The World’s number 1 team in the world eased past ENCE in the quarter finals of ESL Pro League Season 14, to make the semi-finals for the 4th tournament on the trot and are still in contention for the Intel Grand Slam. ENCE could only manage 7 rounds in the whole best of 3 and were thoroughly outclassed.
MAP VETO
- ENCE removed Inferno
- Natus Vincere removed Vertigo
- ENCE picked Ancient
- Natus Vincere picked Nuke
- ENCE removed Dust2
- Natus Vincere removed Overpass
- Mirage was left over
MAP 1: Ancient
(Picked by: ENCE, Won by: Natus Vincere, Final Score: 16:2)
The first of many problems for ENCE going into this match up was the veto, as every map they played well, NaVi did too and for the most part, better than them. So ENCE picked into Ancient, knowing that no team at the moment can be called comfortable on it.
But that proved to be their undoing as NaVi had their number every step of the way and were downright disrespectful with their aggression on the CT side, owing most of it to Valeriy ‘B1T’ Vakhovskiy and his perfect anchoring. He posted a ginormous 2.10 rating on the map as they allowed ENCE just 2 T rounds to end the half at 13:2. They followed that with no CT rounds for ENCE and cruised to a map win in one of the fastest maps in ESL Pro League S14, 16:2.
MAP 2: Nuke
(Picked by: Natus Vincere, Won by: Natus Vincere, Final Score: 16:5)
Nuke had a better start for ENCE as they won more rounds than they did on all of Ancient within the first 4 rounds of play. But the respite was short lived as NaVi came into their own on the T side, as they so often do on Nuke. The only silver lining was a 1v2 Deagle clutch from Lotan ‘Spinx’ Gilad that kept them in the game at the start. Apart from that, their CT holds were sub-par throughout and they lost the half 10:5.
On the CT side, which is deemed slightly easier by fans and experts alike, NaVi showed little mercy to their International opponents. They battered them with 6 consecutive rounds to finish the map at 16:5 and end the series comfortably 2-0.
Playoff NaVi Activated?
NaVi’s form coming into the playoffs was slightly less impressive than it had been before the break as they had just won IEM Cologne, and it showed with a tough loss versus BIG. But a playoff NaVi is a cut above everyone else and they had that on display today. They book a semi-final spot and will play the winner of Heroic vs Liquid. ENCE leave the group in 5-8th alongside Gambit and NiP and will start prepping for the IEM Fall Europe Closed Qualifier which starts on September 14th.
