The second day of Red Bull Home Ground's main event began with the first best-of-three series between reigning world champions NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold and dark horse ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #9 Absol Kazuki Fujinoki SyouTa Shota Aoki SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe eKo Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡) Xdll Yuto Mizomori , which ended with Japan's representatives faltering on their Cinderella run and descending to the lower final.

Yesterday saw ZETA manhandle FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Alfajer Emir Ali Beder on Bind, only dropping one round the entire map. NRG took that as a sign to remove the map immediately and force a Corrode after ZETA took away their Abyss.

Both teams hit the ground running into map one, with pivotal, fast fights dictating the pace of the game early on. Every round in the first half was a back-and-forth and came down to which team emerged from the initial fights in better condition.

After NRG broke through with a 6-3 lead, a timeout from XQQ attempted to prevent a huge deficit ahead of the second half. However, bonkar was able to use the tactical pause to order his troops to perform a fast B hit, which ended in yet another round on the board for NRG and a comfortable 9-3 lead.

A successful pistol for ZETA momentarily breathed life back into the squad, a brief moment of hope that was snatched away after mada completely shut down an A execute. From there, Japan's dark horse could not steady itself, allowing NRG to take away Corrode 13-6 off of a skuba 4k.

skuba's heroics allowed NRG to close out Corrode.

Down but not out, ZETA entered its map pick of Haven on the back foot. Yesterday, the team began its run of upsets by taking out G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf on the same map, a feat not many could boast.

NRG, however, was not G2. The squad easily stole the pistol away and converted it into a 6-0 lead before ZETA could come to its senses with a round of their own. In a similar scenario to Corrode, NRG stayed in the lead 8-4 by halftime, ready to close out the series.

ZETA seemed all but defeated after its opponents picked up the final pistol, and went out with a whimper following a bonus win from NRG. A final timeout was called at 12-4, but the damage was done, and the round deficit was simply too much for New York's dark horse to close as it knelt 13-6.

To the surprise of no one, mada and Ethan led as NRG's top performers, posting up at a 1.48 and 1.22 rating respectively. The rest of the team followed behind modestly, still performing above average and closing out rounds when needed. ZETA were unable to enter the game outside of round heroics, which were needed often to stave off the onslaught of floods and utility.

Now, ZETA will rematch G2 in the lower final to fight for survival, as NRG take a well-earned rest ahead of the grand finals.