Leviatán Crush Cloud9’s Hope of Reaching Champions
| Tags: Valorant
| Author Najib R
Latin American roster Leviatán brought a big upset against the North American favorite Cloud9 at the Americas LCQ, taking away their only hope of competing in the Champions event this year
In a reverse sweep Bo5 lower final matchup, underdog team Leviatán toppled over the favorites of the event at the Americas Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). C9 enjoyed convincing wins on Lotus and Pearl, the first two maps of the series. On Split as the third map, the Chileans started to make a comeback, taking away six rounds from Cloud9’s attack side, then closed it out with a 13-11 scoreline, keeping themselves afloat in the series.
It's not over yet as @LeviatanGG fight back and take Split! The series score is now 2-1 in @C9VAL's favor and is Haven coming up next. #VALORANTLCQ pic.twitter.com/rfIQHCIOvt
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 22, 2023
Haven, as the fourth map, was looking like the end of the journey for the Latin Americans, as they were faced with a 9-3 half as Cloud9 showed a more dominant look. However, the infamous “9-3” curse that plagued 100 Thieves struck again, and this time it favored Leviatán since Cloud9 couldn’t score more than a single round in the next half.
THE CURSE MIGHT BE REAL@LeviatanGG have fought their way back and tied the score at 9-9! #VALORANTLCQ pic.twitter.com/y1NYox3s2j
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 22, 2023
The final map, Bind, was the “last chance” for one of the squads to keep their Champions hope alive – and on that map, the Latin American crew found more confidence and power while Cloud9 repeated their classic run of choking at the end of an event.
A 3K FOR @Mazinofps AND @LeviatanGG ARE TWO ROUNDS AWAY FROM CLOSING IT OUT! #VALORANTLCQ pic.twitter.com/K9eVpwg0E8
— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesports_na) July 23, 2023
Agustin “nzr” Ibarra and Roberto “Mazino” Bugueño were the heroes of this series with 219 ACS. Moreover, Fabian “Shyy” Usnayo played a great role in Leviatán’s victory on Haven with 344 ACS and a K-D of 32-15.
Cloud9 Continue to Choke
At VCT Americas’ Regular Season, Cloud9 were the second-best roster among the ten competitors with an impressive 9-1 record. With such a great run and the overall performance of the team with the two new additions, the group quickly gained the reputation of the best North American squad at that time.
Unfortunately, this excellent form didn’t continue in the Playoffs, where the losses against Evil Geniuses and NRG Esports stopped them from reaching Masters Tokyo, a very unexpected turn of events.
Once again, Cloud9 repeated their infamous “choking” at the Americas LCQ, where they were fighting for a Champions slot as the favorites of the tournament. Their first upset was against KRÜ Esports, a team that didn’t win a single match in the Regular Season. Now, with the devastating defeat from Leviatán, the North Americans are out of the tournament, which has also confirmed that there will be only two teams from NA at the Champions event this year.
LCQ Grand Final – Leviatán vs KRÜ Esports
Credit: Riot Games
Leviatán will be facing KRÜ Esports once against at Americas LCQ for a spot in Champions 2023. Their previous matchup was only a few days ago, where KRÜ had no trouble at all closing the map in a 2-0 domination. With this new look from the previous 0-9 recorded squad, it seems like Leviatán would be the underdog of this matchup – a statement that would not have made sense before the LCQ.