KRÜ Esports are Latin America’s best hope at Champions

KRÜ Esports are ready to put Latin America on the map at VALORANT Champions. The organization that Sergio Agüero started has only been around since 2020, but they are already making a name for themselves in VALORANT. They’ve got a lot of experience too. Champions, the biggest tournament in VALORANT history, will be their fifth LAN.

“Raising the cup would not only be my dream and that of the whole team, but the of the entire region,” Nicolas “Klaus” Ferrari told Latin Power. “It would be a very important step to put LATAM in good shape for 2022.”

What started out as back-to-back second place finishes in their opening tournaments — both against Wygers Argentina — turned into earning a spot at Masters Reykjavík. As the only LATAM representatives, KRÜ tried their best to upset the EMEA and Brazilian teams. The team finished eighth behind X10 Esports after losses to Fnatic and Team Liquid. After bottoming out at Reykjavík, KRÜ packed their bags and headed back to Chile with their eyes set on the horizon.

KRÜ Esports look to finish the year on a high note

KRÜ went on an undefeated streak throughout the remaining VCT tournaments with victories over Revense Esports, 9z Team and Australs to qualify for the second international LAN. Masters Berlin saw them have better success than at Masters Reykjavík, with the team placing eighth overall out of 16 teams. KRÜ went 2-1 in the group stage of the tournament, only losing one map to Team Envy, who would go on to face Gambit Esports in the finals. An 0-2 loss to G2 Esports during the playoffs ended the Latin American team’s journey earlier than they had hoped.

“We were really happy about [making it to Masters Berlin],” KRÜ Esports Head Coach BeTony told Upcomer in September. “Sometimes it’s harder to stay on top and becoming the best team in our region. We were happy that we could really improve from Iceland to here.”

Despite the eighth place finish, KRÜ had still managed to qualify for Champions with their performances in their own region and at both Masters tournaments. Once again, KRÜ will have to carry the weight of LATAM on their shoulders throughout the tournament.

The team has been consistent. The only roster change came in June when Benjamin “bnj” Rabinovich moved from the starting roster to a sixth member. KRÜ brought over Angelo “keznit” Mori, who was originally signed to KRÜ as a VALORANT content creator, to replace bnj. Keznit was a key part in the team’s successes at Masters Berlin after dropping more than 50 kills in their match against ZETA DIVISION and more than 45 kills during their match against Vivo Keyd.

The duelist duo giving KRÜ Esports hope for Champions 

Roberto Francisco “Mazino” Rivas Bugueño is the secondary duelist and smoke player for KRÜ. The duo of Mazino and keznit switch off between playing either Phoenix/Astra for Mazino and Reyna/Omen for keznit. Both players often drop over 40 kills in any given series series despite being on smoke characters.

Keznit also told Latin Power in an interview that he thinks Latin America could reach a new level at Champions, showing what the region is capable of after working hard to get there.

KRÜ will be participating in Group B alongside the no. 1 seed from North America, Sentinels, EMEA representative Team Liquid and Brazilian team FURIA Esports. On the second day of Champions, KRÜ will be facing Team Liquid at 10 am PST. KRÜ have seen some rapid improvement since the last two international tournaments, meaning there are high hopes for KRÜ to perform at Champions.