Nongshim RedForce outpaces Gentle Mates in 2-0 Masters debut

Nongshim RedForce Nongshim RedForce Korea Rank #1 Xross Jeonghwan (정환) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) defeated Gentle Mates Gentle Mates Europe Rank #7 starxo Patryk Kopczynski bipo Taranvir Singh marteen Martin Pátek GLYPH Conner Garcia Minny Patrik Hušek 2-0 in their first match on the international stage to conclude the first day of the Masters Santiago playoffs.

The series saw a collision between two less experienced teams with impressive records behind them as the Pacific Kickoff winners faced off against an M8 that went undefeated in the Swiss stage.

In the end, M8 made the maps close as Haven and Corrode both ended 13-10, but Nongshim's signature aggression, spearheaded by Dambi 's unmatched Neon prowess, proved too much for them to handle.

Both teams came into Haven undefeated with similar Neon-Yoru compositions; the only differences were Nongshim's Omen and Killjoy versus M8's Astra and Cypher. A well-constructed fake in the pistol into a marteen 4K in the bonus gave M8 a 4-0 start. After taking a timeout, Nongshim fought their way back in, going up 7-5 at halftime off the back of aggressive pushes around the map.

From there, Dambi and Ivy paved the way forward. Dambi extended Nongshim's lead to 9-5 with a 3K in the pistol and a 1v3 in the next round to deny the full eco attempt, while Ivy pulled off a 4K 1v2 in the final round to take the map 13-10.

marteen continued to put up worldbeater numbers with a 28/18/6 KDA, a server-high 1.67 rating, and a 5-0 FK/FD record, but it wasn't enough for his team to take the win. On the Nongshim side, Ivy ended with an impressive 24/13/3 KDA and a 1.43 rating.

Going over to Nongshim's pick of Corrode, M8 brought out an unusual composition with marteen on Phoenix and Minny on KAY/O.

Nongshim won the first pistol, but M8 responded with a Stinger force buy to take another early lead at 4-1. Once again, a timeout enabled Nongshim to equalize the score as consecutive B pushes and holds brought them back to 4-4; this time, however, it was M8 with the 7-5 lead in the half after some successful B hits and a 1v2 from GLYPH in round 11.

The second half was an all-out brawl. After dropping the pistol, Nongshim converted the eco with two Bucky purchases as Dambi both made space and collected kills. The Korean squad rode the momentum to 10-8 until a 2v5 thrifty from starxo and GLYPH shattered it to bring it to 10-10.

In the final hour, Dambi and Ivy again came alive, with Ivy winning a 1v1 over GLYPH and Dambi taking over the last two rounds with wild Judge multikills to take Nongshim to a 13-10 win.

Francis on Yoru racked up the most kills in the map with a 23 while Ivy topped the series with 46. Dambi's fearlessness and impact were undeniable as the Neon player ended the series with 41 kills and an unbelievable 11-2 FK/FD.

With this win, Nongshim presses onwards in the upper bracket and will next play on Monday, March 9 against the winner of All Gamers versus G2 Esports. Gentle Mates, down to one life, will await the loser in the lower bracket on Sunday.