NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #4 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold overcame 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #8 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk 2-1 in a lower bracket thriller at Americas Kickoff. 100 Thieves exit the first event of the 2025 season 1-2, while NRG stay in contention and take another step on the long road towards Masters Bangkok.

The three-map series played out on Lotus, Pearl, and Bind. 100 Thieves won Lotus 14-12, while NRG won Pearl 13-9 and Bind 13-9.

100 Thieves began the match on Lotus, where they previously crushed MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #7 artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez nzr Agustin Ibarra aspas Erick Santos 13-4 with their overwhelming Neon-Breach combination. NRG, who altered their previous composition to include Tejo, proved to be more challenging opponents as they streaked four rounds in a row for a 4-2 start, forcing a timeout from Zikz . The half saw both teams leveraging their double-Initiator utility to vie for map control, but 100 Thieves pulled things back to par to finish the half 6-6.

The Thieves began to break away in the second half, going up 11-7 after chaining a second pistol into a bonus. A 1v2 from eeiu brought them up to 12-9, but NRG forced overtime after mada won a 1v1 against Asuna on 8 HP in round 22.

The key difference maker in overtime was a close defuse stick by Cryocells in round 25, enabling 100 Thieves to win out Lotus 14-12. Individually, eeiu was the standout by far, recording 26 kills to 12 deaths, a 1.51 rating, and a near-perfect 96% KAST.

Cryocells sticks the defuse in front of FNS in overtime.

The second map was NRG's pick of Pearl, where they picked Tejo and both sides picked Vyse. 100 Thieves found initial success by burning down the time and locking down the A site, but NRG adjusted by applying greater mid pressure, ending the half 7-5 in NRG's favor.

The critical round was round 17. mada aced in a low buy, reversing the economy and giving NRG the momentum they needed to close Pearl out 13-9 despite an outrageous ace from eeiu. mada demonstrated brilliance throughout the entire map, going 26-15 with a 1.66 rating, 326 ACS, and 211 ADR.

One of the most impressive aces of the year so far from eeiu wasn't enough to win Pearl for 100 Thieves.

It all came down to Bind. Now on Raze, mada continued to dominate the server. Four kills in the pistol and three in the anti-eco gave him the Showstopper early, which was instrumental in securing the bonus and a 4-0 lead for NRG. Not giving up yet, 100 Thieves clawed back to yet another 6-6 half off the back of drilled site hits and 1v2 from Zander in round 11.

But mada wouldn't be denied. Outdoing himself with a second ace in the second pistol round, he once again helped convert the bonus for his team with another early Showstopper, taking NRG up to 10-6. Verno and FiNESSE then won a 2v2 in round 21 to bring them up to 12-9, allowing NRG to close out Bind 13-9 and the series 2-1.

mada was an unstoppable force in the last two maps.

mada ended Bind with 27 kills and 321 ACS, ultimately recording 73 total kills, 17 of which were first kills, over the course of the entire series. The next highest number of kills on his team was from Verno with 56.

With this win, NRG sends 100 Thieves packing, but the job's not done; they need four more wins if they want to represent the Americas region at Bangkok. Their next test will be against KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete mta Nicolás González Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro .

“I've had a pretty good record versus them, so hopefully we come out on top,” FNS said of the upcoming matchup in the post-match interview.

NRG will return to the stage against KRÜ on Feb. 1.