Natus Vincere added yet another trophy to their cabinet, making it their 6th S-Tier tournament in 2021 and the 3rd Consecutive LAN win after IEM Cologne 2021 and PGL Major Stockholm. They showed us exactly why they’re called the Best in the world as they bested Team Vitality yet again, in a Bo3 Grand Final. They did lose their 20 map Nuke win streak in the process, but it made no matter as they got their hands on the coveted trophy after winning on the decider, Inferno.
This was most likely, the last dance for the Vitality line-up as the org is rumoured to be making changes going into 2022, with coach ‘XTQZZZ’ and ‘shox’ and ‘Kyojin’ set to leave. It is expected that the Danish trio of ‘Dupreeh’, ‘Magisk’ and ‘zonic’ as coach will replace them in January.
A win here would have been a great send off for the roster but it wasn’t meant to be, despite ‘ZywOo’s best efforts to pull his team through. They fought well on the first map, keeping it relatively close until the end and then absolutely dominated NaVi on Nuke, a map they havent lost in more than 6 months. But the team ran out of steam for Inferno, having already played a Bo3 vs Astralis in a 3 map affair and they crumbled on the deciding map as NaVi clinched the trophy.
It was the s1mple show on Mirage as he racked up 36 kills on his own, with just 16 deaths and a mammoth 1.91 rating to give his side the 16-12 win.
He was supported well by ‘B1T’ and ‘electronic’ and after a 9-6 half, good T side calling from ‘Boombl4’ saw them up 15-8. But the French still had a few tricks up their sleeve as they won the next 4. It required a ‘Perfecto’ 1v2 to close out the map for NaVi.
Nuke was rather uncharacteristic of NaVi as they could only manage 4 rounds, unable to abuse the rookies on the A bombsite as a team effort from all the players of Vitality helped them get 11 rounds. The T side was even more impressive, considering they were shut down convincingly last time around. This time they only let NaVi have 2 rounds, never letting them take control as they won the game 16-6 with ease.
On Inferno, it was NaVi’s turn to turn the screws and they did it with some aplomb. Starting on the CT side, the CIS side kept it tight all around the map, leaving no gaps for Vitality to exploit and winning rounds with brilliant utility usage alone. They won 12 CT side rounds, with ‘apEX’ and ‘shox’ posting 3 kills combined on their T side. The rest was a formality for NaVi as they won the remaining 4 with ease, winning the game 16-7 thanks to a 1v2 from ‘B1T’. and taking the trophy home.
