The Guard crowned VCT Americas Ascension Champions

After an impressive performance throughout both Splits of the North American VCL, The Guard easily qualified for the VCT Americas Ascension tournament. After a couple of weeks of matches, they came out on top, beating their fellow North American team M80 3-1 in the Grand Finals, which secured them a spot in the VCT Americas League for the 2024 and 2025 season.

The Guard started their journey in Americas Ascension with a matchup against 00Nation in the Group Stage. The North American team swept the Brazilian team 2-0. The Guard's second Group Stage matchup was against LATAM team 9z. They easily won this series 2-0, only losing twelve rounds through both maps. With The Guard not dropping a map in the Group Stage, they advanced to the Upper Semifinals in the Playoffs.

This matchup was against M80, the other North American team who The Guard would end up beating in the Grand Finals of this tournament. These two teams have some history, as they've played each other many times over the past few months. M80 were the ones who won the last two times these teams faced, but it was The Guard to take the victory here today, as they won 2-0.

The Guard then advanced to the Upper Finals, where they faced The Union. The Guard lost the first map 14-16, but then came back with a reverse sweep and won the series 2-1, which advanced them to the Grand Finals.

Waiting in the Grand Finals for them was M80. After their loss to The Guard in the Upper Semifinals, M80 dropped to the Lower Bracket, where they did not lose a single map and beat out teams 00Nation, 9z Team, and The Union to advance to the Grand Finals.

The Grand Finals was a best of five matchup, with the first map being Ascent. M80 got off to a good start, winning eight out of the first twelve rounds and going up 8-4 at halftime. M80 continued the good performance into the beginning of the second half, winning the first three rounds. They now led 11-5. However, The Guard rebounded well and won the next seven rounds, tying the game. M80 then got themselves together and won the last two rounds to win the game. The final score was 13-11.

The second map was Haven. The Guard got off to an incredible start, winning eleven out of the first twelve rounds and leading 11-1 at halftime. M80 got the first two rounds to open the second half, but The Guard then won the next two rounds to win the game. The final score was 13-3.

Bind was the third map. M80 this time were the ones who had the strong first half, as they led 8-4 at halftime. The Guard managed to claw away at the lead and ended up forcing the game into overtime. In OT, The Guard got the two rounds to win the game. What a comeback. The final score was 14-12.

The fourth map was Pearl. The Guard started off strong, winning the first three rounds. M80 came back with three rounds of their own to tie the game at 3-3. The next six rounds were nearly identical, and the half ended tied at 6-6. The second half was where things got more exciting, as The Guard won seven out of ten rounds to win the game. The final score was 13-9.

With the win, The Guard are the champions of VCT Americas Ascension and secure themselves a spot in the VCT Americas League for the 2024 and 2025 season.

Congratulations to @TheGuard for winning #VCTAscension in São Paulo!

Welcome to #VCTAmericas! pic.twitter.com/ORLhGf6yGf

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 10, 2023

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