NRG & FURIA top groups, advance to playoffs

NRG and FURIA have advanced to the playoffs after topping their groups, beating Bravado (2-0; Inferno 16-8, Train 16-7) and Envy (2-0; Inferno 16-14, Mirage 16-9), respectively.

Group A's winners match between NRG and Bravado began on Inferno, where the former side got off to a great start with a pistol round victory. The South African team picked up the first gunround, but the favorites were quickly back on the horse with three in a row. The North American team continued with the convincing first half and only let go of two more rounds on the offense, leading 12-3 before switching over to the CT side.

Rhys "⁠Fadey⁠" Armstrong denied Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte a 1v3 attempt to kick off the second half while NRG replied with the following forcebuy, but Bravado answered with one of their own to take control of the economy. They were too far behind to come back, however, with NRG's forcebuy victory at 13-7 on the back of Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov's 1v2 clutch all but securing the map. In the end, Bravado could only add one more forcebuy win to their tally before Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele's team clinched the opening map 16-8.

Train followed with NRG once again picking up the initial pistol round, this time starting on the CT side, and used it to gain a 5-1 lead early on. The South Africans got on their feet with Fadey and Ruan "⁠ELUSIVE⁠" van Wyk each picking up doubles to set up a three-round streak, but that was nearly all they could do in the half, as Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold led NRG to a 10-5 scoreline.

Fadey and Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek grabbed doubles in the second pistol to close the gap to 10-7, but they could not defend from an in-form Brehze exploiting their flanks from ivy, with the 20-year-old adding a total of 12 kills to his name over the next four rounds. That allowed NRG to quickly close things out at 16-7, 2-0.

Group B's winners' series also started on Inferno, where Envy went on a six-round streak to start things off with a hefty lead on the defense. However, once FURIA got on the board with their first, they didn't let the Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen-infused team string any more rounds together, securing seven out of the last nine rounds.

With the pistol going the Brazilians' way as well, they even grabbed their first lead in the match at 9-8, but Envy controlled the first gunrounds to go on yet another six-round streak, retaking the lead and putting themselves in a favorable position at 14-9. However, it wasn't over just yet, as FURIA started closing the gap with a forcebuy win as well as a couple of tough retakes. Envy could not find an answer to the defense, as the Brazilian team grabbed the first map at 16-14.

Mirage was chosen by Envy as the second map and they were also the ones to get an early lead once again with 4-0 on the T side. FURIA fought back, equalizing the score at 5-5, and the two teams kept going back and forth until it was 8-7 in favor of the Brazilian side.

Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos & co. added a pistol round on top to extend their lead to 11-7, while karrigan's squad came out on top of the first two gunrounds. Individual plays from Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato and Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan, each of whom grabbed a couple of multikills, helped FURIA reach match point at 15-9 and quickly close it out in the following round.