StarSeries Berlin Major Team NRG - CSGOs Most Explosive Team

Our first repeat nationality, NRG are the second NA team we are going to talk about in this series of previews for the StarSeries Berlin Major. Unfortunately, NRG and our next team, Na’Vi, have both gone through roster changes recently, which drastically reduces our sample size. We’ll be using those small samples though, so keep that in mind as we talk about them.

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Last Six Months Stats (on LAN)

Record: 12/1/8

Team K/D: 1.03

Map Pool:

• Inferno – Played 4 times, 75.0% win rate
• Mirage – Played 3 times, 66.7% win rate
• Train – Played 3 times, 66.7% win rate
• Dust2 – Played 2 times, 50.0% win rate
• Overpass – Played 2 times, 50.0% win rate
• Nuke – Played 7 times, 42.9% win rate

Player Ratings:

• Brehze – Rating 1.13, K/D 1.19
• CeRq – Rating 0.99, K/D 1.07
• Ethan – Rating 0.98, K/D 1.01
• Tarik – Rating 0.95, K/D 0.96
• Stanislaw – Rating 0.94, K/D 0.92

NRG are still a very new team, and due to their last player swap being for a new IGL, they’re a very raw team. They have perhaps more potential than any other team in the world, due to the raw firepower they have. Their roster looks almost Liquid-esque, albeit with a “real” AWPer in CeRq. On a good day, Brehze Ethan and Tarik can stack up against just about anyone.

The biggest question for this team is have they had enough time to acclimate to the new system. Stanislaw has a proven record of taking teams with less talent than this deep into big tournaments, which you can see in his run at the last Major with complexity. If he can do that with ShahZam and dephh, I’d bet on him being able to do it with CeRq and Brehze.

Players

Brehze

Brehze really broke out onto the scene at the Katowice Major, where he put up a 1.58 Rating in the first stage of the Major. He put up a 1.19 in the second stage while still going out in last place, which made me hopeful for his career going forward.

Since then, his performance has been up and down, relatively. He’s maintained a Rating over 1.00 at every event so far this year, although it’s been close a couple times. Stand out events for him have been the ECS Finals and the Americas Minor, both of which he put on an incredible show.

Unfortunately for Brehze, his going up a level has yet to translate into any significant wins. I’m hopeful that this event will bring some wins over high ranked opponents, and provide Brehze a chance to show off just how great he is.

CeRq

CeRq makes me nervous, and he probably always will. Over the last six months, his best streak of maps with a Rating over 1.00 is 12, which is not very good for a player that is supposed to be your marquee guy, especially when that guy is an AWPer.

CeRq’s inconsistencies have long been a problem for NRG, especially at the last Major. CeRq’s two first maps were against Winstrike and ViCi, who he dumpstered with ratings of 1.31 and 1.45 respectively. After that, he fell off a cliff. He went over 1.00 just once in his next six maps, which led to NRG bombing out of the main stage in last place.

In theory, a new IGL, a new approach, and a new system should help out CeRq’s consistency issues. Maybe CeRq just didn’t fit in Daps’ system, or maybe he had troubles with communication. Regardless of what his issues were, this lineup is probably his last chance. If he can’t perform at the StarSeries Berlin Major with this group around him, there isn’t much hope for him as a championship level player.

Ethan

Ethan is the other last long standing member of this group. He and Brehze have been playing together for a long time, and they broke out at similar times.

Ethan had a similarly excellent showing at the first stage of Katowice, before tanking in the second. He plays the little brother role to Brehze, less consistent but with the ability to pop off just as hard.

The hope for him is similar to that for CeRq. In this new system, one ran by a better IGL, maybe he can finally find his sea legs and start putting together a real resume of excellent performances.

Tarik

As odd as it sounds, Tarik is one of the veteran players on this team, and his “locker room presence” is much needed. He’s the only player on this team who’s ever really won anything, which will be integral for the success of Brehze, Ethan and CeRq.

He has the skill and the willingness to fill all the gaps for a young team like this, which is crucial. Oddly enough, he has the opportunity to play a very Stewie-esque role for this team, which feels poetic after their split from MIBR.

Stanislaw

Stanislaw’s impact won’t be seen on the scoreboard, unfortunately. While he is a definitely a “fragging IGL”, he won’t have nearly the impact in the server as someone like Gla1ve for example.

Map Pool

NRG’s map pool is going to be exceedingly unpredictable coming into this event. They’ve only played a handful of games so far with this roster and they have the player break to tweak with their pool.

If I had to guess, I’d say they’ll lean heavily on Inferno, Mirage, and Nuke, as those are all maps that Stanislaw played frequently when he was on complexity.

The mystery in their map pool will likely be a sizable advantage for NRG coming into the first stage of the StarSeries Berlin Major at least. They’ll be almost impossible to anti strat, due to the near complete lack of VODs available.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Firepower

Obviously, NRG have the talent to stack up against most teams in the top five. Brehze and Ethan, while still young and unproven, seem like they could both be top 10 players at some point in their careers. With the addition of Tarik, this squad looks incredibly dangerous, with the same “any player could carry the match” feel that Liquid has.

That’s without even mentioning CeRq, who was a highly touted prospect within the last year and a half. If Stanislaw can unlock the potential that the scene saw in him, this team could be unstoppable.

Cohesion

This team is the opposite of the teams we’ve talked about so far, in that they’ve made a drastic change just a month or two ago. They lack the chemistry and experience that ENCE, Astralis, and Liquid have. While I’d argue that Stanislaw can hang with Aleksib, Gla1ve, and nitr0 as an IGL, there’s no question that those teams all have a leg up.

TL;DR

NRG are a potent combination of young talent, which could combust at any moment. This makes them a dangerous upset team, and I’d argue they could take a best of three off any team in the world, on the right day.

Unfortunately, they’re still far too raw to make a deep run at a tournament of this caliber. I’d pick them to move on through the first stage of the Major, but beyond that I have my doubts.

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