VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 Predictions: Favorites, Dark Horses & Early Exits

Here are our predictions for the VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1

With Sentinels winning the VCT 2024 Masters Madrid, the Americas is certainly the most hyped region in the world right now. Your favorite teams are ready to retake the stage as the Stage 1 event of the Americas region is just around the corner, scheduled to start on April 6 in Los Angeles.

Be it NA or Latin America, the Americas region brims with top-class teams. With three teams already holding international VCT titles, you can rest assured that the competition for America’s champion will be as fierce as it gets. For predictions on favorites, dark horses and potential early eliminations, delve into this article.

The opening week of #VCTAmericas Stage 1 is looking HYPE

Which match are you most excited to watch? pic.twitter.com/W7feZuTnGd

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesportsna) April 1, 2024

VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 Predictions: Winner

Considering the recent results, Sentinels are our pick for the VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 winner.

Sentinels

• Zachary “zekken” Patrone
• Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi
• Tyson “TenZ” Ngo
• Mouhamed “johnqt” Ouarid
• Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro
• Adam “kaplan” Kaplan (Coach)

Since the inception of Valorant, Sentinels have always been the most fan-favorite team, not just in NA but globally. However, the men-in-red experienced a fall from grace after 2021 and have since struggled. With a revamped roster, this season marks a remarkable turnaround as Sen City has secured back-to-back titles in the Americas Kickoff and Master Madrid.

Credit: Sentinels

The team is currently operating at a near-flawless level. Johnqt, the new IGL, is leading the team exceptionally well, showcasing impressive fragging abilities simultaneously. Zekken has risen to be considered the best duelist in the world. If the roster maintains this level of performance, we might witness a historic three-in-a-row by Tenz and Co.

VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 Predictions: Other Favorites

As per our prediction, other favorites of the Americas Stage 1 are LOUD and NRG Esports.

LOUD

• Felipe “Less” Basso
• Matias “Saadhak” Delipetro
• Cauan “cauanzin” Pereira
• Arthur “tuyz” Vieira
• Gabriel “qck” Lima
• Pedro “peu” Lopes (Coach)

It would be criminal not to put LOUD, the most successful VCT team ever, on the favorites list. No matter the roster changes they undergo, the Brazilians never fail to perform. This season, they were dealt a heavy blow, having to let go of aspas, the team’s star duelist. However, the team is still going strong, as seen by their second-place finish in the Kickoff event to qualify for Masters Madrid.

Although LOUD had a disappointing showing in Madrid, they are definitely capable of staging a comeback in the next event. Saadhak is still one of the most innovative IGLs on the scene, while Less, qck, and the rest are insanely gifted mechanically. Given the team’s history, LOUD are always a safe bet to consider as a favorite.

NRG Esports

• Austin “crashies” Roberts
• Victor “Victor” Wong
• Max “Demon1” Mazanov
• Ethan “Ethan” Arnold
• Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen
• Chet “Chet” Singh (Coach)

Before the season began, NRG Esports were considered by far the most formidable team in North America. Adding the firepower of Demon1 and the experience of Ethan to the former OpTic core of Victor, Marved, and Crashies made them a force to be reckoned with.

Credit: NRG Esports

The potential of this roster was first shown in the group stage of Americas Kickoff, where Ethan’s team stomped past two big teams—Cloud9 and FURIA—while barely breaking a sweat. However, Sentinels halted their seemingly unstoppable run in the playoffs after an intense Bo3.

Unless Ethan’s adjustment to IGLing in Valorant becomes problematic, NRG are expected to make a deep run in the event.

VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 Predictions: Dark Horses

There are several teams with the potential to make surprising deep runs in the event. However, our picks for the most prominent dark horses would be 100 Thieves and Leviatán.

100 Thieves

• Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk
• Sean “bang” Bezerra
• Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban
• Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic
• Kelden “Boostio” Pupello
• Tony “Zikz” Gray (Coach)

100 Thieves are known for their slow start to the season. This year hasn’t been any different. The Kickoff event was a disaster for the First Strike winners, as they got eliminated after back-to-back losses against Leviatán and Sentinels.

Regardless of the team’s form, expectations are always high for the 2nd most popular Valorant organization from NA. The roster is also promising enough to do real damage in the upcoming event. It would be unwise for the other teams to underestimate Boostio and Co. solely based on their performance in the Kickoff event.

Leviatán

• Francisco “kiNgg” Aravena
• Corbin “C0M” Lee
• Roberto “Mazino” Bugueño
• Erick “aspas” Santos
• Ian “tex” Botsch
• Agustin “Nozwerr” Ibarra (Substitute)
• Alex “goked” Kie (Coach)

Leviatán were one of the strongest teams from Latin America last season. Now, with the addition of aspas, arguably 2023’s best player, and C0M, the clutch initiator from EG’s Champions-winning roster, the team has become a serious contender for the Valorant Champions title.

With such a unique roster of top talents from both North and South Americas, we predict Leviatán will cause some massive upsets in the next event.

VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 Predictions: Early Exits

The two biggest underdogs of the event are MIBR and KRÜ Esports.

FURIA

• Khalil “Khalil” Schmidt
• Leonardo “mwzera” Serrati
• Ilan “havoc” Eloy
• Vitor “kon4n” Hugo
• Felipe “liazzi” Galiazzi
• Pedro “Koy” Pulig (Coach)

If we were to pick one team as the worst-performing so far this season, FURIA would definitely be up for consideration. The Brazilian organization replaced three experienced players with new blood for the 2024 VCT season, but the plan seems to have backfired massively.

During the 2024 Kickoff event, FURIA couldn’t take a single map to overtime, let alone win it. To recover from this, the squad needs to stop relying on mwzera so much and step up as a team.

KRÜ Esports

• Nicolás “Klaus” Ferrari
• Marco “Melser” Machuca
• Angelo “keznit” Mori
• Nicolás “mta” González
• Fabian “Shyy” Usnayo
• Jorge “Atom” Noriega (Coach)

Other than their surprise LCQ run in 2023, KRÜ Esports have been one of the least successful franchise league teams, alongside DFM from the Pacific region. While there have been occasional hints of potential, the team consistently fails to deliver when it matters the most.

Playing in the Alpha group with four of the best NA teams, we just don’t see them advancing past the league stage.

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