G2 Esports becomes VCT Americas Stage 2 champion

G2 Esports has claimed the VCT Americas Stage 2 trophy by defeating NRG 3-0 in yesterday’s Grand Final.

With this victory, G2 has also won every VCT Americas competition of the year and earned the region’s first place for the VALORANT Champions 2025 Group Stage.

VCT Americas Stage 2 took place from July 18th until August 31st, featuring 12 contestants and a $250,000 (~£185,000) prize pool. As the third and final regional competition in the 2025 VALORANT esports calendar, the tournament also represented the last chance to qualify for VALORANT Champions 2025 in September.

G2 Esports has been competing in VCT Americas since winning the regional Ascension tournament in 2023. This year, in particular, the team became one of the top-performing teams within the Americas tier-one circuit, winning VCT Kickoff and Stage 1.

Although G2 Esports attended Masters Bangkok and Masters Toronto earlier this year, the squad came short of an international trophy on both occasions. 

Heading into Stage 2, G2 had to miss out on its star sentinel player, Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf, who was struggling with health complications. As a result, the roster signed Andrej ‘babybay’ Francisty as a last-minute stand-in.

This decision surprised many in the VALORANT esports community, as babybay had last competed for FaZe Clan in 2023 and had been working as a VCT caster since. 

However, babybay proved a worthy stand-in for leaf, helping G2 take second place in Group Alpha during the single round-robin Group Stage. From its five Group Stage games, G2 only lost the opening match against Sentinels, who would later be eliminated in the Lower Bracket Final.

G2’s run in the double-elimination Playoffs was even more dominant, as the team came out undefeated against 100 Thieves (2-0) and NRG (2-1). Moreover, leaf returned for the rematch against Sentinels to send the Group Alpha opponent to the lower bracket (2-0).

In yesterday’s Grand Final against NRG, G2 earned its third VCT Americas trophy of the year with a clean 3-0 performance. The team won Bind (13-11), Lotus (13-8) and Ascent (13-10), despite Lotus being considered NRG’s best map.

The roster’s high-fragging in-game leader (IGL), Jacob ‘valyn’ Batio, was awarded the Grand Finals MVP title. While out-calling the enemy team, valyn still managed to achieve an average combat score (ACS) of 189 throughout the series.

In addition, G2 has now secured the first Americas seed for VALORANT Champions after becoming the first team to qualify for the season-ending global event. Champions will run from September 9th until October 10th, featuring 16 teams and a $2.25m (~£1.66m) prize pool. 

G2’s first opponent in the Champions Group Stage will be VCT EMEA fourth seed, Team Heretics.