NRG and Renegades live to fight for another day in Kiev
NRG and Renegades were both in 1-2 elimination matches today in Kiev, Ukraine at the StarSeries i-League Season 5 Finals. With NRG facing off against HellRaisers, Renegades had the slightly harder task of defeating Virtus.pro. Both teams are looking to come back from a 0-2 record at the start of the event.
NRG's game opened up on Overpass, where the American side absolutely obliterated HellRaisers 16-3. With Ethan "nahtE" Arnold picking up a 1.91 rating and 125.8 ADR on the opening map, it definitely looked unlikely for HellRaisers to get back into the tie, especially having only secured rounds in the first half.
The second map was much closer, albeit still resulting in a win for NRG with them always ahead in the match. This time it was Jacob "FugLy" Medina leading the charge for his team, keeping them aimed on the goal, securing Inferno with a 16-13 win.
NRGHellRaisers| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
43 - 25 | +18 | 104.1 | 85.4% | 1.57 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
45 - 23 | +22 | 86.8 | 89.6% | 1.44 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
37 - 22 | +15 | 77.4 | 83.3% | 1.41 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
29 - 24 | +5 | 67.5 | 83.3% | 1.14 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
28 - 30 | -2 | 59.2 | 85.4% | 1.12 |
| HellRaisers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Issa 'ISSAA' Murad |
32 - 33 | -1 | 70.3 | 66.7% | 0.94 |
 Vladyslav 'bondik' Nechyporchuk |
26 - 37 | -11 | 64.6 | 68.8% | 0.81 |
| Kirill 'ANGE1' Karasiow |
22 - 39 | -17 | 63.4 | 58.3% | 0.71 |
 Bence 'DeadFox' Böröcz |
21 - 35 | -14 | 57.0 | 56.2% | 0.69 |
 Özgür 'woxic' Eker |
23 - 38 | -15 | 49.2 | 58.3% | 0.68 |
Renegades had to deal with much more of a slog to take down Virtus.pro. Taking the first map Train 16-7, the Polish team's pick, many would have expected the Australians to wrap it up in a neat 2-0, with Aaron "AZR" Ward and Noah "Nifty" Francis bringing the big guns out for his team.
But Michał "MICHU" Müller's display on the map meant Virtus.pro were far from out. Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski warmed himself up to have a colossal 1.47 rated performance on Inferno to even the game back out, with the Australians ultimately looking lost on the map.
Cache saw a closer battle, but with Karlo "USTILO" Pivac being an out-and-out top performer on the map. Being a much closer 16-12 win for Renegades, they had to constantly edge Virtus.pro away from taking the lead as they nearly evened the game out in the second half. From there they managed a swift end to the map, partially thanks to a 1v2 clutch from Justin "jks" Savage in the final round.
RenegadesVirtus.pro| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
63 - 52 | +11 | 87.3 | 72.0% | 1.22 |
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
58 - 50 | +8 | 80.5 | 65.3% | 1.14 |
| Justin 'jks' Savage |
46 - 46 | +0 | 70.7 | 69.3% | 1.04 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
50 - 53 | -3 | 77.1 | 73.3% | 1.03 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
40 - 47 | -7 | 58.2 | 69.3% | 0.93 |
| Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Michał 'MICHU' Müller |
60 - 54 | +6 | 88.2 | 69.3% | 1.18 |
| Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski |
51 - 49 | +2 | 73.5 | 70.7% | 1.09 |
| Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski |
50 - 47 | +3 | 69.5 | 77.3% | 1.08 |
| Paweł 'byali' Bieliński |
47 - 55 | -8 | 71.5 | 64.0% | 0.95 |
| Filip 'NEO' Kubski |
40 - 53 | -13 | 69.5 | 66.7% | 0.89 |
This means NRG and Renegades are still in the competition tomorrow, when they're set to take on the final round of games. The draw is scheduled to be after the remaining games are finished, which includes Liquid who are next up to face AVANGAR in their 2-1 game.
