NRG and FURIA to clash for spot in IEM Katowice New Challengers stage
The third day of the Americas Minor came to a close earlier today, seeing the first round of playoffs matches completed as NRG and FURIA earned themselves spots in the upper bracket final. The two losers of the upper bracket semifinal matchups, Envy and INTZ, remain in the tournament, and will clash in the lower bracket to determine which team will live to fight another day.
The first semifinal match of the day saw NRG take down Envy 2-0 (16-11 Overpass, 16-9 Mirage), with Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov helping to power his team through to the upper bracket finals with a 1.59 series rating while averaging 91 damage per round over the two maps.
On Overpass, CeRq was contested by Josh "jdm64" Marzano, who ended the series with 29 kills while averaging 108 damage per round. jdm64's contributions weren't enough however, with Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte combining with CeRq to help NRG net themselves ten of the first eleven rounds on their T side. Envy battled back at the end of the half with an AWP ace by jdm64 in the final round of their CT side, carrying the momentum into their T side with an eight round streak to tie up the match at 10-10.
Ethan "nahtE" Arnold helped NRG reclaim the lead with a deagle triple kill, allowing his team to fight back for control and eventually close out the map, granting Envy just one last round in the process for a 16-11 victory.
Envy's pick of Mirage began with NRG once again in control early on with a pistol round victory before Envy managed to get themselves on the board, tying up the match at 2-2. A 1vs1 victory by Brehze helped NRG further extend their lead to 4-2, with Envy replying back for one of their own before CeRq seized control and propelled NRG to take the remaining eight rounds of the half for a 12-3 scoreline.
Although Envy kept themselves competitive with four rounds off the back of a pistol round victory in the second half, they were unable to stave off NRG for long as CeRq and co. fought back in a 3vs5 to reclaim control of the proceedings, eventually closing out the map 16-9 to earn their spot in the upper bracket finals.
NRGEnvy| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
50 - 24 | +26 | 91.3 | 86.5% | 1.59 |
 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
37 - 28 | +9 | 78.9 | 78.8% | 1.28 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
41 - 32 | +9 | 86.3 | 75.0% | 1.27 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
31 - 25 | +6 | 65.4 | 78.8% | 1.14 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
33 - 27 | +6 | 70.1 | 76.9% | 1.13 |
| Envy |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
42 - 35 | +7 | 79.6 | 69.2% | 1.18 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
33 - 36 | -3 | 64.5 | 57.7% | 0.89 |
| Taylor 'Drone' Johnson |
23 - 37 | -14 | 52.2 | 63.5% | 0.72 |
| Stephen 'reltuC' Cutler |
20 - 41 | -21 | 54.5 | 61.5% | 0.57 |
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
18 - 43 | -25 | 52.7 | 44.2% | 0.50 |
The Brazilian sides of INTZ and FURIA clashed in the second semifinal matchup of the day, with FURIA reverse-sweeping the series 2-1 (8-16 Train, 16-9 Mirage, 16-7 Inferno) to advance to the upper bracket finals.
INTZ's pick of Train kicked off the series, with Vito "kNgV-" Giuseppe's side getting off to a 3-0 start. FURIA were able to steal back the lead on their CT side with four rounds of their own, but quickly found themselves locked out of the half as INTZ rallied back for seven rounds straight, granting FURIA just one last round at the end of the half for a 10-5 scoreline in the favor of INTZ.
A second pistol round victory allowed for INTZ to further extend their lead to 13-5, with kNgV- and co. swiftly closing out the map 16-8 after resetting FURIA's economy after their first gun round win.
The situation looked grim for FURIA on their own map pick of Mirage as INTZ continued to maintain control, starting the map with a 5-0 lead on their CT side as kNgV- continued to pick FURIA apart. Kaike "kscerato" Cerato and Rinaldo "ableJ" Moda Junior finally combined to fight off INTZ's oppression, taking three rounds for FURIA before resetting INTZ's economy to claim a 9-6 lead at the half.
Another trio of rounds went FURIA's way with a win in the second half pistol round. INTZ attempted to reclaim the lead by snagging two rounds of their own, but a back-and-forth battle saw FURIA emerge victorious to take control of the economy, allowing for them to close out their own map pick 16-9 and take the series to the deciding map of Inferno.
This time, it was FURIA who got off on the right foot at the start of the map, grabbing themselves a 3-0 lead before INTZ won a round with pistols to begin fighting back. FURIA eventually lost the lead at 4-5, but were quick to regain control by securing five of the remaining six rounds for a 9-6 lead at the half.
kscerato and co. continued in their winning ways with another pistol round victory in the second half, working their way up to a 12-6 lead before INTZ were able to get themselves on the board on their CT side. A prompt economic reset by FURIA quickly crushed INTZ's hopes, with FURIA taking four straight rounds to secure themselves a map win 16-7.
FURIAINTZ| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
64 - 41 | +23 | 88.6 | 83.3% | 1.36 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
47 - 50 | -3 | 79.9 | 70.8% | 1.08 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
49 - 45 | +4 | 70.3 | 73.6% | 1.03 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
45 - 46 | -1 | 69.9 | 69.4% | 0.99 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
42 - 47 | -5 | 69.3 | 66.7% | 0.95 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
50 - 48 | +2 | 76.8 | 73.6% | 1.10 |
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
49 - 47 | +2 | 69.5 | 70.8% | 1.08 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
40 - 52 | -12 | 73.4 | 72.2% | 0.98 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
48 - 50 | -2 | 74.5 | 62.5% | 0.97 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
42 - 51 | -9 | 64.1 | 65.3% | 0.86 |
With these wins, NRG and FURIA have advanced to the upper bracket finals of the Americas Minor, where they will clash to determine which Americas team will be the first to earn a spot in the IEM Katowice New Challengers stage.
Envy and INTZ have both dropped into the lower bracket, with their matchup determining which team will remain in the tournament and play the loser of NRG/FURIA in the consolidation final for the second slot in the New Challengers stage. The loser of that final will play against North, Winstrike, and the third place team from the Asia Minor for two final slots in the New Challengers stage.
The schedule for the upper bracket and lower bracket finals are as follows:
| Friday, January 25th | ||
| 11:15 | Envy vs. INTZ |
BO3 |
| 14:45 | FURIA vs. NRG |
BO3 |
