Tomorrow, one squad will be crowned the best VALORANT team in North America.
After several qualifiers and hundreds of matches, the competition has finally been whittled down to two teams. TSM and 100 Thieves will face off in a best-of-five series that’ll determine who the First Strike: North America champions are.
TSM’s semifinals match against Team Envy was one-sided, resulting in TSM sweeping their opponents 2-0. The triple-duelist comp continues to find success, as TSM leaves behind the nerfed sentinels for extra firepower.
Hopes were high for Envy, who have proven that they’re capable of competing with the scene’s top teams. TSM’s Taylor “drone” Johnson expected that this series would go to three maps, claiming he believed Envy would be their biggest competition.
“They’ve been improving rapidly since their new pick ups,” he told Dot Esports. “They definitely weren’t firing on all cylinders. I wouldn’t say they played bad, but they definitely weren’t playing to their full potential.”
100 Thieves would have a bit more difficulty advancing to the finals, but ultimately they were able to close out the victory 2-1. This semifinals match offered fans the first overtime and the first three-map series of the event. But similar to yesterday’s comeback against T1, this 100 Thieves roster showed resilience to close out the series.
When it came to strategizing for this match, 100 Thieves’ Joshua “steel” Nissan says there was no Sentinels-specific game plan.
“We made sure we were as prepared as possible for whatever any team is going to throw at us, not just Sentinels,” he told Dot Esports. “And then, on game day, just make sure that we’re calm, collected, resilient, and make sure we just power through.”
100 Thieves and TSM will go head-to-head in tomorrow’s grand finals at 3pm CT. The last time these two teams faced off in the NSG Closed Qualifier, 100 Thieves swept TSM and relegated them to compete in another qualifier. And while drone is “supremely confident” going into the grand finals, he hasn’t forgotten his last meeting with 100 Thieves.
“We want revenge and we want to prove to 100 Thieves that we’re not just going to go down and take that loss,” drone said.
