ENVY and Cloud9 secure VCT Americas Kickoff opening day wins

The opening day of the 2026 VCT Americas Kickoff saw ENVY and Cloud9 secure victories over Evil Geniuses and LOUD, respectively.

As a result, both teams moved on to Round 2 of the Upper Bracket, while the losers dropped down to the Middle Bracket.

ENVY will next face MIBR, while Cloud9, on the other hand, will be up against VALORANT Champions Paris winner NRG.

Coming into VCT Americas Kickoff 2026 as the 2025 Ascension Americas champion, ENVY was expected to have a slow start, especially against the more experienced Evil Geniuses roster. 

That expectation held true early on, as the 2023 VALORANT Champions winner dominated the newcomers in the first half of Abyss, racing to an 11-2 lead. Just when it seemed like Evil Geniuses would complete an easy clean sweep, ENVY turned the tide. 

ENVY won six of seven rounds in the second half to shift the pressure towards Evil Geniuses; however, it wasn’t enough, as Evil Geniuses ultimately closed out the map 13-9.

With ENVY gaining momentum on Abyss, Corrode was overall way more competitive. The first half was a back-and-forth affair between both sides, with ENVY taking the opening two rounds before Evil Geniuses responded with four consecutive round wins, only for ENVY to take the lead once again.

The half ended with a 7-5 scoreline in ENVY’s favour, and despite Evil Geniuses attempting to claw back, the former maintained control to win the map 13-10 and push the series to a decider.

Bind served as the final map of the series, where ENVY had a fantastic 6-0 start before Evil Geniuses narrowed the gap to 7-5. Evil Geniuses once again struggled on the defensive side, allowing ENVY to close out the map 13-9 and secure the first VCT Americas Kickoff series 2-1.

ENVY’s duelist Evan ‘Eggsterr’ Grady was the highest-rated player of the series with a 1.20 rating and 240 ACS, followed by controller Hunter ‘inspire’ Schline with a 1.10 rating and 224 ACS.

The second series of the day kicked off with LOUD showcasing a strong performance on Haven, winning five back-to-back rounds after dropping the first two. However, the rest of the half belonged to Cloud9, as it put 7-5 on the board.

The North American side carried that momentum into the second half, winning six of eight rounds to take the map 13-9.

Abyss, on the other hand, was a fairly close battle. In this case, LOUD started off with two round wins followed by C9 taking a 5-3 lead. The South American squad pushed back to turn the tables and finish the first half at 7-5.

The second half, however, was dominated by Cloud9, and even though LOUD managed to pick up a few rounds, C9 emerged victorious with a 13-11 win, sealing the series 2-0.

Cloud9’s Erik ‘penny’ Penny got the highest rating of 1.24 in the series, while the team’s duelist Francis ‘OXY’ Hoang recorded the highest ACS of 236.

Both winners will return to the stage on January 17th to compete for a spot in the Upper Bracket semi-finals. Fans can catch all the action live on VCT Americas’ Twitch and YouTube channels.