NRG eSports have taken the first step on the road to redemption, promptly defeating tournament underdogs Splyce in two maps. The complete shutout saw Splyce denied entry to the winners enclosure by NRG's bouncers on both Numbani and Temple of Anubis.

The first port of call was Numbani with NRG opening on defence with Seagull positioned up top as El Presidente Bastion, flanked by his bodyguards Reinhardt, D.Va and Zarya. A classic setup to counter with dive compositions (and potentially the prevalent triple-triple meta), Splyce would come a cropper with their Genji and D.Va falling to the sustained fire. Quick repositioning by Seagull inside the upper corridors in time for the second attack wave baited the Spylce offense to unsuccessfully run the gauntlet, before exploding from the high ground in Nanoboosted Tank Mode to obliterate the remaining opposition.

It wasn't until the third push that clockwork eliminated Bastion with a timely Pulse Bomb synced perfectly with shrugger disconnecting from the server with 100% Dragon Blade. Oh dear! It seemed briefly like clockwork could be the difference maker pouring out damage on the point right until the point he landed a Rewind right back in to Gods D.Va Self Destruct, allowing the defence to recompose themselves and stand firm.

Seconds after leaving spawn for their attack NRG double back to make some readjustments to their hero composition Seagull abandoning Mei for Genji, Gods switching Reaper for Roadhog and enigma dropping Zarya for Winston. The results are instant as Genji and Winston rush down a very squishy Soldier 76 / Genji / Ana setup on the high ground. The Splyce heads drop and the defence collapses in under a minute.

Splyce reach for Temple of Anubis with their losers pick, attacking first they rollout with ninjanick as a solo Lucio healer, double flankers in Tracer and Genji, Winston and D.Va for the dive factor and a utility Zarya. They are looking to roll the dice with a casino composition, but after the initial frags don't go their way it is only a matter of time before NRG's Lucio / Ana defence outlasts them.

The gamble hasn’t paid off as PYYYOUR switches back to Ana, but gets picked immediately triggering his teammates brains to melt in to mush. Questionable team decision making and individual plays; Splyce crumbling, but as they respawn in the final minute clockwork's McCree turns Point A in to a shooting gallery and somehow they manage to secure the capture. Snowballing on to Point B it seems like Splyce might have done it, but some well-timed stalling from Pookz, Seagull's Mei and Gods' D.Va takes the wind out of their sails. NRG weather the storm for the full four minutes to deny the completion.

On attack Seagull sticks with Mei pulling out a sick six man team boost that would make Fnatic's CS:GO team proud. Quickly negating the high ground advantage, NRG engage Splyce directly on the Point A platform to take the first capture in under a minute.

NRG threaten the right side push on to Point B, causing shrugger to prematurely pop his Dragon Blade and NRG to kite backwards. The standoff is a brief one as neither side commits off this misplay, but soon after Seagull's Mei comes skipping up the rocks launching herself off the pillar perch to deliver another beautiful blizzard and set Gods up for a Nano Blossom 5K. Absolutely brutal.

Splyce have been eliminated in decisive fashion and exit the tournament with a $6,000 slice of prizepool. NRG eSports will seek revenge against Team Liquid tomorrow in the first match of the day.