Complexity, INTZ facing elimination; FURIA, NRG go 1-1 in StarLadder Major Berlin New Challengers stage
The first day of the StarLadder Berlin Major New Challengers stage has come to a close, leaving the teams from the Americas divided among the 1-1 and 0-2 Swiss pools.
NRG and DreamEaters were the first to clash in what was presumed by the majority of the community to be a one-sided affair, but the match on Overpass proved to be anything but. A slow start for Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and company saw them manage just one round out of the opening seven as the map got underway, with the team managing to claw back to a 5-10 scoreline at the end of their T-side to keep themselves competitive.
A pistol win following the side swap put NRG in position to begin a comeback effort, but an immediate reply by DreamEaters saw the CIS side cruise their way to match point as they took five rounds in a row for themselves. Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov and Ethan "Ethan" Arnold were unwilling to relent so easily however, helping NRG rally back for nine rounds straight to force overtime. There, the North Americans initially took a 2-1 half to steal away the lead for the first time, but were unable to close out the map as DreamEaters replied with three of their own to edge out the victory 19-17.
NRGDreamEaters| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
32 - 24 | +8 | 83.6 | 80.6% | 1.35 |
 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
28 - 22 | +6 | 85.3 | 75.0% | 1.22 |
 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
22 - 26 | -4 | 79.9 | 69.4% | 1.06 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
24 - 25 | -1 | 72.5 | 61.1% | 0.98 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
20 - 26 | -6 | 59.5 | 66.7% | 0.83 |
| DreamEaters |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Anton 'speed4k' Titov |
31 - 24 | +7 | 79.2 | 66.7% | 1.15 |
| Semyon 'kinqie' Lisitsyn |
22 - 28 | -6 | 85.9 | 72.2% | 1.05 |
| Igor 'Forester' Bezotecheskiy |
21 - 23 | -2 | 67.8 | 75.0% | 1.04 |
| Svyatoslav 'svyat' Dovbakh |
26 - 25 | +1 | 76.6 | 63.9% | 1.02 |
| Vladislav 'Krad' Kravchenko |
23 - 26 | -3 | 57.7 | 61.1% | 0.86 |
The Brazilians of INTZ fared far worse in their opening matchup against North, managing only a single round on the T-side of Train. The side swap also bore little fruit for Vito "kNgV-" Giuseppe's side, with the team taking just four final rounds before North sealed their fate with a 16-5 map win.
NorthINTZ| North |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicklas 'gade' Gade |
23 - 10 | +13 | 98.5 | 76.2% | 1.68 |
| Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye |
23 - 9 | +14 | 109.8 | 90.5% | 1.68 |
| Jakob 'JUGi' Hansen |
15 - 11 | +4 | 90.7 | 76.2% | 1.39 |
| Philip 'aizy' Aistrup |
16 - 11 | +5 | 76.0 | 90.5% | 1.21 |
| Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså |
10 - 10 | +0 | 52.1 | 76.2% | 0.90 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
16 - 15 | +1 | 63.3 | 57.1% | 0.99 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
9 - 16 | -7 | 60.8 | 57.1% | 0.75 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
10 - 18 | -8 | 57.5 | 42.9% | 0.62 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
6 - 19 | -13 | 58.7 | 47.6% | 0.50 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
9 - 19 | -10 | 43.0 | 38.1% | 0.44 |
The next match of the day to conclude saw FURIA make quick work of HellRaisers on Inferno, starting off with a dominant 11-4 defensive half. After switching sides, HellRaisers continued to struggle, only finding two more rounds before FURIA took the map 16-6.
FURIAHellRaisers| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
23 - 15 | +8 | 118.1 | 95.5% | 1.87 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
18 - 10 | +8 | 98.7 | 86.4% | 1.44 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
16 - 9 | +7 | 66.2 | 77.3% | 1.28 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
19 - 11 | +8 | 76.6 | 81.8% | 1.26 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
19 - 14 | +5 | 92.0 | 81.8% | 1.20 |
| HellRaisers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Žygimantas 'nukkye' Chmieliauskas |
16 - 19 | -3 | 71.4 | 63.6% | 0.95 |
 Kirill 'ANGE1' Karasiow |
12 - 20 | -8 | 69.5 | 54.5% | 0.76 |
 Issa 'ISSAA' Murad |
12 - 19 | -7 | 72.1 | 59.1% | 0.72 |
 Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný |
9 - 18 | -9 | 43.4 | 45.5% | 0.70 |
 Christian 'loWel' Garcia Antoran |
10 - 19 | -9 | 61.0 | 50.0% | 0.62 |
The fourth set of matches saw AVANGAR and Complexity clash on Inferno in one of the closer series of the day. Complexity started off on their CT-side by winning the pistol and ensuing eco round, with AVANGAR battling back to get on the board with three rounds of their own. The remainder of the half played out in a similar fashion, with the two squads continuing to trade rounds with Complexity ending the half up 8-7.
