OUR FINAL STAND FOR PLAYOFFS

It all comes down to the final week of the VCT Americas League season for NRG VALORANT. 

A true do or die matchup exists for the team after last week’s unfortunate 1-2 defeat at the hands of Evil Geniuses. Starting off on Ascent, NRG opened the series with a pistol-round win, but went on to lose 10-straight rounds immediately placing them on the back foot. Despite best efforts, Map 1 went the way of EG by a 13-6 scoreline.

Bouncing back on Map 2 Lotus proved to be a marathon and not a sprint, with a whopping eight lead changes throughout the game in a true see-saw battle to the end with the score deadlocked at 13 apiece. It was once against the Victor Raze combo that proved to be our shining light, scoring 30 kills en-route to a 16-14 victory to force the decider on Sunset. 

In what proved to be another intense matchup of runs from both teams, the true breakthrough on the decider map 3 came in the final two rounds with the game tied 11-11, where EG were able to gain man-up advantages through trading kills and ultimately spoiling the attacking side of NRG. A 13-11 final on Sunset scored the series for EG, moving NRG to a 3-2 record overall in the VCT Americas League. 

Despite the loss, NRG were able to win 5 of 6 pistol rounds in the series, a spot that has often proved challenging for the team in week’s past. Additionally, the team can still qualify for the VCT Americas League Playoffs by winning their match against 100 Thieves this Saturday, with other matches around us also factoring into our playoff qualification path. Stay tuned to NRG’s social channels for the latest updates, including our matchday highlights live from Los Angeles.

So for one final time in the regular season, NRGFam, we need you NOW more than ever! Tune into the VCT Americas Twitch channel (or our W Streamer s0m’s Watch Party) THIS Saturday at 2 PM PT to cheer on the team as we take on 100 Thieves. It’s our final push to clinch our spot in the top-6, and we know our team will be ready to take on the task.

ANOTHER REGIONAL AHEAD FOR NRG RL

It was another tough luck regional for the NRG Rocket League team who, despite best efforts to overcome adversity, walked away short of a Saturday appearance with a top-12 finish.

The team of GarrettG, Mist and Aqua were immediately dealt a raw hand to start NRG Mission Control last Friday, with technical issues rendering Aqua unable to play in the opening series against Moist. Stepping up for the team was coach Fireburner, who managed a couple of nifty goal scoring plays in his return to competition alongside GarrettG for the first time since 2019. Despite the veteran experience, Moist and their fullpower starting trio proved too much to overcome, falling in the series 3-1.

With the return of Aqua for the second series against Cheers, the trio were back to its winning ways with a quick sweep of their opponent, setting up a 1-1 bracket matchup against Spacestation yet again. For the fourth time this year already, it was NRG vs SSG to advance to the upper side of the Swiss Stage bracket, but the spacemen had our number once again, defeating NRG in a 3-0 sweep. 

But once again, NRG went right back to work, returning the favor of a Round 4 sweep by sending DeletedXD packing in short order. With their record at 2-2, it was a fifth and final round matchup in Swiss against the return of Cloud9 to the Rocket League Esports scene that would determoine the last trio of tickets to the top-8. 

Off to a hot start in the series, NRG managed to find their rhythm offensively in Game 1 off the back of two goals scored by Mist. Unfortunately for them, two of the next three games would see the team left off the scoreboard entirely, with a Game 4 OT win also going the way of C9, leaving the team empty handed after a 3-1 series defeat. 

Ultimately, this result wasn’t what the team was certainly hoping for, however, NRG’s chances at making the RLCS Major in London are still very much up for grabs with a pair of strong regional performances in the coming weeks ahead. 

This weekend, the team is right back into the open qualification process for Open Qualifier #5, with NRG Chell providing the watch parties for NRG all weekend long. Tune in each day at approx. 4 PM PT on Chell’s channel to cheer on NRG RL as they battle to make the next regional!