Keiko and NRG claim Santiago playoff spot with 2-0 over Liquid

In a battle against his former team, keiko has led NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold to a 2-0 win over Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #8 purp0 Semyon Borchev wayne Wayne Chang MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin kamo Kamil Frąckowiak to claim its spot in the VCT Masters Santiago playoffs.

After having an arguably quieter Kickoff campaign, the match was Keiko's third, finishing with the highest rating for NRG, a stretch that includes a win over Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #1 WsLeo Huang Pinwei (黄品维) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) NoMan James Man Rarga Arthur Churyumov happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) , a loss to Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov , and now an elimination win over Team Liquid, who he suited up for in 2024 and 2025.

The series played out on Liquid's pick of Breeze and NRG's Abyss. NRG capped off a comeback to win Breeze 13-11, then dominated Abyss 13-4.

From the map ban, the approach of both teams was clearly to eliminate the other's stronger maps. TL banned away NRG's Haven, while NRG banned TL's Bind. Liquid's pick of Breeze promised to be a map on which both teams could play their best. With both squads more than capable of running double-Duelist comps, NRG opted for Keiko on Jett and mada on Yoru, while Liquid went with MiniBoo on Neon and kamo on Yoru.

Early on, the map was back-and-forth, with a slight tilt leaning in favor of the attacking team. Liquid wrapped up its attack half with a 7-5 advantage, but an NRG pistol round win meant the score was tied soon after. Liquid won four of the next five rounds, reaching 11 and threatening to go on a run to close out its map pick. At that point though, the gears started to click into place for NRG.

Clean executions onto the A site, highlighted by splits through mid, and fast-paced hits, were a curveball in the strike zone for Team Liquid, who just couldn't get a read on the reigning world champs. NRG went on a 5-0 run to close out the map, with the former Liquid man the star of the show to end it all.

In banning Haven, Liquid was forced to face at least one of its weaker maps in Pearl or Abyss. By banning NRG's stronger Corrode, Liquid was forced to face both potentially. While Abyss had been a weaker map for NRG in the past, the team has been undefeated on the map since the Champions Paris grand final following an adjustment to its current comp.

Early on, it looked as though Liquid could put up a fight with its unique comp. The comp had Yoru and Neon as a double-Duelist pairing with nAts on Astra, wayne on Harbor, and purp0 on Skye. After losing the opening pistol and ensuing anti-eco, Liquid went on a run of three straight rounds, but the luck dwindled there.

NRG played a proactive defense, using its double drone setup with brawk on Sova and Ethan on Tejo to take space and get the read on any fakes that Liquid tried to sell. Proactive play saw mada take free space in mid and force Liquid onto one side of the map, ultimately leading to a crunch. A run of five straight rounds gave NRG real momentum, leading to an 8-4 halftime advantage.

On attack, things flowed smoothly for NRG. A complete understanding of the map, and all five players tapped in and shooting made the team seemingly unstoppable.

NRG won its second pistol of the map to start its attack half, and the snowball effect started to roll quickly. Liquid could do little to slow down its opponents. A 5-0 run saw NRG close out the map and ride off into the sunset on Abyss, while Liquid was set to fly home.

Keiko was far and away the standout in a stellar NRG performance. All three players with 30 or more kills in the series were on NRG, while Keiko was the only player with more than 40 with a series-high 43. The Brit also went a near-perfect 7-1 in first duels, opening up fighting lanes for his team. In the losing effort, wayne had a team-high 0.89 rating, while kamo's 28 kills were the most for his side.

While NRG moves on to the playoffs as the third team to survive the Swiss Stage, Team Liquid ends its Masters Santiago run with a 1-2 record in Swiss, finishing 9th-10th.