On their T-side, Complexity got off to a strong start as they won the first two rounds; however, Inferno quickly began to go south for Complexity as Timur "buster" Tulepov and co. steamed ahead, winning the next seven rounds in a row to go up 14-10. Complexity found three rounds after this, but AVANGAR managed to edge out the map 16-13.
AVANGARComplexity| AVANGAR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Timur 'buster' Tulepov |
29 - 19 | +10 | 95.6 | 79.3% | 1.58 |
| Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev |
27 - 21 | +6 | 102.6 | 79.3% | 1.39 |
| Dzhami 'Jame' Ali |
18 - 15 | +3 | 67.3 | 62.1% | 1.05 |
| Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev |
15 - 21 | -6 | 52.3 | 65.5% | 0.74 |
 Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev |
10 - 20 | -10 | 48.9 | 58.6% | 0.68 |
| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter 'SicK' Mims |
26 - 19 | +7 | 81.7 | 69.0% | 1.23 |
| Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan |
21 - 20 | +1 | 87.2 | 72.4% | 1.10 |
 Rory 'dephh' Jackson |
18 - 21 | -3 | 72.6 | 72.4% | 0.93 |
| Owen 'oBo' Schlatter |
18 - 20 | -2 | 67.2 | 55.2% | 0.80 |
 Ricardo 'Rickeh' Mulholland |
13 - 19 | -6 | 57.3 | 69.0% | 0.77 |
The fifth match of the day finally saw North America claim a win as NRG made quick work of TYLOO. Although NRG started Train trailing behind TYLOO, owing in part to a pistol round clutch by Hansel "BnTeT" Ferdinand, NRG quickly set a brisk pace, stringing rounds together to win the half 10-5. Following this, NRG only allowed TYLOO two more rounds before claiming Train 16-7.
NRGTYLOO| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
25 - 11 | +14 | 118.7 | 87.0% | 1.80 |
| Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
21 - 13 | +8 | 95.6 | 82.6% | 1.55 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
17 - 11 | +6 | 76.2 | 82.6% | 1.40 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
17 - 15 | +2 | 73.8 | 82.6% | 1.19 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
15 - 12 | +3 | 62.9 | 78.3% | 1.16 |
| TYLOO |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 YuanZhang 'Attacker' Sheng |
19 - 19 | +0 | 82.3 | 56.5% | 1.02 |
 Hansel 'BnTeT' Ferdinand |
12 - 15 | -3 | 57.0 | 60.9% | 0.81 |
 WingHei 'Freeman' Cheung |
12 - 20 | -8 | 66.0 | 60.9% | 0.70 |
| HaoWen 'somebody' Xu |
10 - 21 | -11 | 53.9 | 52.2% | 0.57 |
| YuLun 'Summer' Cai |
9 - 20 | -11 | 52.6 | 43.5% | 0.53 |
The sixth matchup of the day pitted the Brazilians of INTZ against Vitality with both teams hoping to bounce back from their first round losses. It seemed unthinkable that a team would get off to a worse start than INTZ did in their first matchup against North, where kNgV-'s side only claimed a single round in the first half. However, the Brazilians managed to outdo themselves, failing to win any rounds on the T-side of Mirage.
Despite starting the second half down 15-0, INTZ were able to mount a small comeback, winning nine rounds straight before buckling under the pressure of Vitality's T-side. Despite INTZ making the result appear respectable, Vitality's victory was never in doubt as they cruised to a 16-9 map win.
VitalityINTZ| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
26 - 14 | +12 | 104.4 | 88.0% | 1.79 |
| Alex 'ALEX' McMeekin |
17 - 15 | +2 | 78.8 | 80.0% | 1.22 |
| Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy |
14 - 13 | +1 | 74.0 | 76.0% | 1.11 |
| Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt |
19 - 15 | +4 | 65.2 | 64.0% | 1.07 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
14 - 13 | +1 | 69.0 | 68.0% | 0.99 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
24 - 18 | +6 | 99.4 | 76.0% | 1.35 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
14 - 19 | -5 | 56.6 | 56.0% | 0.79 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
13 - 17 | -4 | 58.4 | 56.0% | 0.74 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
10 - 19 | -9 | 52.0 | 52.0% | 0.68 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
9 - 17 | -8 | 40.8 | 48.0% | 0.65 |
The next round of matchups brought Complexity back for their second match of the day, this time against HellRaisers. The match took place on Inferno, where Complexity had suffered a close loss to AVANGAR and HellRaisers had found themselves decimated by Furia earlier in the day.
