Na`Vi edge ?; to semi-finals

Natus Vincere's and Question Mark's veto process chucked out a trio of great maps for both sides, starting with de_dust2 (Na`Vi's pick), followed up by de_overpass and de_mirage as the decider.

The first six rounds ended up going out evenly to the teams, after Na`Vi won the first three rounds as Terrorists, and QM followed it up with three of their own, with a few ecos and forcebuys thrown in.

Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev then delievered five kills in the next two gunrounds to help his team get up to a 6-3 lead, before Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev stepped forward with a triple from behind. Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen finally stopped the streak in a 1-on-2 clutch, although it wasn't enough to stop the force that was Na`Vi.

When Edward got another triple in the second pistol round after an 11-4 halftime score, there was not much the Danes could have done to avoid a stunning defeat, which came at 16-4.

Switching over to de_overpass, Question Mark's map of choice, who also started on the Counter-Terrorist side and got a good 4-0 lead thanks to great informational plays in the pistol, as well as first gunround.

Edward kicked off the show for Na`Vi with a very close 1-on-4 attempt, and a triple for their first round on the board. The teams then went back and forth for a few rounds, before Na`Vi took three in a row for a 6-6 tie.

QM snatched of the remaining three rounds, as well as the second pistol round and both anti-ecos afterwards, for a 11-7 lead. Natus Vincere held on in the gunrounds though, especially thanks to Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin and Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács both picking up four kills in the next two rounds, as they climbed back to a one-round deficit again.

Their agression got punished afterwards though, as the team got picked apart all over the map, and dupreeh's quad-kill on the A bombsite nearly sealed the deal at 14-10. Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko delayed them for a round with a CZ-75 triple in a forcebuy, but that didn't stop the Danes to even the series at 16-11.

At the beginning of de_mirage, Na`Vi threw away a 5-on-3 lead in the pistol round on the B bombsite, which ended up costing them quite a lot more than expected. Question Mark continued to stand strong, even against a couple of scary ecos and quasi-buys, and make it a 7-0 lead.

Na`Vi did find a way past the defence eventually, although it was only for a couple of rounds in a row, as Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz's saved AK shut them down again for 9-2. The remaining four rounds were split evenly between the sides, as Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen was unable to complete a close 1-on-3.

A much-needed pistol round went Na`Vi's way thanks to doubles from GuardiaN and seized, and they didn't let go of the first gunround either, making it 11-10. Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth then came out on top of a 1-on-2 by the skin of his teeth, but failed to turn two more clutches around, and the game was even for the first time at 12-12.

Three more rounds afterwards, things turned grey for the Danish side, who didn't manage to come back from three match points, as Na`Vi advanced to the semi-finals at 16-13, 2-1.

SL i-League StarSeries XIV FinalsBest of 3

Natus Vincere

Matchpage

2

1

15th January 2016

?

16

Dust2

4

11

Overpass

16

16

Mirage

13

Broken tag

Broken tag

Tomorrow action continues, starting with fnatic's encounter with Luminosity at 11:00 , followed up by EnVyUs and Natus Vincere at approximately 17:00 .