G2 takes down NRG 3-2 to earn grand final spot

G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf defeated NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold 3-2 in the lower final of the Americas Stage 1 playoffs.

The regional kings now extend their all-time head-to-head record over the world champions to a commanding 7-0 and book their tickets to the grand final tomorrow against the rookie upstarts in LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #4 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena . The winner will take home the Americas trophy and a bye to playoffs at Masters London.

Both teams held fast to their own map picks in the back-and-forth series. G2 won Lotus 13-8, NRG won Breeze 13-6, G2 took Pearl 13-7, NRG won Haven 13-10, and G2 came out on top on Ascent 13-10.

Starting on Lotus, both teams leaned into Viper-Vyse compositions, with the only difference being jawgemo on Raze versus mada on Neon. Although both teams had a solid record on the map, G2 were in control, opening with an 8-4 half on their attack off of a combination of patient defaults and pacier teamfights around each part of the map.

NRG won the second pistol to close the gap, but two crucial thrifty rounds that went the way of G2 in rounds 16 and 18 kept the momentum firmly on the side of G2 as they won out 13-8. BABYBAY was the top fragger with 20 kills and 271 ACS.

The first half of Breeze was a 6-6 deadlock. G2 held a 6-4 lead after a pistol and three separate man disadvantage postplants went their way, but an Ethan 1v2 in round 11 swung things back to par. From there, NRG proved to be the better team on the map in the second half, repeatedly finding first blood on the sites and winning seven rounds in a row to win Breeze 13-6.

The next map was Pearl, which pitted G2's Neon-Phoenix composition against NRG double-drone one. Starting on attack, NRG's heavy emphasis on Mid quickly backfired as they often found themselves running low on time or unable to repel G2's floods. Despite winning both pistol rounds, NRG only secured seven total across the whole map as G2 comfortably took the win. valyn and jawgemo stood out individually; the former ended with a 19/10/7 KDA and 272 ACS on Astra while the latter had a 20/11/7 KDA and 254 ACS on Neon.

Haven was on a knife's edge as the score drew even over and over, climbing from 3-3 to 6-6 to 9-9. Both sides fought for their fair share of advantages, with both teams winning ecos, NRG collecting both pistol rounds, and G2 scraping more man disadvantage wins with multiple 2v3 postplants and a 1v3 from valyn in round 19. In the end, NRG pulled through, winning the last four rounds to take the map 13-10. brawk finished the map with an impressive 22/13/5 KDA.

The final map of Ascent was a weaker map for both sides, with G2 having just lost 13-7 to LEVIATÁN yesterday. Playing the map for the first time since its return to the pool, NRG surprised with a Vyse-Sage composition with keiko on Jett and mada on Sage.

After giving up a few rounds on B due to individual errors, NRG rallied, utilizing the stall capabilities of their composition to execute patient retakes for a 7-5 half. However, the attack side proved to be too challenging; G2 converted a bonus round and an aggressive thrifty in round 20 to win the decider 13-10. trent was the top rated player with a 1.43 rating and 23 kills, while leaf narrowly outfragged him with 24 kills and a server-high 317 ACS.

NRG bows out of the tournament in third place and will assume the Americas third seed in the London Swiss stage. G2 will return to the stage tomorrow, on the hunt for their fourth VCT Americas title.