NRG ekes out map three slugfest over BBL

NRG NRG North America Rank #1 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold narrowly defeated BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #1 Crewen Ali Eren Sargin Lar0k Yusuf Kaan Kanber Loita Utku Kart Rosé Eren Erzan lovers rock Umut Pekdoğan 2-1 in their first playoff match at Masters Santiago to continue their hunt for back-to-back trophies.

The rookie BBL lineup pushed the reigning champions to the limit. Both teams traded 13-6 wins on each other's map picks of Pearl and Abyss before brawling it out in an all-out 17-15 banger on Split.

The series kicked off on BBL's pick of Pearl, where they had a 2-0 record in EMEA Kickoff. NRG's unique double-drone style, however, proved too much for BBL to handle as NRG steamrolled on attack to a 9-3 lead, with two of BBL's three rounds coming from individual heroics. A second pistol for NRG secured an insurmountable 11-3 lead that they converted to a 13-6 win.

skuba topped the scoreboard as Astra with an outsized 22/6/14 KDA and 1.93 rating, only dying on his opponent's round wins. keiko trailed close behind in the fragging department with a 20/10/3 KDA.

Abyss was a mirror image of Pearl in many ways. Despite picking it and being undefeated on the map previously, NRG struggled to cope with BBL's especially aggressive attacking side. Lar0k was a menace on Waylay, racking up 16 of his 27 kills and six of his seven first kills on attack as he opened up the A site almost every round for a 9-3 half. A second pistol and a clean Lar0k 1v2 thrifty for BBL ensured for them a 13-6 win.

Split was a highlight reel. BBL started with a leg up on their defense, going 7-3 as lovers rock and Lar0k respectively leaned into the Operator and the Judge, in addition to Loita and lovers rock pulling off a 2v5 retake in round nine. A vital 2v3 from brawk and mada kept things from getting out of hand, punishing BBL's overheats to make the half 7-5.

BBL extended their lead to 10-5 with a second pistol and bonus but had difficulties on the rest of their attack. After a mada 4K thrifty, BBL found themselves stuck between getting picked apart and Mid and being unable to fend off NRG's clean retakes. However, just as it seemed that NRG was primed to win it out in regulation, Loita pulled off an unbelievable 1v2 clutch to force overtime.

Overtime was on a knife's edge. Both teams used their timeouts at 13-13, leaving the rest to the players. brawk and skuba denied BBL the win with an impossible 2v4 in round 28, but Loita and Crewen responded with the same in round 30 to draw to 15-15. Finally, NRG's experience and composure made the difference as they won two convincing rounds to close it out 17-15.

“When it gets that close, experience is everything, and trust in each other as well,” Ethan said in the post-match interview. “Eventually we would get two rounds.”

NRG now advances to an early rematch against 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 on Monday after a close loss to them in the Swiss stage. BBL will battle FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #5 nerve Michael Yerrow artzin Arthur Araujo eeiu Daniel Vucenovic koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio alym Torogul Baidyldaev tomorrow, with one of the first seeds destined to go home 0-2.