NRG, Liquid, MIBR go 1-0 in StarLadder Major Berlin New Legends stage
The first day of the New Legends stage of the StarLadder Berlin Major has come to an end, seeing NRG, Liquid, and MIBR all pick up wins in their opening matches.
NRG were the first to net a victory, narrowly edging out a 16-14 win on Dust2 over Renegades to kick off the day. A back-and-forth battle between the sides led to a 10-5 half in favor of NRG to open the map, with Renegades mustering a comeback effort following the side swap. Although Renegades proved to be the superior team with rifles, three lost rounds to an ecoing NRG led to the team stumbling at the last hurdle, allowing for Ethan "Ethan" Arnold to help guide his team to victory with a 1.34 rating.
NRGRenegades| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
24 - 19 | +5 | 84.1 | 73.3% | 1.34 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
20 - 17 | +3 | 71.5 | 70.0% | 1.07 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
22 - 22 | +0 | 76.6 | 73.3% | 1.03 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
16 - 16 | +0 | 51.3 | 73.3% | 0.92 |
 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
14 - 22 | -8 | 66.8 | 73.3% | 0.89 |
| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
26 - 16 | +10 | 88.1 | 73.3% | 1.35 |
| Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas |
22 - 21 | +1 | 88.0 | 76.7% | 1.17 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
17 - 21 | -4 | 71.2 | 70.0% | 1.00 |
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
18 - 20 | -2 | 63.4 | 60.0% | 0.86 |
 Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai |
12 - 18 | -6 | 40.7 | 66.7% | 0.69 |
Liquid were next up to bat as they took on one of the hotter prospects from the New Challengers stage in the form of CR4ZY. Mirage was the battleground between the two sides, with Liquid kicking off the map on the offense. A stellar individual effort from Nemanja "nexa" Isaković allowed for the Serbian side to secure themselves a narrow 8-7 lead at halftime. Once Liquid moved over to the CT-side however, they were in cruise control, clinically closing out the map as they gave up just a single round on the road to a 16-9 finish.
LiquidCR4ZY| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
23 - 13 | +10 | 93.8 | 80.0% | 1.45 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
23 - 15 | +8 | 88.9 | 68.0% | 1.43 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
20 - 13 | +7 | 80.8 | 80.0% | 1.40 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
14 - 16 | -2 | 76.4 | 76.0% | 1.07 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
14 - 15 | -1 | 60.2 | 80.0% | 1.01 |
| CR4ZY |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković |
22 - 21 | +1 | 99.5 | 76.0% | 1.17 |
 Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač |
14 - 17 | -3 | 59.5 | 60.0% | 0.82 |
 Rokas 'EspiranTo' Milasauskas |
14 - 22 | -8 | 70.0 | 64.0% | 0.79 |
 Otto 'ottoNd' Sihvo |
13 - 17 | -4 | 44.0 | 56.0% | 0.75 |
| Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić |
8 - 17 | -9 | 43.8 | 56.0% | 0.59 |
The final matchup of the day saw a battle of stand-ins as a Wilton "zews" Prado-toting MIBR went up against NiP, who themselves had Maikil "Golden" Selim in tow in place of Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzalez Zamora. A 9-6 scoreline on the CT-side of Dust2 gave MIBR a solid edge at halftime, with Epitacio "TACO" de Melo leading the way for the Brazilian side.
Two rounds at the start of the second half allowed for MIBR to further extend their lead, but NiP were quick to answer back as they won six of the ensuing seven rounds to close the gap and tie up the match at 12-12. MIBR broke through NiP's defenses with a B site hit with a semi-buy, allowing for them to regain control and close out the map with a final trio of rounds for a 16-12 victory over the Swedes.
MIBRNinjas in Pyjamas| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
27 - 15 | +12 | 91.7 | 67.9% | 1.44 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
16 - 20 | -4 | 77.3 | 71.4% | 1.01 |
| Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles |
18 - 20 | -2 | 72.0 | 67.9% | 0.95 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
16 - 17 | -1 | 58.7 | 67.9% | 0.93 |
| Wilton 'zews' Prado |
15 - 18 | -3 | 57.0 | 53.6% | 0.77 |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner |
23 - 17 | +6 | 87.2 | 75.0% | 1.24 |
| Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson |
19 - 17 | +2 | 79.5 | 64.3% | 1.11 |
| Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund |
20 - 20 | +0 | 67.6 | 64.3% | 0.95 |
| Maikil 'Golden' Selim |
18 - 18 | +0 | 70.2 | 60.7% | 0.91 |
| Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg |
10 - 20 | -10 | 51.1 | 53.6% | 0.62 |
Day two will feature a clash between Liquid and NRG in the opening round of the 1-0 pool. The complete matchups, with times in EDT, are as follows:
| 0-1 Round | |
Renegades -vs-  AVANGAR |
6:00 AM |
 Natus Vincere -vs- DreamEaters |
7:15 AM |
| NiP -vs- CR4ZY |
8:30 AM |
 North -vs-  mousesports |
9:45 AM |
| 1-0 Round | |
| Liquid -vs- NRG |
11:00 AM |
FaZe -vs-  Vitality |
12:15 PM |
| ENCE -vs- MIBR |
1:30 PM |
| Astralis -vs- G2 |
2:45 PM |
