The Guard has officially become the 11th team-partner in the VCT Americas League. This became possible after the team's victory at the Champions Tour 2023 Americas: Ascension LAN tournament held in São Paulo, Brazil. The contract duration is set for 2 years.

Personal encounters

Before the tournament's final, the teams met each other 4 times, with one of those meetings being in the semifinals of the upper bracket in which The Guard defeated M80 with a score of 2-0, equalizing their head-to-head record to 2-2.

Here's what Evil Genius team captain Kelden "Boostio" Pupello commented on M80's advancement to the finals.

What was happening in the tournament final?

The match was played in a bo5 formatt. The Guard chose Ascent and Bind as their maps, while M80 opted for Haven and Pearl. The deciding map was set to be Split.

The match started with the American team's pick, the map Ascent. The encounter on this map was challenging for both teams. The first half ended with a score of 4-8 in favor of the Canadian team, but The Guard didn't want to surrender their pick easily, so they made a comeback to tie the score at 11-11. However, there were 2 crucial rounds that M80 managed to win, securing the victory on the first map and taking the opponent's pick.

The second map, Haven, was a one-sided affair as The Guard dominated M80 with a score of 13-3, claiming their pick as well.

The third map, Bind, was the most intense in the final. The winner of this map was determined in overtime rounds after the teams traded halves with scores of 8-4 and 4-8. However, The Guard secured the victory by winning the first two overtime rounds.

The fourth map of the final, Pearl, could potentially be the last, with The Guard leading 2-1 in maps. M80 had no room for mistakes and needed to claim their pick to stay in the tournament. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't achieve that, and The Guard took the decisive map.

The Guard players' reaction to the victory

The Guard became the absolute champion of the Champions Tour 2023 Americas: Ascension LAN tournament, earning a partnership slot in the American region. Here's a post made by one of the players, Jonah "JonahP" Pulice, on Twitter after the victory.

His teammate Jacob "valyn" Batio shared a photo with the trophy and thanked Brazil.'

What does the partnership in the League offer?

The partnership provides the opportunity to compete in the American league for a prize pool of $250,000 and a chance to participate in tournaments such as Champions and Masters. The main highlight is the direct invitation to an international partner tournament with a prize pool of $500,000, which will feature specially designed in-game skins. 50% of the proceeds from all skin sales will be evenly distributed among all tournament participants.

It's worth mentioning that The Guard has secured the slot for 2 years, and it signifies the team's elevation from the Tier 2-3 level to the highest league in the region, placing them alongside renowned clubs like Sentinels, Cloud9, NRG Esports, KRU Esports, Leviatán, LOUD, FURIA, MIBR, 100 Thieves, and Evil Geniuses.