Masters Reykjavík: KRÜ Esports eliminate YNG Sharks in a swift 2-0 series

On the third day of VCT 2021 - Stage 2 - Masters Reykjavík, our second matchup puts KRÜ Esports against yng Sharks in a lower-bracket elimination match. Following their defeats to Fnatic and NUTURN respectively, both of these teams find themselves fighting for survival to stay in Masters Reykjavík. Coming into this match, both the analysts and the community vote favored the Sharks.

The match began on Icebox which was the pick of KRÜ. Sharks started on the attacking side, and quickly found success in both the pistol round and the following round. This success was short-lived, as KRÜ struck back immediately on round three to get on the board. Following dominant individual 4K rounds by Juan Pablo "NagZet" Lopez and Roberto "Mazino" Rivas on rounds five and six, Sharks were unable to find a response on their defensive side and the half ended at a 10-2 scoreline favoring KRÜ.

On the second half of the map, the Sharks were able to once again win the pistol and shut down the second round force-buy from KRÜ. After shutting down the force-buy, they were able to cleanly take round three. Unfortunately for the Sharks, KRÜ rallied back in the fourth round of the half and proceeded to shut out the Sharks for the remainder of the half, ending this game in a dominant 13-5 fashion.

Heading into Shark’s map pick of Bind, KRÜ was able to shut down the Sharks on the first two rounds as they attempted to work both sides of the map. However, a dominant four kill round by Wallacy "prozin" Sales on the A-site put the Sharks on the board with a flawless round.

The two teams traded rounds to keep the game close before KRÜ was able to put up a strong round six to grab two consecutively, putting the game scoreline at 5-2 in favor of KRÜ midway through the half. Sharks were able to answer with two dominant rounds of their own. With a very back-and-forth half between these two teams, KRÜ narrowly came out ahead with a 7-5 scoreline moving into the second half.

The second half of Bind was quite different from the close, scrappy rounds in the first half of the map. KRÜ put up a fast four round streak to open the half. Sharks were able to manage their first round following a heroic 4K round on the back of Gabriel "gaabxx" Carli to spark some hope into the Brazilian side. Unfortunately, the Sharks were unable to catch momentum after this, as KRÜ was able to quickly put up the final two rounds and end the map with a 13-6 scoreline.

With this result, KRÜ esports will move on in the lower bracket Team Liquid on Thursday, May 27th, a matchup that will either see KRÜ continue in their lower bracket run or be eliminated by the European squad. Unfortunately for the yng Sharks, their run at VCT Masters: Reykjavík has come to a close after losing to Nuturn 2-1 and KRÜ 2-0.