have now turned into opponents on the international stage, with the stakes higher than they ever were at the Riot Games Arena. The regional traffic between Americas squads has now turned into a head-on collision, with NRG and LOUD set to face off in the Upper Semifinals and G2 Esports already defeating 100 Thieves in the Upper Quarterfinals.
Following the match, a 2-0 win for G2, members of both squads spoke on the Americas-heavy field in Shanghai.
“We play them a few times, we play them quite a few times in scrims as well,” 100T head coach Nbs said. “I think we know how they play, they know how we play. So it wasn’t any kind of surprise, I wouldn’t say. Even though it is a regional match, we take every game, every preparation in the same manner, and that’s what we did today as well.”
Nbs was also candid about how the specifics of prep for a regional opponent differ from an international opponent, highlighting that teams have more film on the way you play.
“We usually try to keep our preparation the same,” He said. “That being said, for example, against G2 we actually scrim quite a bit, so it really just comes down to now we have to do preparation from the footage from the scrims and officials, so there’s just more data.”
Assistant coach d00mbr0s also spoke on the unique challenge of playing an Americas team, sharing what those mind games might look like from inside the coaching booth.
“Even the map veto also can look a little bit different from the outside,” he said. “Because we scrimmed each other, it might look a little bit different. That’s also what happened today”
After being labelled regional merchants ever since it ascended into VCT, an international playoff slate with four regional teams might finally be the stage for G2 to lift its ever-elusive first international title
“Regional opponents are always crazier, there’s a lot more mind games,” G2 head coach JoshRT said. “We know each other so well. We even practice with each other, against each other, and so it’s kinda funny that in this playoff bracket there’s more Americas teams now. It feels right that we’re in a good spot to try to capitalize on this moment because we know these opponents really well.”
JoshRT then spoke on the challenges of what it’s like going up against teams from other regions, name-dropping a particular team that has given his squad plenty of trouble over the years.
“Sometimes the style of play catches you off guard, and you just don’t know how to play out certain scenarios that they’re more used to, and that’s more like our problems with PRX,” he said.
In an “iron sharpens iron” kind of way, JoshRT says that 100T, LOUD, NRG, and his own G2 squad each having their own brand of play has made all four teams that much stronger.
“I think Americas is so deep now,” he said. “I think all four representatives, they have a distinct style for each of them, and they play it so well, and so now we feel very prepped in this tournament just to play against all of this. I think it’s a tougher preparation for regional matchups.”
While 100T has an immediate match in the lower bracket against Pacific’s Nongshim RedForce, G2 will have a day off before it takes on Team Vitality, as will NRG and LOUD before they go up against each other in a rematch of the Americas Stage 2 Lower Final.
100 Thieves will be the second match of the day on October 9, starting at around 5 a.m. PST/8 a.m. EST, or 8 p.m. local time, while NRG and LOUD will be the first matchup on October 10, at 2 a.m. PST/5 a.m. EST, or 5 p.m. local time
