NRG and Renegades advance to StarSeries qualifier finals
The semifinals for the StarSeries i-League Season 5 North American qualifier saw NRG and Renegades coming out on top in their respective matches, securing their spots in the finals to decide who will move on to the main event at the end of May.
The first match of the day saw NRG continuing their dominant performance that they've displayed so far in this qualifier. Their first map against Luminosity was all too short, as they claimed all but two rounds on their CT-side of Inferno. The North Americans claimed the last three rounds they needed as soon as they swapped over to their T-side after the half, ending the first map 16-2.
Cache began similarly to Inferno, with NRG claiming the bulk of the first eight rounds of their CT-side before Luminosity finally woke up. The Brazilians fought back well enough to end the half with a passible 6-9 scoreline for them as they transitioned to their CT-defense, but it would be all for naught, as NRG went on a tear, save one round, to end the series 16-7.
NRGLuminosity| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
44 - 13 | +31 | 95.7 | 87.8% | 1.79 |
 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
36 - 22 | +14 | 120.4 | 85.4% | 1.69 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
34 - 20 | +14 | 78.4 | 90.2% | 1.39 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
33 - 18 | +15 | 84.8 | 80.5% | 1.37 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
25 - 16 | +9 | 53.9 | 85.4% | 1.08 |
| Luminosity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' Gonçalves |
23 - 32 | -9 | 69.0 | 53.7% | 0.76 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
19 - 36 | -17 | 69.6 | 56.1% | 0.70 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
15 - 32 | -17 | 52.1 | 46.3% | 0.55 |
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
16 - 35 | -19 | 32.9 | 43.9% | 0.48 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
16 - 38 | -22 | 40.3 | 48.8% | 0.48 |
Renegades struggled much more in their pursuit for their place in the finals, as their series went the full three map distance. After losing the pistol round on their T-side, The Aussies quickly turned things around by converting five of their own. compLexity were able to pick-up three narrow rounds of their own shortly after, but Renegades would eventually end the half 9-6 after securing four more on their T-side. As if they had run out of gas, Renegades fell short the rest of Mirage, allowing compLexity to go on a rampage and close it out 16-13.
The second map of Cache began as anyones game, as both teams played a tit-for-tat the first half, each trading strings of two and three rounds at a time until the half ended 8-7 in favor of compLexity. While the latter half of the map was more of the same, it was Renegades who proved resilient, able to tie up the game 15-15 in the thirtieth round, taking it to overtime.
The series became nail-bitingly close as Renegades struggled to cling on to tournament life, by tying up the first overtime and bringing it to a second. They eventually mustered the perseverence needed to pull themselves back in the series, as they closed it out 22-20.
Renegades began the final map of Inferno on the right foot, claiming the pistol round on their CT-side, but compLexity clapped back with a force-buy in the second round that they would go on to convert into five more of their own. The Australians replied with seven consecutive rounds on their CT-side, closing out the half 8-7 in their favor.
While compLexity made a strong early half showing by claiming the pistol and subsequent three rounds that followed, once Renegades had their economy sorted, they ran away with the game by securing eight of nine rounds on their T-side, as well as the map and series, 16-12.
ComplexityRenegades| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradley 'ANDROID' Fodor |
77 - 64 | +13 | 90.5 | 72.7% | 1.24 |
 Rory 'dephh' Jackson |
71 - 75 | -4 | 78.5 | 68.7% | 1.07 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
56 - 61 | -5 | 57.8 | 64.6% | 0.93 |
| Jaccob 'yay' Whiteaker |
66 - 70 | -4 | 73.8 | 59.6% | 0.92 |
| Alec 'Slemmy' White |
42 - 67 | -25 | 54.0 | 60.6% | 0.77 |
| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
72 - 59 | +13 | 76.3 | 68.7% | 1.20 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
67 - 61 | +6 | 81.6 | 66.7% | 1.13 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
74 - 64 | +10 | 82.0 | 73.7% | 1.08 |
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
60 - 65 | -5 | 68.3 | 72.7% | 0.99 |
| Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
64 - 64 | +0 | 69.1 | 65.7% | 0.93 |
The two victors will now meet in the finals of the qualifier later today to decide who will solidify their spot in Kiev late next month.
