NRG through to winners' final of Americas Minor over FURIA

NRG are through to the upper bracket final of the Americas Minor playoffs following a 2-0 victory against FURIA.

The semi-final series started on Train, where Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte kicked things off with a T-side pistol quad kill. A decisive pace in the ensuing four rounds allowed the offense a 5-0 lead, but thanks to Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo's triple kill in the sixth round, the snowball effect was halted. Instead, the Brazilian quintet developed momentum of their own, and through exceptional defensive play, as well as stunning triple kills from Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and VINI, were able to assume the lead at 6-5. The teams brawled in the remaining four rounds of the initial half, with NRG securing three, the latter courtesy of Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's triple kill.

Much like in the initial pistol, Brehze was the X-factor, dispatching three members of the offense in the second half's opening round. On the T side, FURIA were able to breach bombsites and ensure bomb plants, but post-plant situations consistently fell through for the Brazilians, leading to on-going difficulties. Off the back of these issues for their opponents, NRG flawlessly cruised to a 16-7 closure on Train after securing eight consecutive round victories on the defence.

FURIA commenced their map pick, Nuke, with a fruitful T-side pistol opening, followed by an immediate 3-0 lead. NRG put up their first digit on the first half with rifles in hand, and after a 3v2 post-plant fell through in round 5, went on to gradually grind out rounds to assume a 6-4 lead, highlighted by an AWP triple kill from Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov and three-man shutdown by stanislaw. After a consecutive loss streak, FURIA managed to claw an additional two rounds in the remainder of the half, concluding their T side with a 6-9 scoreline.

FURIA closed the round discrepancy off the back of a consecutive pistol victory, this time on the CT side. The Brazilians convincingly accrued rounds as NRG's offense experienced struggle when attempting to secure sites, but occasional victories allowed the North American squad to stay afloat. After going shoulder-in-shoulder with the defence, stanislaw and his men managed to deny FURIA a regulation victory, forcing Nuke into overtime.

The Brazilian squad secured a 2-1 initial OT half, with Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato ensuring a lead with a Krieg triple kill. NRG went on to retaliate in the final round of their T side, following up with further success upon switching sides, leading to an 18-18 stalemate. Overtime number two was a lot more convincing for NRG, as a flawless CT side performance was followed up with a single round exchange, closing the map and series on a 22-19 note.