G2 sweep 100 Thieves to reach Valorant Champions Shanghai upper semifinals

G2 Esports moved into the upper semifinals at Valorant Champions Shanghai on Thursday with a 2-0 sweep of 100 Thieves, handing the Americas Stage 2 winners their first defeat since early August and snapping a six-game winning streak.

The win kept G2’s playoff run spotless after a string of sweeps to open the bracket. It also pushed G2 to a 6-4 record all-time against 100 Thieves, adding another chapter to a matchup that has become one of the more familiar Americas rivalries in Valorant.

The series played out on Abyss and Ascent, with G2 taking the opener 13-5 and the second map 13-11. Abyss never gave 100 Thieves much room to settle in, while Ascent turned into a longer fight that still ended with G2 winning the important rounds late. The result also secured a top-six finish for G2 after back-to-back 7th-8th placements at previous Champions events.

G2’s Abyss pick never lets 100 Thieves settle

G2 chose Abyss and leaned into its usual double-Controller, double-Duelist look, with Astra and Harbor supporting Waylay and Neon. 100 Thieves answered with a similar structure to its Breeze composition, using Harbor as the lone Controller and Phoenix and Jett as the duelists. The setup still favored G2 from the first rounds.

G2 opened with a pistol-round win on defense and quickly moved out to a 4-1 lead. trent and leaf led the charge across the half, finishing with 13 and 12 kills respectively before G2 took an 8-4 halftime edge. 100 Thieves started the second half with its own pistol win, but G2 immediately answered with a familiar eco conversion.

A buy of four Stingers and one Sheriff was enough for G2 to flip the economy and regain control of the map. One of the defining moments came when trent found a triple kill to close out an eco round and keep G2 in command. From there, G2 finished Abyss 13-5 without giving 100 Thieves a real opening.

Ascent becomes a test of patience and late-round wins

100 Thieves’ map pick of Ascent carried more pressure. The team had gone 3-0 on the map last split, while G2 had banned Ascent more times than it had played it since Stage 2 began. Even so, both teams stayed close to their preferred looks: 100 Thieves ran its Jett-Phoenix composition, and G2 used a Vyse-Chamber double-Sentinel setup that fit leaf and BABYBAY well.

Asuna got off to a fast start for 100 Thieves. On a map that usually rewards the defense, he helped keep the team in range with a 17/7 attacker-side half, and the teams reached halftime tied 6-6. 100 Thieves also pulled off one of the stranger rounds of the series, winning a thrifty with just five Classics.

G2 responded to that round loss with a mixed buy that included two Stingers, two pistols and one force-bought Vandal. It was an uneven purchase, but it held long enough to keep the map close. The second half stayed messy on both sides, with neither team building a lead that lasted more than a few rounds at a time.

That kind of match eventually comes down to a few high-leverage rounds, and G2 won them. BABYBAY and valyn came through with an unreal 2v5 to convert a crucial round, and G2 then claimed four of the final five rounds to close out Ascent 13-11 and finish the sweep.

trent leads the series as the bracket keeps breaking G2’s way

trent paced the lobby with 38 kills and a 1.28 rating across the series. Asuna and Timotino each finished with 36 kills for 100 Thieves, and the two duelists combined for 49 kills on Ascent. That was not enough to overcome G2’s late-round composure, especially once the economy became unstable and the map started swinging round by round.

After the match, BABYBAY pointed to the Shanghai crowd as part of G2’s energy. “I mean, I think we earn the crowd buff, you know?” he said. “We play our best. We have big moments, and we share those moments with the crowd.”

G2 head coach JoshRT said the familiarity between Americas teams changes the feel of playoff matches. “Regional opponents are always crazier. There’s a lot more mind games,” he said. He added that the team knows these opponents well because they practice with and against each other so often, and said the bracket feels right with more Americas teams in it.

100 Thieves coach d00mbr0s said G2’s pacing made the series difficult to solve. He described G2 as being “on — for obvious reasons — a little bit of relaxation and roll,” and said the team’s slower timing and personal plays created problems for 100 Thieves throughout the map. He also said G2 changed things up enough to make his team uncomfortable, especially on attack.

The bracket now sends G2 into an upper semifinal against the winner of Vitality versus Nongshim RedForce. 100 Thieves will drop to the lower bracket and face the loser of that match in Lower Round 1. Another Lower Round 1 matchup will feature Paper Rex against T1.

For G2, the sweep adds to a run that has already included a win over Team Liquid earlier in the event and keeps the team in the upper half of the playoff field with room to move further. The two maps also showed different sides of the roster: control of early rounds on Abyss, then the ability to win scrappy late sequences on Ascent when the game opened up.

That balance has been enough to keep G2 moving through Shanghai without dropping a map in playoffs so far. 100 Thieves, meanwhile, leaves the match with its first loss since early August and with a lower-bracket path still in front of it.