VCT Americas Kickoff Playoffs Grand Finals: Sentinels vs LOUD Preview and Prediction

Copium has officially delivered providence. Sentinels have overcome the NA super team of NRG in the VCT Americas Kickoff Playoffs Semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, LOUD completed a dominating reverse sweep to shut down Evil Geniuses hopes of making Madrid.

Both Sentinels and LOUD have therefore qualified for VCT Masters Madrid, being the last two teams to do so. LOUD’s victory came as a surprise to few, having been touted as one of the strongest-looking teams in VCT Americas coming into the event.

Sentinels on the other hand, was not expected to walk away victorious. This was not a slight on their level as a team, but rather both NRG’s seen level as well as Sentinel’s massive amount of viewable footage coming into the finals.

Setting the Stage

LOUD come in as the most complete looking roster. Nearly unshakeable it seems, their cohesion as a unit and utter lack of exploitable weaknesses sees them unsurprisingly qualifying for Madrid over Evil Geniuses.

In 2024, LOUD saw the replacement of their previous star, aspas, and the inclusion of a new player in qck. Questions abounded if LOUD could continue their dominance with an arguably less powerful star, however, that proved to be a non-factor for LOUD.

Despite EG managing to take a convincing map 1 over them, it does stem somewhat from the fact that LOUD was run a more gimmick heavy composition that included Phoenix and EG came in prepared to counter said strategy.

Sentinels and NRG’s series was more back-and-forth. Both teams were playing incredibly well, and the rounds were called well from both sides. Sentinels’ well-drilled executions and retakes, along with star-level performances from TenZ and Zekken sealed the deal for Sentinels.

Sentinels come in as the most battle-hardened roster in VCT Americas thus far. Having lost their opening series, they played through two more series in groups before surviving through two back-to-back Bo3s in Play-Ins.

Their revamped roster saw the inclusion of Zellsis and Johnqt, completely levelling up their synergy as a squad and seeing the roster make an international event (uninvited) for the first time since 2021.

VCT Americas Kickoff Grand Finals Match-Up: Preview and Prediction

While both team’s paths to the Grand Finals was vastly different, both teams ultimately earned their spots through impressive unit cohesion and mid-rounds.

Flexibility was the name of the game and both teams had that in spades, from their large agent pools to their variety of strategies, creative plays from their individual players, and quick pivots during rounds.

LOUD is of course favored, having already beaten Sentinels 2-0 in the opening series of Kickoff. However, we anticipate a far more difficult fight this time, as the Sentinels that have qualified for the finals, is vastly stronger than the one that started this tournament.

We anticipate Breeze as LOUD’s ban (being their perma-ban). Sentinels is likely to ban Icebox, as LOUD has shown great proficiency on the map and we have yet to see Sentinels on it. Split is likely to make an appearance, it being Sentinel’s strongest map along with Sunset. Bind also has a likely chance of showing up as the decider, being a strong map for both teams.

68% of Strafe Voters have picked LOUD as their champion of choice. LOUD has historically been the stronger team and the easier of the two to imagine taking the series.

Follow the 2024 VCT Americas Kickoff Playoffs on Twitch or YouTube. You can also follow the finals on Strafe Esports.

Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

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