Reigning Southeast Asian king NRX Jeremiah 29:11 got off to an impressive start in the ESL MSP (Malaysia-Singapore-Philippines) Major on Saturday.
NRX bounced back big from a 1-2 loss to fellow Filipino team VVV Esports in the off-stream match as it crushed Singapore's Impunity via a 3-0 sweep in the game shown on livestream.
The Call of Duty Mobile World Championship Garena Qualifiers champion cruised to an easy 150-43 victory in Hardpoint at the Standoff then pulled off a comeback 6-3 win in Bomb Mission (Search and Destroy) at the Firing Range.
NRX closed out the series with a dominant 150-101 triumph in Domination at the Summit.
Coach Michael "Kyaaah" Belaya said the MSP Major is a great springboard heading into the World Championship for the squad, which is composed of JC "Jayzee" Rivera, Jerrold "Woopiee" Regay, Kennedy "iDra" Mondoy, John Kenneth "KenDy" Pimentel, Benj "CRUSH" Trinidad and sixth man Patrick Warren "WarrenTzy" Jadear.
"Goal namin sa tournament na 'to syempre manalo pero at the same time matuto rin kami especially halos lahat ng teams na kasali ay malalakas. Magandang preparation sa'min 'to before the Worlds as we need more pratice, discipline and dedication," said Belaya.
NRX landed on the second spot with four points on a 4-2 win-loss record behind Malaysia's Resurgence at the end of the first day of the group stage.
Other Filipino squads also had a good start in the eight-team regional online tournament that has a prize pool of $3,500 (P168,000).
VVV Esports and PDR Reborn ended up on a tie at No. 4 with three points apiece on a similar 3-3 card while VVV Conqueror followed suit with two markers on a 2-4 slate.
