NRG sealed their pass to the New Legends Stage with a 3-0 record after winning 2-0 against TYLOO, 16-14 on Inferno and 16-13 on Mirage.

The match to move on to the next round between NRG and TYLOO kicked off with the North American team planting the bomb on Inferno’s B site and defending it in a 2vs2 to take the first round. Up 3-0, Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov kept his team rolling with a 1vs2 afterplant clutch with the AWP on 2 health points. Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold then had another 1vs2 low-HP AWP clutch, this time on the A site, making it 5-0. TYLOO were finally able to get on the board in the seventh round, and followed it up twice to reduce NRG’s lead to half, 6-3. They also reduced the American squad’s economy. The game then became a brawl, and included several rounds with HaoWen "⁠somebody⁠" Xu’s antics on Banana with the AWP making NRG’s life impossible, and TYLOO locked it down every time at the end of it, going on to win nine in a row to turn it around, 9-6.

A five-man push down mid by NRG paid dividends in the pistol round, as a huge triple by Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte tipped the scales in their favour. NRG then took the reins of the half early on, winning the first couple gun rounds and reclaimed the lead, 11-9, but a forcebuy on A which included an AWP kill with collateral in a 2vs3 brought it back within one. The brawl continued, and both teams traded rounds, with heroics coming out from the star players on each time, particularly Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand and Brehze.

Late in the map, with 13-13 on the scoreboard, it was TYLOO who had the economic advantage, Rounds were once again traded, and it looked like the Chinese-Indonesian team were going to get ahead striking B in a 4vs4, but two frags from the solo-holding Ethan gave match point to his team. NRG then followed it up with a massacre on A, defending the site and closing the first map out, 16-14.

Brehze was on fire all series long, hitting 72 frags in two maps

NRG won their third pistol round in a row defending the B site on Mirage, and followed it up to take an early 5-0. It was finally after an early play on B that TYLOO were able to break past the American side’s defenses. Once again, Brehze came out big with an AUG taking down three to reset the Asian side, but a triple with the desert eagle by Kevin "⁠xccurate⁠" Susanto kept his team in contention. The following round it was somebody’s turn to steal the round with four frags, three with the AUG and one with the AWP. It was finally NRG, though, that were able to seal the half with a big 10-5 lead.

TYLOO were finally able to win a pistol round defending the A site thanks to a full house by newcomers YuLun "⁠Summer⁠" Cai and YuanZhang "⁠Attacker⁠" Sheng, but the match quickly reverted to being in NRG’s control, as they took the first gun round and started to run away with it. The Chinese team were unable to respond as NRG took match point following five rounds won in a row. With their backs against the wall, TYLOO finally got back into the game, but it was too little too late, as NRG sealed the deal 16-13.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 3 NRGMatchpage 2 0 14th February 2019 TYLOO 16Inferno 14 16Mirage 13

NRG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	72 - 38	+34	108.2	1.77
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	37 - 37	0	83.6	1.14
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps	37 - 41	-4	71.5	0.98
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	31 - 33	-2	63.6	0.96
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy	23 - 38	-15	48.4	0.73

TYLOO	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Hansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandBnTeT	46 - 38	+8	87.3	1.23
Kevin 'xccurate' Susantoxccurate	38 - 33	+5	65.7	1.07
YuLun 'Summer' CaiSummer	39 - 43	-4	71.4	0.92
YuanZhang 'Attacker' ShengAttacker	35 - 44	-9	63.1	0.88
HaoWen 'somebody' Xusomebody	29 - 42	-13	61.7	0.83

The New Challengers stage 3W - 0L NRG Renegades 2W - 1L TYLOO Vitality Winstrike ViCi ENCE AVANGAR 1W - 2L fnatic FURIA Ninjas in Pyjamas G2 Vega Squadron Cloud9 0W - 3L Spirit Grayhound Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 20 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 646 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.67 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Age: 19 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 674 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 YuLun 'Summer' Cai Age: 21 Team: TYLOO Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 714 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64 Kevin 'xccurate' Susanto Age: 20 Team: TYLOO Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 450 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 YuanZhang 'Attacker' Sheng Age: 22 Team: TYLOO Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 707 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.67 Hansel 'BnTeT' Ferdinand Age: 23 Team: TYLOO Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 505 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.62 NRG #5 Damian 'daps' SteeleJacob 'FugLy' MedinaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov HaoWen 'somebody' Xu Age: 23 Team: TYLOO Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 747 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.66 TYLOO #67 YuLun 'Summer' CaiHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandYuanZhang 'Attacker' ShengHaoWen 'somebody' XuKevin 'xccurate' Susanto Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold Age: 18 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 592 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67