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100 Thieves Defeats TSM to Win Valorant First Strike: North America


The Valorant First Strike: North America champions have been crowned on Sunday after a month of qualifiers and hundreds of matches.

100 Thieves beat TSM in the grand finals 3-1 to win First Strike North America, Valorant's first major regional tournament produced by the game's developer, Riot Games. 100 Thieves takes home the trophy and the $40,000 top prize.

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Credit: Riot Games/ 100 Thieves

Former Counter-Strike pro Spencer "Hiko" Martin clutched several rounds throughout the four maps in the finals, leading all the players in the match with 73 kills. The team had only soldified its lineup in early October. 100 Thieves played a three-duelist comp just like TSM, and it worked for them.

"I think we've definitely set a statement now that we are one of, if not the best team in North America," Martin said on the official First Strike stream after the match ended.

"We've been trying to experiment a lot with new strategies, and trying to let our tactics speak instead of our individual performances," Martin said. "It does feel like a lot of these teams aren't really thinking tactically. They're thinking in that style that we've been talking about, of, ‘Let our individual performers run out, get all the kills, and we'll just win the 5 v 3's and 5 v 2′s.' But the second they go up against a team that has the experience and that plays more tactically, I can feel that sometimes they feel kind of lost."

The total prize pool of the tournament was $100,000; TSM won $20,000; Sentinels and Envy each get $10,000.

Riot is further investing in Valorant esports. Next year's Valorant Champions Tour will be a season-long global competition.

Related: Valorant Ranked Change Aimed to Crackdown Smurfs Coming in Patch 1.13

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