Here are your top 5 Valorant players at the VCT 2024 Americas Kickoff, according to VLR
Americas Kickoff, the year’s first regional VCT event, has concluded, and Sentinels won it all by defeating LOUD in the Grand Finals.
Unlike the EMEA Kickoff, where we saw domination from rookie players, the top of the Americas was monopolized by experienced tier 1 names.
After looking at the VLR stats, we compiled a list of the top 5 players from the Americas Kickoff who had incredible numbers at this event. Note that we included one player per team and only mentioned players with at least 150 rounds.
5. Nathan “leaf” Orf – G2 Esports
- Role: Duelist
- Agents: Jett, Raze, Yoru
- VLR Rating: 1.08
- Average Combat Score (ACS): 273.3
- Kill-Death Ratio: 1.26
- Average Damage Per Round (ADR): 155.0
- Headshot Percentage: 28%
The former star Duelist for Cloud9 joined G2 Esports at the end of last year to help the ex-Challengers team in their journey through tier 1. Last year at the Americas League, this 20-year-old former CSGO pro made a name for himself by helping C9 trample in the Regular Season.
As expected, leaf’s experience helped him secure great numbers for his team, taking G2 as far as the play-in stage. Playing as the main Duelist for the squad, he had consistent excellence throughout the tournament.
Nathan’s best comes from Group C’s decider match, where his mechanical plays with Raze resulted in an easy 2-0 victory against KRÜ Esports. In that Bo3, leaf ended with a 260 ACS through a 32-23 K-D.
4. Victor “Victor” Wong – NRG
- Role: Flex
- Agents: Cypher, Killjoy, Raze
- VLR Rating: 1.08
- Average Combat Score (ACS): 211.0
- Kill-Death Ratio: 1.24
- Average Damage Per Round (ADR): 140.3
- Headshot Percentage: 25%
Victor has been one of the most reliable players in North America since 2022. He and Austin “crashies” Roberts have been looking for their next big trophy after winning Masters Reykjavik, and both of these players have put in work for NRG since the beginning of 2023.
Even in roles like Sentinel, Victor consistently showed excellent form in the Kickoff, even surpassing his teammate Max “Demon1” Mazanov in many maps. The NRG vs Cloud9 match in the group stage was the best we saw from this 27-year-old flex player, where he secured a 233 ACS and had a K-D of 39-28.
Even with such effort from the talented member, NRG failed to move past the semifinals due to their loss against tournament winner Sentinels, resulting in the team not qualifying for Masters Madrid.
3. Erick “aspas” Santos – Leviatán
- Role: Duelist
- Agents: Raze, Reyna, Jett
- VLR Rating: 1.15
- Average Combat Score (ACS): 242.1
- Kill-Death Ratio: 1.23
- Average Damage Per Round (ADR): 162.5
- Headshot Percentage: 28%
The former star player of LOUD is representing a new team this year and has continued to shine as one of the best Duelists in the Americas. Unfortunately, even with such an excellent player, Leviatán failed to secure the playoffs from the “group of death.”
20-year-old aspas had unbelievable stats in the games against 100 Thieves and Sentinels, where he scored 293 and 252 ACS, respectively. The Bo3 facing 100T, especially, was an incredible look from the Brazilian, as he had a 66-44 K-D and 16 first kills.
2. Felipe “Less” Basso – LOUD
- Role: Controller
- Agents: Viper
- VLR Rating: 1.15
- Average Combat Score (ACS): 213.3
- Kill-Death Ratio: 1.25
- Average Damage Per Round (ADR): 142.9
- Headshot Percentage: 31%
The 19-year-old master of Viper for LOUD needs no introduction. Less was our second pick for the top 10 players at Champions 2023, and he has continued this long streak of superb performance this year by helping LOUD secure tickets to the Masters.
Even while playing Viper, where you’re supposed to be more passive than the rest of the squad, the Brazilian manages to grab multi-kills through lurks and incredible positioning.
In the 2-1 series win against Leviatán, Less had an incredible K-D of 61-33, thanks to his masterclass performance on Ascent (K-D: 24-9) and Split (K-D: 23-10).
1. Zachary “zekken” Patrone – Sentinels
- Role: Duelist
- Agents: Raze, Jett
- VLR Rating: 1.15
- Average Combat Score (ACS): 249.0
- Kill-Death Ratio: 1.21
- Average Damage Per Round (ADR): 161.8
- Headshot Percentage: 25%
The 18-year-old Sentinels prodigy was one of the best Duelists throughout last year but couldn’t show his mastery in events like Masters or Champions. This year is much different, as his incredible consistency, paired with the rest of the squad’s might, has landed Sentinels a spot in Madrid. On top of that, the North American roster won the kickoff in an exciting grand finale, facing none other than LOUD.
As they had to go through the play-ins, Sentinels played a lot of matches in the Kickoff, and throughout all that, zekken had godlike consistency. He also has the highest number of first kills of the event, winning 93 first engagements for his team and scoring a total of 373 frags.
2-1 @NRGgg
madrid!!!proud of myself this tournament, starting to feel like a good player
— z (@zekkenVAL) March 3, 2024
The 2-0 victory against MIBR was Zekken’s best performance, with 41-23 K-D and an ACS of 297. Overall, this was another event where this young talent dominated for Sentinels alongside Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, who also had incredible stats of his own while playing supportive roles.
Stay tuned with ESTNN for more coverage on VCT events, including Splits, Masters and Champions.