NRG take down HellRaisers 2-0; through to grand final in Malta

NRG have secured their place in the SuperNova Malta grand final after defeating HellRaisers 2-0 (16-4 Overpass, 16-9 Mirage) in the semis.

The best-of-three semi-final match started on Overpass with the North Americans playing on the CT-side in the first half. NRG got off to a smooth start, winning the pistol and the following anti-ecos, before Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov secured their fourth with a sleek quad-kill on the retake.

In the fifth round, Kyrylo "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow responded with a quad-kill of his own to earn HellRaisers' first of the half, with their second round going their way after forcing the CTs to save, making it 2-5. NRG then bounced back displaying a stout CT-side, winning the next seven out of nine rounds over HellRaisers’ deflated T-side for an 11-4 score at halftime.

NRG carried their momentum into the second half, securing the T pistol with Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold & Jacob "⁠FugLy⁠" Medina putting in most of the work, which paved the way for a hasty half as HellRaisers were unable to make their mark, resulting in Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele and his men earning the 16-4 map victory.

The series then moved onto Mirage. HellRaisers got off to a blooming 4-0 start on their map pick as Terrorists, until NRG stood tall on the A-site to earn their first of the half. Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad & co. charged back to claim the sixth round, but NRG swiftly found their footing to stamp three in a row, reducing their deficit by a single round (4-5).

A lopsided round from NRG cut their chances to tie the game, with HellRaisers keeping their distance as the two sides went back and forth, until NRG held the line to pick up three in a row to secure the first half with an 8-7 score.

The second half kicked off with Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte tapping down three with the Glock-18 to secure the T pistol, which set up the following anti-ecos to go NRG's way to make it 11-7. HellRaisers put an end to the streak with their first of the half, but the spree didn't last long as NRG marched on, collecting the next five out of six rounds, winning it 16-9 to advance to the grand final with a 2-0 series victory.