NRG scrape past G2 in Montpellier; fnatic knock out Grayhound

NRG beat G2 in a four-hour marathon to assure themselves of a playoff appearance at the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, while fnatic eliminated Grayhound in just two maps.

The first upper bracket series in Montpellier, featuring an NRG side playing their final tournament with Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele, kicked off on Train, where G2 had a promising start on the CT side as they took the opening five rounds of the game without too much effort. Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold then single-handedly ended that streak with a quad-kill, but the home side refused to take their foot off the pedal and grabbed a 13-2 lead.

NRG showed signs of improvement on the CT side and prevented their opponents from stringing rounds together. The pressure was starting to mount on G2, but the French team kept their composure and put the game to bed in the 27th round with a fast ramp push.

The French team got off to a flying start on Dust2 and won eight of the first nine rounds on their Terrorist side. NRG took control of proceedings after that and immediately countered any round that was won by G2, eventually cutting the deficit to a gap at 11-12.

G2 tightened up their defence and put together a string of rounds to hit match point, but they could not strike the finishing blow despite a vintage Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub performance. NRG dominated the latter stages of regulation to force overtime, in which they would win two rounds in both halves to seal a 19-17 victory and take the match to a third map.

The first half of Overpass was hotly-contested, with neither side able to stamp their authority on the game. Only one round separated the two teams at the break, but, after switching to the CT side, G2 ran away with the lead, with the scoreline blooming to a 13-9 advantage in their favour.

NRG came fighting back and took the lead at 15-14 but failed to convert their match point. The game continued to be a scrappy affair in overtime, with daps becoming an unlikely hero for the North Americans with a 1v3 clutch that set the team up for their second overtime victory of the series.

Meanwhile, fnatic and Grayhound fought for their tournament lives in the lower bracket of Group A. Dust2, the opening map, saw Grayhound cruise to an 11-4 lead on the back of a great half by Ollie "⁠DickStacy⁠" Tierney on the CT side, but things instantly changed once the teams switched sides.

Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson, who finished the first half with just one kill, woke up during the break and inspired fnatic to pull off the comeback with an impeccable CT performance, with the Swedes winning 12 rounds straight en route to a 16-11 finish.

The next map, Train, began with a dominant start by fnatic, who ran all over the Grayhound defence during the early stages of the game. The Australians found their footing at the midway point of the half, though, and won six of the final seven rounds as CT to take a narrow lead into the break.

After losing the second pistol round, fnatic hit back immediately and put together a string of rounds, bringing the scoreline to a 13-9 advantage. Grayhound still attempted a response and even found the equaliser, but a comeback was not on the cards as the Swedes bagged three in a row to close out the map.