iBUYPOWER Invitational Day 2: Potential NRG dissolves Liquid
The second day of iBUYPOWER's spring invitational began with NRG facing off against Spencer "Hiko" Martin's Rogue. Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte helped his team through the series, with Rogue taking the first map in overtime to fall rather short on Nuke and Mirage.
NRGRogue| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
76 - 50 | +26 | 91.3 | 82.1% | 1.40 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
66 - 50 | +16 | 89.1 | 76.2% | 1.28 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
66 - 49 | +17 | 79.9 | 77.4% | 1.25 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
56 - 49 | +7 | 78.7 | 73.8% | 1.13 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
38 - 42 | -4 | 53.8 | 72.6% | 0.95 |
| Rogue |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter 'SicK' Mims |
58 - 61 | -3 | 86.1 | 72.6% | 1.04 |
| Daniel 'vice' Kim |
49 - 58 | -9 | 67.4 | 67.9% | 0.94 |
| Spencer 'Hiko' Martin |
50 - 53 | -3 | 66.5 | 65.5% | 0.93 |
| Anthony 'gMd' Guimond |
44 - 62 | -18 | 59.8 | 67.9% | 0.82 |
 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller |
36 - 68 | -32 | 52.2 | 48.8% | 0.63 |
Liquid also saw a close first map in their match against Torqued, where the latter team seemed to have the first map locked down at 15-14 on Cobblestone, and had forced Liquid onto pistols. Sloppy play from Torqued allowed Liquid to carry the map into overtime, and gave Liquid the opening to adjust their play and take Cobblestone for their own.
Torqued's map pick of Inferno was far less competitive — Liquid's well-drilled T side laid waste to Torqued's defensive setups, and in the end granted Liquid a quick 16-2 victory over the MDL frontrunners.
LiquidTorqued| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
51 - 32 | +19 | 97.5 | 86.8% | 1.61 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
42 - 29 | +13 | 78.3 | 81.1% | 1.26 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
41 - 30 | +11 | 83.9 | 77.4% | 1.25 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
40 - 32 | +8 | 91.3 | 75.5% | 1.24 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
42 - 33 | +9 | 77.5 | 79.2% | 1.22 |
| Torqued |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt 'Pollo' Wilson |
35 - 43 | -8 | 78.9 | 66.0% | 1.01 |
| Joshua 'steel' Nissan |
36 - 42 | -6 | 68.4 | 52.8% | 0.92 |
| Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
35 - 43 | -8 | 67.4 | 60.4% | 0.87 |
| Braxton 'swag' Pierce |
28 - 42 | -14 | 57.8 | 56.6% | 0.73 |
| Keven 'AZK' Lariviere |
22 - 46 | -24 | 52.2 | 64.2% | 0.56 |
The grand final matchup saw NRG taking on Liquid on Overpass, Nuke, and Train — the last of which wasn't played due to Brehze and Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov powering their team forward to a 2-0 victory.
CeRq proved to be a crucial piece in NRG's game plan, helping to shut down Liquid's trio of fraggers in Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, Keith "NAF" Markovic, and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken.
CeRq ended the series having won 14 of the 21 duels he took against EliGE, claimed 11 of the 16 duels he took against NAF, and also contributed to keeping Twistzz out of play in 10 of their 15 duels.
NRGLiquid| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
49 - 32 | +17 | 88.9 | 78.8% | 1.33 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
40 - 34 | +6 | 89.0 | 76.9% | 1.28 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
40 - 33 | +7 | 81.5 | 73.1% | 1.13 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
33 - 30 | +3 | 68.0 | 75.0% | 1.10 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
26 - 31 | -5 | 61.8 | 71.2% | 0.95 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
32 - 37 | -5 | 77.1 | 65.4% | 1.02 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
33 - 35 | -2 | 75.8 | 61.5% | 0.96 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
33 - 42 | -9 | 70.7 | 57.7% | 0.89 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
31 - 39 | -8 | 61.0 | 73.1% | 0.86 |
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
30 - 35 | -5 | 56.8 | 63.5% | 0.83 |
NRG's victory gives hope of another team to keep an eye on for North American fans, who have had few teams to look to aside from Cloud9 and Liquid ever since the Misfits roster disbanded towards the end of January.
One thing that remains to be proven is how this NRG roster performs on LAN — the core of the roster last attended ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals back in December, falling flat in group play to OpTic, SK, and Misfits. The team has impressed online ever since, leading to NAF taking note of their performance difference on Twitter shortly after their match.
The final standings for iBUPOWER's 2018 Spring Invitational are as follows:
1. NRG - $10,000
2. 
Liquid - $4,000
3-4. Rogue - $1,000
3-4. Torqued - $1,000
5-8. Luminosity
5-8. compLexity
5-8. Splyce
5-8. Dignitas
