NRX Jeremiah 29:11 avoided the claws of defeat twice to stun Thailand's Daivo.FreeSlot, 2-1, and grab a playoff spot in the Call of Duty Mobile (CODM) World Championship 2020-Garena Qualifiers on Friday night.
NRX displayed its never-say-die attitude in both the Hardpoint and Search & Destroy as the Filipino squad secured the third seed heading to the semifinals of the online qualifying tournament with nine points on a 9-6 win-loss record.
"Ginawa nila 'yung game plan namin kahit naunahan kami ng Daivo pagdating sa points sa umpisa. 'Di nawala 'yung focus nila sa game and nagtuloy-tuloy lang sila sa plano namin," said NRX head coach Michael "Kyaaah" Belaya in a message to the Manila Bulletin.
(The players stuck to our game plan even though Daivo went ahead early in points. Their focus on the game was still there and they just continued executing our plan.)
NRX fell behind 16-94 early in Hardpoint at the Crash as Daivo produced smart plays with Transform Shields inside the High-Rise area.
But the Filipino crew led by sniper Jerrold "Woopiiee" Regay dominated the last three hardpoints to complete the come-from-behind 150-110 win and effectively punch its ticket to the playoffs.
Woopiiee emerged as the MVP of the game with 14 kills and 10 assists against 14 deaths.
NRX once again needed to overcome an early struggle in Search & Destroy at the Crossfire as it trailed behind 1-4.
Kennedy "iDra" Mondoy's clutch 1v1 outplay against Daivo's sniper Sumet "CHEEK" Saewong in Round 6 set up the stage for the PH bets' reverse sweep.
With his brilliant Chopper game play highlighted by wall bangs, iDra notched 16 kills and seven assists against six deaths.
However, NRX was not able to sustain the momentum in Domination still at the Crossfire as it gave up a 115-150 scoreline to Daivo.
NRX is set to renew its rivalry against Singapore's Divinity.Uprising in the best-of-five semifinals on Sunday, with the winner taking on the victor between Daivo and Indonesia's Dunia Games Esports in the finals on the same day.
The PH representative beat its Singaporean counterpart, 2-1, in the group stage to avenge its loss in the ESL MSP Championship-Southeast Asia finals earlier this month.
