ESL One New York gains NRG to complete team list
NRG have qualified for yet another LAN with their victory over compLexity in the grand finals of the ESL One New York Closed Qualifier. They are joined by Gambit, who qualified through the European Closed Qualifier earlier in the day by beating North 3-2, with North coming from the upper bracket.
NRG's final match saw them take on compLexity in a best-of-five series, with Damian "daps" Steele's side coming into the match with a map advantage due to coming from the upper bracket.
The series began on Mirage, where Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov demonstrated his AWPing prowess against compLexity. NRG won the first pistol round to grant themselves the standard 3-0 lead, with Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and co. attempting to even the score by securing five of the ensuing six rounds. It was here that CeRq truly came to life for NRG, finding a number of frags for his side.
CeRq found only five opening frags in the 35 rounds of play for the map — an abnormally small number for an AWPer who put up such a star performance. CeRq's performance in this match was even more impressive due to his ability to get his team back into rounds by finding AWP multikills. This was especially true on the T side, where NRG fell off initially following a 10-5 CT half performance and CeRq came through to keep his team competitive.
NRG's lead slipped to grant compLexity firm control of the map, with stanislaw's side finding eight rounds in a row to put themselves back in the lead at 13-10. CeRq continued finding frags for NRG to bring his side to 14 rounds, but compLexity were able to seize match point first and throw NRG's economy into jeopardy. The team managed to claw back into overtime, where CeRq's AWP once again reigned supreme to ensure NRG the map win 19-16.
CeRq was similarly dominant on Inferno, the second map in the series as NRG now sat up 2-0 with their default win. Despite losing the pistol round NRG were able to flip the tables, taking the ensuing four rounds for themselves. compLexity fought back for the lead, but much like on Mirage NRG put a halt to the comeback and snared the lead back into their control.
The score almost even at the half, seeing the teams split 8-7 going into the second half. compLexity's pistol round victory saw stanislaw and co. work their way up to a 10-8 scoreline, and a first gun round victory allowed the team to extend their lead to 13-8, putting a third map in touching distance. CeRq once again came through for NRG to regain the lead, with his team closing out the map 16-14 after a full thirty rounds of play.
NRGComplexity| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
67 - 41 | +26 | 99.3 | 72.3% | 1.49 |
 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
48 - 44 | +4 | 74.0 | 72.3% | 1.07 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
39 - 43 | -4 | 65.6 | 81.5% | 1.05 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
41 - 43 | -2 | 76.4 | 69.2% | 1.03 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
27 - 41 | -14 | 54.6 | 73.8% | 0.82 |
| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan |
44 - 39 | +5 | 68.6 | 73.8% | 1.13 |
 Rory 'dephh' Jackson |
52 - 45 | +7 | 88.2 | 63.1% | 1.12 |
| Jaccob 'yay' Whiteaker |
46 - 49 | -3 | 84.3 | 72.3% | 1.07 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
40 - 41 | -1 | 69.1 | 72.3% | 1.04 |
| Bradley 'ANDROID' Fodor |
29 - 49 | -20 | 44.0 | 61.5% | 0.72 |
NRG and Gambit qualifying for ESL One New York 2018 completes the team list for the event, which looks as follows:
 FaZe |
 Fnatic |
 G2 |
 Liquid |
| mousesports |
 Natus Vincere |
 Gambit |
NRG |
ESL One New York is set to kick off on September 26, and will run till September 30th where the best-of-five grand final will be played in the Barclays Center in Brookyln. NRG are next set to compete at the Americas Minor from July 7th-11th, where they'll play for one of two slots at the FACEIT Major in London after qualifying for the LAN earlier in the week.