Despite their poor start to the day, HellRaisers showed that they just need the first match to warm-up, winning the first nine rounds on their T-side. Complexity were finally able to get on the board later in the half, but it was too little too late as they finished the first half down 3-12. Complexity looked ready to mount a comeback after they countered a pistol round victory from HellRaisers with a force-buy; however, they stumbled and lost to a full eco and HellRaisers were able to close out the map 16-5 as a result.
ComplexityHellRaisers| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricardo 'Rickeh' Mulholland |
12 - 13 | -1 | 79.9 | 66.7% | 0.96 |
| Rory 'dephh' Jackson |
12 - 15 | -3 | 70.4 | 61.9% | 0.92 |
| Owen 'oBo' Schlatter |
14 - 16 | -2 | 73.0 | 66.7% | 0.91 |
| Hunter 'SicK' Mims |
9 - 17 | -8 | 57.8 | 57.1% | 0.68 |
| Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan |
11 - 16 | -5 | 48.0 | 47.6% | 0.58 |
| HellRaisers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Žygimantas 'nukkye' Chmieliauskas |
23 - 12 | +11 | 104.6 | 90.5% | 1.71 |
| Christian 'loWel' Garcia Antoran |
18 - 8 | +10 | 92.4 | 90.5% | 1.58 |
| Kirill 'ANGE1' Karasiow |
16 - 13 | +3 | 96.3 | 71.4% | 1.42 |
| Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný |
13 - 10 | +3 | 70.4 | 71.4% | 1.21 |
| Issa 'ISSAA' Murad |
6 - 15 | -9 | 35.2 | 66.7% | 0.60 |
The final match of the day saw Furia try to grab their second win against CR4ZY on Train. The Brazilians got off to a slow start on the CT-side, losing the first pistol round, but an eco round victory got them on the board before CR4ZY would go on to take a 5-2 lead. Furia then managed to win another eco, using five deagles to secure the round, using the win to gain some momentum and close the half out with a 9-6 lead.
CR4ZY were able to use a second pistol round victory to take three rounds for themselves, evening the score at 9-9. Furia had a tough time finding T-side rounds, but were finally able get their second round of the half as CR4ZY stumbled against a mixed buy from the Brazilians, bringing the score to 13-11 in favor of CR4ZY. The Serbians remained resilient as they would go on to win the next three rounds though, closing out the game 16-11, sending Furia to the 1-1 pool.
FURIACR4ZY| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
18 - 20 | -2 | 68.1 | 63.0% | 0.97 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
14 - 20 | -6 | 67.1 | 51.9% | 0.89 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
17 - 22 | -5 | 68.9 | 63.0% | 0.80 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
11 - 20 | -9 | 56.2 | 74.1% | 0.77 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
14 - 19 | -5 | 49.0 | 44.4% | 0.68 |
| CR4ZY |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Otto 'ottoNd' Sihvo |
24 - 13 | +11 | 89.6 | 77.8% | 1.42 |
 Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković |
21 - 15 | +6 | 84.4 | 74.1% | 1.29 |
| Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić |
17 - 13 | +4 | 73.7 | 77.8% | 1.20 |
 Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač |
20 - 16 | +4 | 79.7 | 77.8% | 1.19 |
| Rokas 'EspiranTo' Milasauskas |
19 - 17 | +2 | 70.2 | 77.8% | 1.09 |
The matchups for the second day of the StarLadder Major Berlin New Challengers stage are as follows:
| 2-0 Round | |
G2 -vs-  mousesports |
9:30 AM |
| North -vs- CR4ZY |
12:45 PM |
| 1-1 Round | |
| NRG -vs- Broken inline Syman |
7:00 AM |
| Vitality -vs- DreamEaters |
7:00 AM |
| AVANGAR -vs- HellRaisers |
8:15 AM |
| FURIA -vs- forZe |
8:15 AM |
| 0-2 Round | |
| Complexity -vs- TYLOO |
9:30 AM |
| Grayhound -vs- INTZ |
12:45 PM |
The 0-2 elimination and 2-0 advancing matchups will play out as best-of-three series, while the remaining quartet of matches will continue to be best-of-one.
