NRG opened IEM Shanghai with a victory over 5POWER on Inferno, 16-10, and was followed by HellRaisers beating Virtus.pro 16-12 on Cache.

The veto saw Inferno be the leftover map in the first map of the tournament, with NRG taking the attacking side on the first half. The American team took the lead in the first round with a play on B that saw Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte take three. 5POWER got into a 2vs1 in the forcebuy after Wei "⁠shuadapai⁠" Wang opened the round up with two CZ headshots, but Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold was able to win the afterplant clutch to keep NRG in the lead.

NRG took the first gun round, and eventually turned it into a 5-0 before Peng "⁠xiaosaGe⁠" Song and Bat-Enkh "⁠kabal⁠" Batbayar won a 2vs2 on A to get their side on the board. Both teams then traded rounds, but NRG gave up a round as kabal, who forgot to buy, got two kills with USP and a third with an AK to keep 5POWER in contention, 5-7. Finally, it was NRG who won the half, with a 9-6 scoreline going into the pause.

NRG closed out the first match in Shanghai 16-10

Brehze opened the second pistol round with two kills and closed it out with one more to keep his team well ahead, 10-6, but a triple by ZhiHai "⁠QKA⁠" Fu and a double by Gan-Erdene "⁠dobu⁠" Batbold who made the most out of their CZs gave 5POWER the forcebuy. It looked like 5POWER were going to bring it back, making it to 10-11, but NRG then kicked it into gear and won it out, 16-10, not giving the Asian team a chance.

IEM Shanghai 2018Best of 1 NRGMatchpage 16 10 1st August 2018 5POWER 16Inferno 10

NRG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	21 - 15	+6	102.3	1.51
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	26 - 14	+12	93.2	1.50
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	16 - 16	0	71.4	1.09
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy	16 - 14	+2	46.3	0.99
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps	12 - 15	-3	67.0	0.99

5POWER	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
ZhiHai 'QKA' FuQKA	16 - 17	-1	70.3	1.05
Wei 'shuadapai' Wangshuadapai	16 - 16	0	59.0	0.92
Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayarkabal	15 - 17	-2	66.7	0.90
Peng 'xiaosaGe' SongxiaosaGe	15 - 21	-6	72.8	0.82
Gan-Erdene 'dobu' Batbolddobu	12 - 21	-9	61.4	0.74

HellRaisers kicked off the second Group A opener taking the pistol round and the anti-ecos on the Terrorist side of Cache, but were unable to follow it up as Virtus.pro claimed the first gun round after stopping an A play, but HellRaisers were able to reset the Poles and sta in the lead, going up 5-1 into the second gun round. The Poles were able to win another, but HellRaisers once again denied Virtus.pro the follow-up.

Down 2-7 Virtus.pro were able to win once again after getting the first two opening kills against HellRaisers’ standard before stopping the European team’s push on B. Despite the early blunders, Virtus.pro were able to win the half out, bringing it back to 8-7 before the two teams switched sides after having won six rounds in a row.

HellRaisers won on Cache to move on to the winners’ match

The second half started with HellRaisers retaking on A and defusing the bomb in order to bring the match back to a stalemate, 8-8. The European combine then took a 10-8 lead after the anti-eco and the first gun round. Quickly, HellRaisers took the reins winning six in a row to make it 13-9 and start to get out of reach of Virtus.pro, who after winning a round were reset as Piotr "⁠morelz⁠" Taterka was unable to win a clutch against Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad and Vladyslav "⁠bondik⁠" Nechyporchuk.

The Polish, down 9-15, were able to make it to to double digits and were then able to follow it up twice as HellRaisers struggled to get their economy back in shape. It was finally on the 28th round when HellRaisers closed it out, 16-12, as Virtus.pro were unable to break through the defense after losing several players early on.

IEM Shanghai 2018Best of 1 HellRaisersMatchpage 16 12 1st August 2018 Virtus.pro 16Cache 12

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	23 - 23	0	91.8	1.21
Issa 'ISSAA' MuradISSAA	19 - 16	+3	72.1	1.16
Kristjan 'fejtZ' AllsaarfejtZ	19 - 13	+6	61.2	1.15
Vladyslav 'bondik' Nechyporchukbondik	20 - 18	+2	79.9	1.01
Bence 'DeadFox' BöröczDeadFox	12 - 21	-9	67.0	0.86

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	26 - 19	+7	87.8	1.29
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	22 - 18	+4	78.4	1.19
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	20 - 18	+2	87.7	1.10
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	15 - 17	-2	63.9	0.93
Piotr 'morelz' Taterkamorelz	8 - 21	-13	36.2	0.53

Piotr 'morelz' Taterka Age: 24 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 583 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 Virtus.pro #21 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiPaweł 'byali' BielińskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerPiotr 'morelz' Taterka 5POWER #90 Gan-Erdene 'dobu' BatboldBat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarZhiHai 'QKA' FuPeng 'xiaosaGe' SongWei 'shuadapai' Wang Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold Age: 18 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 465 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 20 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 519 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.68 Issa 'ISSAA' Murad Age: 21 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 345 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66 Gan-Erdene 'dobu' Batbold Age: 19 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 349 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 Vladyslav 'bondik' Nechyporchuk Age: 25 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 954 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayar Age: 23 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 344 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Peng 'xiaosaGe' Song Age: 28 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 372 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 Wei 'shuadapai' Wang Age: 27 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 252 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66 ZhiHai 'QKA' Fu Age: 24 Team: 5POWER Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 268 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 NRG #9 Damian 'daps' SteeleJacob 'FugLy' MedinaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov HellRaisers #17 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowVladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad