FURIA barely survive at EPL over NRG

Both teams suffered from awful CT sides throughout the series, but FURIA did just enough to survive.

FURIA have ensured they stay alive at ESL Pro League by scraping a 2-1 win over NRG, eliminating the North American side from the competition.

On all three maps FURIA took significant leads by exposing NRG's poor CT sides, only to suffer from equally poor CT sides themselves to see their leads whittled away.

Ultimately it was individual performances that bailed FURIA out on Train and Mirage, Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato being the difference-maker on the former and Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros doing the leg-work on the latter.

skullz bails FURIA out

FURIA have come into 2025 not with a roar but with a whimper, reaching IEM Katowice Stage 2 with wins over Wildcard and Imperial Valkyries only to be eliminated immediately following losses to Natus Vincere and Astralis.

They haven't fared much better at ESL Pro League, beating Lynn Vision in their opener but falling to SAW and in a domestic derby against MIBR for a trip to the 1-2 pool.

skullz finds vital 3K to rescue a 2v3

Three times in this series they collapsed with big leads they built up on their T sides, but on Train and Mirage they did just enough to get over the line. skullz deserves special credit for his contribution, he won a vital 2v3 for his team at 10-11 on Mirage, and finished the deciding map with a stellar 32 frags in regulation.

nitr0's excellent calling not enough to make up for NRG's weak CT sides

NRG have been dealt a rough hand in Stockholm, getting matched against three out of the four highest-ranked teams (by HLTV) in Stage 1.

They couldn't get the job done late into a three-map series against GamerLegion, rebounded with a win over Nemiga, and then struggled against Eternal Fire to end up in the 1-2 pool.

nitr0 Tec-9 1v4

The North American side will be left ruing their poor starts in this series, their CT side letting them down time and time again. In each and every map some strong T-side calling by Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella cut the deficit, but they couldn't quite complete their comebacks on Train or Mirage.

Regardless of their elimination, NRG acquitted themselves reasonably well at EPL considering the calibre of opposition they played, and can head into IEM Dallas later this season in good spirits.