The CIS squad had to fight tooth and nail against the French, but they reigned supreme at the end to complete a 2-0 win. NaVi extended their Nuke streak to 17 maps undefeated in the process and are now in the Semi-Finals.
Termed as the El Clasico between ‘s1mple’ and ‘ZywOo’, the series delivered in every way with both the Gods of CS stepping up for their teams but in the end, it was NaVi that sent Vitality home.
Vitality go out in 5-8th place alongside NiP, FURIA and Virtus.pro leaving us with just 4 teams in the PGL Major.
MAP VETO
1. Vitality removed Ancient
2. Natus Vincere removed Vertigo
3. Vitality picked Dust2
4. Natus Vincere picked Nuke
5. Natus Vincere removed Inferno
6. Vitality removed Overpass
7. Mirage was left over
MAP 1 : Natus Vincere 16-11 Team Vitality
Team Vitality chose to test NaVi on the New Dust2, as it was changed in the Operation Riptide update. NaVi hadn’t played the map since but had been very very good on it before that, having beaten the French on it too.
Vitality, on the T side, started off on the right foot and exploited the B bombsite, with the new gun ‘B1T’ having trouble keeping up. They shut down ‘s1mple’ as well as he couldn’t go ham on the CT side with his AWP on a sniper heavy map like Dust2. It was ‘Perfecto’ that kept things even for NaVi as they trailed at the half 7-8.
Once the sides shifted, the Russians tore Vitality apart. Fuelled by a 1v1 from IGL ‘Boombl4’ in the pistol, NaVi went on to win every round until they were at match point, almost giving us a perfect T side.
‘Perfecto’ was again, the best player for NaVi – unexpected when you have ‘s1mple’ and ‘electronic’ on the team as he had ridiculous multi-kills in both halves.
3 rounds from Vitality did bring it close but it was never going to be enough as NaVi closed the map 16-11.
MAP 2 : Natus Vincere 16-13 Team Vitality
NaVi then took ‘apEX’ and co to Nuke, a map they haven’t lost on since May 2021. They came into the game with 16 wins on the trot but Vitality gave them the toughest fight possible. NaVi won the pistol and conversion but ‘ZywOo’ and ‘apEX’ locked down yard and secret and helped Vitality rack up 7 without reply, as s1mple sat at the bottom with 2 kills. Things changed a bit as NaVi kept planting the bomb and eventually secured 3 more rounds but Vitality had a convincing 9-6 lead at half time.
On the favoured CT side, NaVi won the pistol again, and evened out the score at 9-9. But Vitality, with their relentless gimmicks won 4 of the next 5 and sat at 13-10. Things looked dire as a lost round would send NaVi’s economy to the bin. But that is when ‘s1mple’, ‘electronic’ and of course the top fragger ‘B1T’ stepped up.
They shut Vitality out in every round from that point and even ‘ZywOo’ had no answer to the World’s best team. They succumbed to a 16-13 loss to NaVi, going out from the PGL Major.
Natus Vincere will face domestic rivals Gambit in the Semis for a spot at the Grand Final. But first, G2 will take on Heroic to find the first Finalist of the PGL Stockholm Major.
