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The Valorant First Strike North America finals concluded today, with 100 Thieves being crowned the champions.
TSM and 100 Thieves showed immense grit getting past the NSG and UMG Qualifiers. However, only one team prevailed during the finals, and it had to be 100 Thieves.
The best-of-five Valorant First Strike North America Finale was extremely competitive and displayed some of the region's best talents. Although the tournament crowned only one winner, both teams showed impressive tactical gameplay.
TSM and 100 Thieves had met thrice before this grand clash, and the former came out on top on two occasions. During the NSG Closed Qualifiers, 100 Thieves got back at TSM with a 2-0 scoreline.
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Valorant First Strike North America Finals
The prize pool for the Valorant First Strike North America finals was $100,000. The first-place winners would get $40,000, while the runners-up would earn $20,000.
The team rosters for both teams are as follows:
100 Thieves
Spencer "Hiko" Martin
Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella
Joshua "steel" Nissan
Quan "dicey" Tran
Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk
TSM
Stephen "reltuC" Cutler
James "hazed" Cobb
Matthew "Wardell" Yu
Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik
Taylor "drone" Johnson
First Map: Split
The first map was Split, which is known to be a Defenders' map in Valorant. Both teams had equally impressive scores on Split, although TSM was tipped to round off the map in their favor.
TSM started as Defenders and picked up the first four rounds with relative ease. The scoreline before the swap was 7-5 in favor of TSM.
TSM continued dominating as Attackers, while 100 Thieves was still struggling to get past the economy rounds. However, 100 Thieves soon started to push aggressively as Defenders and brought the scoreline to 12-12.
The match went to overtime, and 100 Thieves took the first round as Defenders. This was the first time in the game that 100 Thieves had the lead.
100 Thieves was on the verge of winning the first map until Hazed picked up the frag on nitro with just one second to go on the defuse. Split ended in favor of 100 Thieves with a scoreline of 15-13.
Second Map: Bind
100 Thieves took the 1-0 lead and were favored to wrap up Bind as it is one of their best maps. TSM was forced to shift things up as the unexpected loss on Split affected them significantly.
Steel as Cypher and Hiko as Sova on Bind made for perhaps one of the best partnerships in the Valorant First Strike Finals. As Sean Gares mentioned, the pistol round ended in a power struggle to take A-showers.
100 Thieves set the momentum with the early-round win, but TSM would not back down. They took three rounds consecutively to make it 3-2, forcing 100 Thieves into an economic round.
However, the scoreline was 7-5 in favor of 100 Thieves before the swap. They started the next round with a flawless win, taking down the spike plant as well. Asuna grabbed a mesmerizing Ace to seal round 17, which took the scoreline to 10-7 in favor of 100 Thieves.
The final scoreline on Bind was 13-11 in favor of 100 Thieves as they took a resounding 2-0 lead in the Valorant First Strike North America Grand Finale.
Third Map: Ascent
TSM, who are known for being ruthless on Ascent, came in with a 2-0 deficit to make up. However, 100 Thieves was not in the mood for pleasantries as the team sealed the first pistol round quickly.
100 Thieves eventually went on to lead 4-0 as Attackers, forcing TSM into an economical buy phase. The match began to take shape as TSM finally started responding.
The game was impeccably balanced at 5-5 when TSM took the lead for the first time on the map in the Valorant First Strike Grand Finale.
The scoreline before the swap was 7-5 in favor of TSM, and 100 Thieves was starting to lose the momentum.
100 Thieves won the pistol round as Defenders, only to lose the next two rounds. TSM were closing in on their first map victory in Valorant First Strike North America Grand Finale.
100 Thieves hit back with a flawless 17th round to make the score 10-7. However, TSM took the next round to put pressure on 100 Thieves.
The final scoreline on Ascent was 13-7 in favor of TSM as they made it 2-1 in the Valorant First Strike North America Grand Finale.
Fourth Map - Haven
Haven is one of the most competitive maps in the game, and both teams performed wonderfully on it during the Valorant First Strike Qualifiers.
The first few rounds set the tone of the match as 100 Thieves took an early lead as Attackers. However, TSM tried their best to slide back in.
The score before the swap was 8-4 in favor of 100 Thieves. The team then took the first three rounds after the swap and kept pushing TSM. Eventually, TSM was left with a scoreline of 13-7 and a third map loss.
100 Thieves, therefore, became the champions of Valorant First Strike North America. The final scoreline stood at 3-1 in the best-of-five Valorant First Strike Grand Finale.
