NRG edge past Renegades in Legends stage at Berlin Major
NRG had a slow start to the Challengers stage of the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major, and has narrowly avoided the same result in the first round of the Legends stage.
The mixed squad survived a valiant effort from Renegades on Dust 2 to take a 16-14 victory in the stage’s first round of play. It took a heroic
four-kill effort
during a 3v5 that boiled down to a 1v1 situation from Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte to secure the map win.
NRG’s slow start at the beginnings of stages hasn’t hampered their ability to move through tournament brackets. After a shocking 15-6 start to their first match of the tournament against DreamEaters, NRG battled back but couldn’t quite pull out the victory, losing 19-17 in overtime. NRG was able to recover and qualify for the Legends stage, but nearly faltered at the beginning here as well.
Justin “jks” Savage of Renegades led the way in the server with 26 kills, followed closely by NRG’s Ethan “Ethan” Arnold with 24. NRG’s young sniping star Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov managed to pull even with a 16-16 K/D.
NRG to meet Team Liquid at Berlin Major
The next matchup for NRG will be perhaps their toughest of the entire tournament. They’ll take on juggernaut North American squad Team Liquid in the next round.
The road ahead for NRG will be one of the most difficult in the tournament. Apart from facing off against the consensus best team in the world in the second round, should they lose they’ll still need two more wins against a strong remaining field to secure their advance into the Champions stage.
So far, the Berlin Major has gone largely as expected with just a few hiccups along the way. Complexity was knocked out in the Challenger stage, but even that was only a minor upset. Strong teams like NRG and Vitality took early losses but rallied later in the stage to move on.
Should NRG lose to Team Liquid, they’ll need to rally yet again to make the next stage. Team Liquid are the undisputed best team in the world, and one loss to the world champions shouldn’t hurt NRG’s psyche overly much as they move forward. Should NRG rally just as they did in the Challengers stage, they’ll have a good chance at making the top eight and the coveted Champions stage.
Read Also
News
The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027
Ben Boland
The 2026 Esports Nations Cup has been suspended until 2027. The Esports Foundation announced the delay on August 18, citing ongoing regional uncertainty. The inaugural competition was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comprising over 100 national teams and featuring 16 different games, including League of Legends. According to the Esports Foundation, this decision follows ongoing developments in the region and consultation with key stakeholders. Moving the event ...
Esports Betting
MLBB is the most-watched game from the EWC, and it’s hard to see another game beating it
Michael Hassall
The Esports World Cup 2026 has officially passed its midway point and viewership figures for the tournament have surpassed many expectations so far, as per Esports Charts. The viewership tracking site revealed new statistics for the event on Aug. 6, showcasing just how many games had set new records in viewership, including one name leading the way in views: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. MLBB leads the viewership charts with the ...
Counter-Strike
CS2 at the EWC 2026 Preview: Odds, Details, Predictions and More
Owen Harsono
Top-tier Counter-Strike action returns at the Esports World Cup, as 32 of the best teams will take the trip to Paris to compete for millions of dollars. If you’re looking to watch the event, here’s everything you need to know and which teams to keep an eye on. The Esports World Cup is one of the largest CS2 events if we’re looking at prize pools, as $2,000,000 will be distributed ...
News
Opinion: Is Esports Tracing the Same Evolutionary Path As Traditional Sports?
Cecilia Ciocchetti
What happens when an industry compresses centuries of sporting evolution into less than a decade or two? Communities become global audiences overnight, rivalries spread through social media within minutes, and tournaments turn into entertainment products faster than ever before. And so what took traditional sports centuries to build has taken esports a fraction of that. From local communities to sold out arenas, and from informal matches to Olympic-style events, the ...
Counter-Strike
BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-final predictions: who’s making it to the grand final?
Owen Harsono
The top four teams we’re seeing at the BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-finals are far from what anyone would expect before the tournament began, but here we are. We’re only three matches from crowning a winner, so let’s take a look at the best BLAST Bounty semi-final predictions for both upcoming matchups. Starting the semi-finals off is a banger of a series between FaZe Clan and Team Spirit, which is one ...
Counter-Strike
We Ranked The Top 5 Most Hated CS2 Maps
Owen Harsono
If you’re a Counter-Strike player, you probably have that one map you always ban first in every Premier game — and you're not alone as almost everyone has one too. Below, we’ll take a look at the most hated maps in Counter-Strike history and explain why they are disliked by the community at large. Anubis is one of the newer releases in the Counter-Strike 2 map pool, but it has ...
Counter-Strike
The Top 10 Best Clutches in Counter-Strike History Ranked
Owen Harsono
Pulling off an impossible clutch is one of the greatest hits of dopamine any Counter-Strike 2 player can ever feel. However, pulling them off at the highest level can be a little tricky since everyone is so coordinated. That’s exactly why mind-blowing clutches are remembered forever. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at the 10 best clutches in Counter-Strike history. We’re opening the list with former mousesports ...
