VCT Americas is no stranger to producing superstars, with the biggest names and highlights. Get ready for the VCT Americas Kick Off because we’re in for a treat. For the first time, 3 of the game’s biggest names, yay, Aspas and Demon1 will be in Americas at the same time.
VCT Americas will be THE region to watch
With so many big names and big voices, VCT Americas has been one of the most popular regions to watch for English speaking audiences for a while, which is not exactly surprising.
As a team game, there are so many factors that go into making a championship roster, but at the end of the day, people are going to remember the big moments, something that we’re pretty much guaranteed with these names on the rosters.
yay
Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker was be part of the Optic roster that showed the world that you absolutely can put your eggs all in one basket absolutely dominate servers with a full power Chamber. Previously, his reign as el diablo came to a close during the dissolution of Optic in preparation for the Valorant Champions Tour.
His short lived time on Cloud9 and unfortunate exclusion from a season of VCT due to the rules at the time was the start of a rocky period for yay. DSG crumbled under the pressure, and issues at Bleed culminated in people starting to question whether his time at the top was due to being the earliest adopter of Chamber, or a testament to how far ahead he and Optic were. Now, yay is going to return to American soil under the Evil Geniuses banner, looking to get EG their second Trophy.
aspas
After the fall of the Optic roster, LOUD was next up. Erick “aspas” Santos was putting up inhuman stats. The duelist won the 2023 and 2024 Duelist of the Year and VCT Americas MVP under LOUD and Leviatan while the players at his side would go on to place top 3 or better, with LOUD winning all of their domestic titles in Brazil.
His new team of MIBR historically have struggled in VCT. However, with returning player artzin joined by 4 fresh faces including aspas, MIBR are looking to buck that trend with a strong start.
Demon1
Completing the trio is the last of the 3 names to touch gold, and the most recent to hoist a trophy. Unlikely superstar Max “Demon1” Mazanov was the main driving force behind Evil Geniuses going on their legendary run to 1st place. Since that run, he and the others from the winning EG core scattered like the Dragonballs, with Mazanov finding a home on NRG. Super team in name, but not super team in game, NRG did not put the results up that Demon1 was looking for, finishing in Group Stages for Stage 1 and 2.
Despite that, hope still holds out strong that on Leviatan. A team that peaked at 3rd in 2023’s season despite some personality clashes, that Demon1 will be back to show-stopping form for 2025.
The trio ironically completes a trilogy of VCT roster shuffles. The EG golden boy takes finds a home on Leviatan, previous team of Aspas, while EG welcomes yay to fill the empty shoes of Demon1. And Aspas’ move to MIBR puts him under the roof that are the only reason EG could even qualify to make their historic run.
New season starts in January
None of the 3 will butt heads until the Upper Bracket Semifinals of the Americas Kickoff at the very earliest, where EG and MIBR will have the chance to face off. Providing EG clears LOUD and KRU, and MIBR can take down 100 Thieves and Sentinels. Which is actually quite a lot of ifs. Demon1 won’t have a chance to meet either of the 2 titans until the Upper Bracket Finals, receiving a 1 round bye, to face off the winner of 2Game vs FURIA, and any of NRG, Cloud9 or G2 to qualify for that finals spot.
While it’ll be early on in the season, the momentum of a win has historically helped teams make strides for the regular season.
