FUT emerges victorious in 2-1 nailbiter over NRG

FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #9 s0pp Efe Tur xeus Doğan Gözgen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam sociablEE Volkan Yonal defeated NRG NRG North America Rank #2 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold 2-1 in the first 1-1 match of the Masters London Swiss stage, seizing their place in playoffs and sending the champions home in the bottom four.

All three maps were decided by razor-thin margins. NRG won Lotus 13-11, while FUT won Haven 14-12 and just barely repelled a potential 12-5 comeback on Fracture, closing it out 13-11.

FUT opened Lotus with a 6-2 lead on their attack off of multiple man disadvantage round wins, which was a common theme for both teams over the course of the series. NRG rallied in the latter stages of the half with convincing shutdowns in A and B, capping it off 6-6 after brawk picked up two 3Ks with his trusty Odin.

The rest of the map was a neck-and-neck race, with NRG's methodical working of the map being tested against FUT's stalwart holds. An Omen ultimate into the enemy spawn by keiko proved to be the difference-maker; the hometown hero found three kills to take it to 12-11 before NRG closed it out 13-11. keiko finished the map at the top of the board with 21 kills and a 1.46 rating.

Haven was absolute chaos. Individuals from both teams constantly pulled off clutches and multikills, ranging from a skuba 4K in round three to a KROSTALY 1v2 in round six to an Ethan 4K in round eight. xeus paved the way forward as Waylay all the while, racking up 16 of his 26 kills in a 7-5 attack half for FUT.

The trend of individual heroics proceeded into the second half, starting with a keiko 1v2 in round 15. s0pp , however, stole the show with a Blade Storm 4K in an eco round to bring it to 10-10.

NRG was the first to hit map point after an eco of their own took it to 12-11. FUT, still unrelenting, managed to force and win overtime, converting a low buy for their twelfth round, winning a 3v5 postplant for their thirteenth, and closing it out 14-12.

Fracture was the final map. After a 7-5 first half that included an impressive 1v2 retake from sociablEE , FUT began to run away with it, snowballing all the way to 12-5. xeus was unstoppable, standing strong with sharp aim to farm postplant multikills.

Never to be counted out, NRG took a timeout and started the long climb back; FUT suddenly could no longer find a way into the bombsites as NRG held fast to both sites six times in a row. It was only in their last chance in regulation that FUT finally broke through, storming the B site to win it 13-11. xeus had a statement series, racking up a server-high 66 kills and 235 ACS.

With this win, the Turkish squad continues to make a name for themselves as all three EMEA representatives will take to the global playoff stage in their home region.