NRG move on to New Legends Stage over TYLOO as Brehze shines

NRG sealed their pass to the New Legends Stage with a 3-0 record after winning 2-0 against TYLOO, 16-14 on Inferno and 16-13 on Mirage.

The match to move on to the next round between NRG and TYLOO kicked off with the North American team planting the bomb on Inferno’s B site and defending it in a 2vs2 to take the first round. Up 3-0, Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov kept his team rolling with a 1vs2 afterplant clutch with the AWP on 2 health points. Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold then had another 1vs2 low-HP AWP clutch, this time on the A site, making it 5-0. TYLOO were finally able to get on the board in the seventh round, and followed it up twice to reduce NRG’s lead to half, 6-3. They also reduced the American squad’s economy. The game then became a brawl, and included several rounds with HaoWen "⁠somebody⁠" Xu’s antics on Banana with the AWP making NRG’s life impossible, and TYLOO locked it down every time at the end of it, going on to win nine in a row to turn it around, 9-6.

A five-man push down mid by NRG paid dividends in the pistol round, as a huge triple by Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte tipped the scales in their favour. NRG then took the reins of the half early on, winning the first couple gun rounds and reclaimed the lead, 11-9, but a forcebuy on A which included an AWP kill with collateral in a 2vs3 brought it back within one. The brawl continued, and both teams traded rounds, with heroics coming out from the star players on each time, particularly Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand and Brehze.

Late in the map, with 13-13 on the scoreboard, it was TYLOO who had the economic advantage, Rounds were once again traded, and it looked like the Chinese-Indonesian team were going to get ahead striking B in a 4vs4, but two frags from the solo-holding Ethan gave match point to his team. NRG then followed it up with a massacre on A, defending the site and closing the first map out, 16-14.

NRG won their third pistol round in a row defending the B site on Mirage, and followed it up to take an early 5-0. It was finally after an early play on B that TYLOO were able to break past the American side’s defenses. Once again, Brehze came out big with an AUG taking down three to reset the Asian side, but a triple with the desert eagle by Kevin "⁠xccurate⁠" Susanto kept his team in contention. The following round it was somebody’s turn to steal the round with four frags, three with the AUG and one with the AWP. It was finally NRG, though, that were able to seal the half with a big 10-5 lead.

TYLOO were finally able to win a pistol round defending the A site thanks to a full house by newcomers YuLun "⁠Summer⁠" Cai and YuanZhang "⁠Attacker⁠" Sheng, but the match quickly reverted to being in NRG’s control, as they took the first gun round and started to run away with it. The Chinese team were unable to respond as NRG took match point following five rounds won in a row. With their backs against the wall, TYLOO finally got back into the game, but it was too little too late, as NRG sealed the deal 16-13.