100 Thieves has won VALORANT First Strike North America after defeating Sentinels in the semifinals and TSM in the finals.  Sentinels and TSM were the top 2 teams in the region heading into the tournament, and 100 Thieves has established itself as a top 3 team right alongside them following impressive back-to-back upsets to win the day.

100 Thieves' roster has only been together for two months following a full rebuild around Spencer "Hiko" Martin. Team Liquid's Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella retired from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to begin his VALORANT career with 100 Thieves on August 14. Former CS:GO pro Joshua "steel" Nissan was brought on as the in-game leader a few weeks later, and the Immortals duo of Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk and Quan "dicey" Tran was acquired to complete the new starting roster. 

Despite 100 Thieves coming into both the semifinals and the finals as underdogs, the team possessed confidence internally. In an interview with Inven Global following the semifinals, steel spoke about defeating Sentinels and his thoughts heading into the finals against TSM. 

"Going to the match, we were pretty confident that we could take it," steel explained. "We felt like we were better prepared than them and we had already beaten them once before in the closed qualifier. So we're just like, 'Let's just go in and do this.'"

100 Thieves' confidence only built after besting Sentinels, but even prior to the start of the event, the rebuilt Thieves lineup was confident in its ability to defeat TSM. "We've beaten them in practice, we beat them in the qualifier to make it to where we are right now," said steel. "So at the back of our minds, we know we're capable of beating them." One day later, steel and co would prove his words true and crown 100 Thieves the new king of North American VALORANT. Capable, indeed.

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