?Santos e-Sports had a shaky start and lost against SWS Gaming (0-2) in a very close series that finished with 13-16 on Inferno and 14-16 on Ancient. However, Santos found traction on Monday, when they swept Stars Horizon (2-0) with 19-15 on Vertigo and 16-3 on Inferno.

Asterys Gaming have managed the exact same record in their first two outings, with a 0-2 defeat against SWS and a 2-0 sweep of Stars. Like Santos, Asterys produced close series against SWS last week and were dominant in their win against Stars.

Based on those results, it’s tough to say which team is in better shape, and it wouldn’t be too far from the truth to say that these rosters are relatively equal talent-wise. Asterys won this match 2-0 in October, but Santos have since improved and have been playing well enough of late for us to believe they can force a close series on Thursday.

Keyd Stars are not as strong as they once were, but their fourth-place finish at BLAST Rising LATAM 2021 showed there is still some talent in this team. En route to the semi-finals, Keyd won against SWS Gaming (twice), Sharks Esports and nearly eliminated Boca Juniors.

Isurus are nowhere near their peak level from mid-2019 but have been rapidly improving since the roster rebuild in October. Currently ranked no.63 in the world, Isurus are the eighth-strongest team from the region and enter this tournament in excellent form.

Keyd last met with Isurus in November, when they won 16-11. However, Isurus have since played 13 fixtures and lost only three – all against LATAM’s fourth-highest rated team, 9z Team. Keyd Stars might have won last time out, but Isurus look solid heading into this bout and should be able to close it out in two maps.