After a decisive match,
NRG Esports
NRG Esports
North America
Rank #7
FiNESSE
Pujan Mehta
s0m
Sam Oh
crashies
Austin Roberts
Victor
Victor Wong
Ethan
Ethan Arnold
beat
ZETA DIVISION
ZETA DIVISION
Japan
Rank #10
Laz
Ushida Koji
yuran
Yushin Hato
hiroronn
Hiroki Yanai
Dep
Yuma Hashimoto
SugarZ3ro
Shota Watanabe
with a redeeming 2-0.
Many predicted the two teams would face each other at Champions, but in the Group B decider instead of its elimination game. NRG once again found themselves struggling in their opener against
Bilibili Gaming
Bilibili Gaming
China
Rank #6
B3ar
Yang Zhanxiong (杨瞻雄)
whzy
Wang Haozhe (王昊哲)
Levius
Lu Yinzhong (卢胤中)
nephh
Marcus Tan
Flex1n
Lo Rui (罗瑞)
Knight
Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔)
Yosemite
Wang Lei (王磊)
, while ZETA faced tournament favorites
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #2
hiro
Emirhan Kat
Derke
Nikita Sirmitev
Boaster
Jake Howlett
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
in theirs, both games ending 2-0.
This match was also a bit of a grudge match for ZETA, since the NRG core, previously on
OpTic Gaming
OpTic Gaming
Inactive
, were the team to ultimately halt ZETA's miracle run during last year's Masters: Reykjavík.
Bind began with teams trading thrifty rounds, however once rifles came into play ZETA took the lead by the end of the half. ZETA's double duelist team comp appeared to be tailor-made for an attack, with heavy post-plant potential. However they found no success, with the Dep - TENNN duelist pairing dying first a combined eight times, while only getting the first elimination three times. Laz pushed ZETA onto map point with the first ace of the series, but NRG brought the map to overtime soon after and ultimately won 15-13.
Laz aces to reach map pointMeanwhile, NRG also started their map pick in dominant fashion, taking an early 4-0 lead that was only halted by another ZETA ace. NRG's Harbor-Viper comp proved to be too much for ZETA, who attempted crunches, retakes, and early aggression to no avail.
Dep grants ZETA their only round on HavenThe attack was more of the same. NRG won both rounds to close out the map 13-1. Round 14 did come down to a 1v1, but Victor managed to close it out in the end.
Overall, the gameplan and adaptation from NRG as a whole was stellar, but the star of the show was certainly ardiis . He got 27 kills on the first map, 19 eliminations and a 1.77 rating on his signature Jett in the second map, as well as a massive 14 first kills across both maps.
The victory set NRG up for a rematch against Bilibili Gaming to decide which team advances to playoffs.
“I think we just overcomplicated things against Bilibili,” ardiis said after their victory. “I think we just play simple, play what we know. We're better players, a better team.”
But ardiis warned Bilibili that NRG won't be repeating those mistakes. “You guys are going home, 100%.”