Previewing the RMR | What to expect from Imperial v. NRG

Imperial has looked unstoppable in South America for the last several months as they've won the CBCS INvitiational 2023, qualified for ESL Pro League Season 19, won the ACE South American Masters Spring 2024 to make the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, and actually qualified for the PGL Copenhagen Major Americas RMR.

NRG, on the other hand, have not been the team that many thought was promised. Individually, players are performing to their expectations, but the results have not showed up on paper. The team has lost countless online qualifiers in recent months, making it more concerning as to when the team will earn their spots at future LANs. Maybe it's all different once the team is together, but with no bootcamp and minimal preparation for the biggest tournament of their time together, who knows what could happen.

It's the Imperial March

This is not Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's Imperial, it's not firmly under Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo's control. This is a team on the comeback, having seen their spot in the world rankings tumble from 15th all the way down to 56th, just to slowly make it all the way back to 39th as of today. In that come up, the organization has found a new groove as they look to make it to the first Counter-Strike 2 Major.

• felps 1.31 Impact rating is best on his team

• HEN1 has returned to being the dominant AWPer he is

• noway is proving to be the right choice

NRG's second chance

They didn't even properly qualify and this is their chance at making it to a Major. NRG has had some inconsistency, but as a whole the squad has been on the path towards improvement, even if they continue to let chances slip away. Maybe all this team needs is a LAN to get their groove together, who knows?

• Brezhe is back in a big way - 1.15 Rating, 117 Impact, 78.3 ADR.

• HexT is fully unleashed and easily among NA's best players at the moment

• Can daps be the IGL that NRG needs and beat the "go back to coaching" heckling?

Previous Matchups

This NRG team will have no history with Imperial or most of the South American teams at the RMR as they are a brand new squad.

Likely Vetoes

Imperial have the power to choose whether they start the pick/ban process, so it's likely they will make NRG go first, granting Imperial the ability to choose the starting side of the map.

• NRG ban Nuke

• NRG ban Mirage

• Imperial ban Ancient

• Imperial ban Anubis

• Imperial ban Vertigo

• NRG ban Inferno

• Overpass will be played

Imperial and NRG will face off in Monterrey on March 1st.