NRG headed to StarSeries i-League Season 5 Finals after defeating North
The first semifinal of the StarLadder i-League Season 5 Finals, held during the early hours in the US, saw NRG face North for the first place in the Grand Final.
The first map was Overpass, which saw NRG absolutely decimate their Danish opponents. Starting off on their T-side, they were constantly ahead of their opponents, preventing North from picking up more than one round at a time. An 11-4 half time score was extended to a 16-5 win, giving the team a strong, dominant start in the match. The win was achieved, in part, thanks to Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte reaching 27 kills and a 1.84 rating.
Next up was a much closer affair in Mirage. NRG had a good start in the first half, picking up the pistol round and pushing on to a 6-1 lead. The Danish side then turned it around, to take the remaining rounds of the first half to go 9-6 up themselves. The second half was a proper battle, with traded rounds galore, but it was Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså 27 kills and 1.27 rating helped his team eventually secure a 16-13 win to go to a decider.
So far Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov has been a key player in this match, as well as the playoffs in general. Inferno was more of the same. The first half of the map was a mess, after securing the pistol round NRG then went on to trade rounds with North, before the Danish team were the first to properly line up rounds. Eventually the two teams effectively drew the half, with NRG taking a narrow 8-7 lead. The second half was stronger, with CeRq's 1.45 rating helping NRG to secure a 16-9 win, taking the series 2-1.
NRGNorth| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
68 - 42 | +26 | 87.0 | 74.7% | 1.38 |
 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
57 - 43 | +14 | 93.6 | 76.0% | 1.31 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
57 - 46 | +11 | 89.0 | 66.7% | 1.21 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
44 - 49 | -5 | 64.7 | 74.7% | 0.98 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
37 - 45 | -8 | 59.9 | 74.7% | 0.94 |
| North |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Daniel 'mertz' Mertz |
52 - 50 | +2 | 69.8 | 66.7% | 1.03 |
| Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså |
56 - 55 | +1 | 79.6 | 60.0% | 1.02 |
| Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye |
51 - 52 | -1 | 76.0 | 69.3% | 1.00 |
| Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen |
38 - 56 | -18 | 58.4 | 65.3% | 0.79 |
| Philip 'aizy' Aistrup |
27 - 51 | -24 | 55.5 | 58.7% | 0.74 |
This result sees NRG through to the finals at 11am EDT, where they're set to face off against the winner of mousesports and Na`Vi in the second semifinal.
