The KRÜ Esports VALORANT roster may have eventually fallen to MIBR in their VCT Americas 2023 week two matchup yesterday, but the Latin American team pushed MIBR to their limits by taking every round they could get.
This included a stunning round to close out the first half of map three, Pearl, when the defending KRÜ team got everyone back on site despite everyone on MIBR still being alive. MIBR ended the round with everyone still alive while everyone on KRÜ was dead. But somehow, MIBR had lost that round.
MIBR had gotten onto the A site with no resistance thanks to a Harbor ultimate that cleared out the KRÜ defenders, although ironically it was Harbor utility that ended up hurting MIBR in the end. After planting, all of MIBR went back to A Main, with two players opting to rotate all the way through spawn to set up post-plant angles from A Short.
But that rotation might have been what cost MIBR this round. KRÜ got back onto the A site Harbor’s Cascade and was able to wait out the first Viper Snakebite before getting the spike defused to half, as the two MIBR rotators were slowed down by a Harbor High Tide and a Killjoy turret. With half the spike defused and their cover about to go down, KRÜ pushed out to take fights but got absolutely shut down in the kills department.
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Running out of time, KRÜ threw down a Harbor Cove and a Jett smoke while keznit hopped on the spike trying to make a desperate defuse. But despite the Cove breaking instantly and all five MIBR players firing at him, keznit was able to sit in his own smoke long enough to stick the defuse and steal a fifth round.
While this round was a difference maker for KRÜ as it sent the map to overtime, they eventually fell in OT to lose an agonizingly close series, falling on both Lotus and Pearl by only two rounds each. Still, KRÜ proved you don’t need to get kills to secure a retake, just a lot of smokes and walls and a little bit of luck.
