Comeback kids, 9z, school the Professor
With an average age of 27, the Imperial lineup is not just one of the oldest at the Americas RMR but also one of the most experienced, with veterans Gabriel "Fallen" Toledo and Fernando "fer" Alvarenga on their side. Their 1-0 opponents, in contrast, are one of the youngest teams in attendance with an average age of just 20 and are severely out-experienced by their Brazillian counterparts.
With the CT advantage, the old heads of Imperial strolled their way to a 4-0 start, keeping the 9z team awfully modest with Fallen, in particular, getting off to a strong start. Franco "dgt" Garcia continued his form from 9z's opening match with an impressive 1v2 to win the team's first round, whilst his fellow top performer from the opening round, Lucas "nqz" Soares, struggled, unable to find a single kill in the first 8 rounds.
With 'the professor' locking down the extremities of the map with his AWP, sitting on 13-2 after 9 rounds, 9z could not find a way to break through the Imperial defence. A rare bomb plant and nqz's first kill of the map helped 9z overwhelm the A bombsite on a half buy to find a second round. The 9z team made a big comeback in their first match and they certainly couldn't be counted out, knowing that they would have the advantage of CT side in the second half.
The first half continued to be a struggle for the 9z team, the passive nature of the experienced Imperial made it extremely hard for the South American mix to find themselves any openings. It ended up being a 13-2 half in favour of Imperial, and there really was a gulf in class between the two teams on the day.
9z winning the pistol gifted them the window of opportunity to get back into the game, winning out the bonus round flawlessly. A simple retake against the force buy and a gimmicky vent boost to find an opener in the first full gun round allowed them to put two more rounds on the board. A loss to a pistol door rush left 9z at a 14-7 deficit. The same score they were left to battle back from in their opening match.
9z managed the fight back, some stellar gimmick plays and CT side aggression allowed the young side to bring it back to 14-15. Particularly impressive was once again Nicolás "buda" Kramer who has only been on the 9z team for three weeks, and now he was dragging his team kicking and screaming back into the match against the Brazilian legends.
Despite Fallen putting on a vintage display, with 23 kills in the first half alone, it was not enough to secure the map in regulation. 9z for the second time at the tournament had shown immense fortitude to come back from 7-14 down to force overtime yet again. The achievement is massive bearing in mind the youthfulness of the side, the mental strength at a young age is an incredibly positive sign for the team.
In overtime a clever double ramp and passive outside setup allowed 9z to take the first round with ease. In comparison to their first match, where 9z relied heavy on plays from nqz and dgt, the fragging started to be shared around after switching to the CT side. Their star AWPer had recovered after his terrible start and buda and dgt continued to farm.
After trading rounds back and forth 9z found themselves on match point, Fallen's 35 kills weren't enough to stop the young guns. A failed door pop left the two teams needing overtime two to decide the winner. 9z claimed the first round and needed one more round to really apply pressure on the pre-match favourites Imperial.
They got the extra round and with the opening round on the CT half the momentum was once again with 9z, with buda's addition really shining through. Three weeks into his tenure, he is dropping 30+ kills against legends of the game at the biggest tournament of his young career. A massive play by Maximiliano "max" Gonzalez outside secured 9z the massive upset and completed the comeback.
If day one has taught us anything, it's to NEVER count out this group of talented and tough youngsters.
9zImperial| 9z |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicolás 'buda' Kramer |
32 - 25 | +7 | 73.2 | 69.0% | 1.18 |
 Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez |
33 - 36 | -3 | 92.7 | 66.7% | 1.13 |
| Franco 'dgt' Garcia |
27 - 22 | +5 | 77.2 | 76.2% | 1.12 |
 David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado |
26 - 24 | +2 | 70.5 | 78.6% | 1.03 |
 Lucas 'nqz' Soares |
20 - 25 | -5 | 51.5 | 69.0% | 0.88 |
| Imperial |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
36 - 25 | +11 | 91.6 | 73.8% | 1.32 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
31 - 27 | +4 | 79.3 | 71.4% | 1.15 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
24 - 25 | -1 | 55.9 | 71.4% | 0.96 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
18 - 31 | -13 | 69.3 | 76.2% | 0.92 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
23 - 30 | -7 | 58.5 | 61.9% | 0.77 |
