ESL Pro League Season 7 FinalsNa`Vi edge Heroic to secure playoffs spot; NRG eliminate MVP PK
Na`Vi edged Heroic 2-1 (11-16 on Cache, 16-13 on Overpass, and 19-16 on Mirage) to secure a spot in the playoffs, while NRG eliminated MVP PK 2-1 (10-16 on Cache, 16-8 on Train, and 16-2 on Mirage) in the lower bracket to remain alive in Group A.
The Group A upper bracket semi-final kicked off on HEROIC’s pick, Cache, where Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko and his men powered to an early lead on the offense, 3-0. HEROIC finally got on the board in their gun round, but Natus Vincere quickly returned with three more to make it 6-1. HEROIC managed to scrape together a couple of rounds before finally breaking the Natus Vincere economy for three straight to settle the half, down 6-9.
In the second half, the tides turned as HEROIC were red-hot on their T-side, winning the pistol and the anti-ecos to bring the score to an even slate (9-9). Natus Vincere continued to struggle on the retakes as Adam "friberg" Friberg and co. secured the B-site once more to take the lead for the first time, 10-9. HEROIC added one more to their lead, before Denis "electroNic" Sharipov secured their first of the half by holding the defuse in a 1v1.
HEROIC quickly picked up two more, but a force-buy from Natus Vincere finally paid off to pick up the round win. A force-buy from HEROIC in the following round was also effective, which tanked Zeus and company’s economy to help secure the remaining two for the series lead.
The series then landed on Overpass, where HEROIC secured the pistol on their CT-side right before Natus Vincere returned in the eco to even the score, 1-1. Zeus and his men marched on to secure two more before the two sides traded rounds, at which point HEROIC finally broke free to pick up seven in a row to end the half 10-5.
The second half saw Natus Vincere come out to secure the second pistol but HEROIC struck back on the eco to retain the five-round lead, 6-11. However, this time around Natus Vincere held the line for four in a row to reduce the deficit (10-11). HEROIC contested for a round win but Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and electroNic remained stable on the CT-side to pick up five straight to reach map point. Although HEROIC grabbed their third of the half, Egor "flamie" Vasilyev's quad kill with the AWP earned Natus Vincere the 16-13 win and the series tie.
Mirage was the decider that saw Natus Vincere quickly take control of the first half to dominate the field for a 12-3 lead at the half. The sides switched and so did the momentum, as HEROIC won twelve rounds to reach match point; however, with enough money for a full buy, Natus Vincere were able to hold out for two more rounds to force overtime.
Natus Vincere came out swinging in the overtime to secure two on the CT-side before HEROIC claimed one of their own. A big flank from Zeus allowed Natus Vincere to reach match point, where HEROIC was unable to hold on in the 19-16 overtime loss.
  HEROIC |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 - 68 | -2 | 85.9 | 64.8% | 1.12 | |
| 56 - 60 | -4 | 69.3 | 73.6% | 0.99 | |
| 56 - 59 | -3 | 63.5 | 67.0% | 0.95 | |
| 57 - 74 | -17 | 75.0 | 60.4% | 0.94 | |
| 55 - 65 | -10 | 63.3 | 68.1% | 0.83 |
 Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86 - 54 | +32 | 91.0 | 80.2% | 1.39 | |
| 77 - 54 | +23 | 91.8 | 78.0% | 1.33 | |
| 71 - 55 | +16 | 83.4 | 72.5% | 1.23 | |
| 47 - 67 | -20 | 61.9 | 74.7% | 0.87 | |
| 45 - 61 | -16 | 58.5 | 68.1% | 0.86 |
The lower-bracket of Group A saw NRG and MVP PK kick off the best-of-three on Cache, where the Koreans were solid out of the gates to secure four straight, 4-0. Damian "daps" Steele and co. finally got on the board in the fifth round, but Hae-Sung "HSK" Kim and his men held on with three more on the board, 7-1. The two sides traded rounds where NRG eventually broke MVP PK’s economy to win the next four out of five rounds to end the half, 6-9.
The second half started with a strong defensive presence from NRG on the A-site, but Hyun-Pyo "XigN" Lee tapped his way back into the site to secure the second pistol for MVP PK. From there, MVP PK took the reins on the T-side for five straight, before NRG finally snapped to rebound with four of their own. MVP PK then put together a decent buy round to finally put an end to NRG’s comeback with a 16-10 win.
NRG kicked off their map pick, Train, on the T-side winning the pistol and the anti-ecos for a 3-0 lead at the start. MVP PK then returned with three of their own to equalize the score 3-3, but daps and his men came back on their gun round to break the tie with four in a row, 7-3. The Koreans managed to put together two rounds, but NRG were too tough to tame as they won the remaining three to end the half with a 10-5 lead.
MVP PK came out swinging in the second half on their T-side with three quick rounds to reduce the deficit by two (8-10). NRG retaliated in their gun round to win their first for the CT-side in the second half and remained in the driver's seat with five more to secure the 16-8 win and tie the series 1-1.
It all came down to Mirage, where NRG looked strong on the CT-side to hold the line for four in a row, 4-0. MVP PK were then able to work with the little economy they had to secure their first of the half with NRG saving a rifle. From there, NRG kept their foot down and rounded out the first half with four more to take the 13-2 half. NRG pressed on in the second half to pick up the remaining three rounds to remain alive in the lower-bracket, while sending MVP PK packing.
  NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 - 38 | +22 | 100.3 | 79.4% | 1.47 | |
| 61 - 38 | +23 | 93.8 | 82.4% | 1.46 | |
| 53 - 36 | +17 | 78.3 | 77.9% | 1.26 | |
| 38 - 38 | 0 | 67.1 | 83.8% | 1.09 | |
| 39 - 44 | -5 | 65.1 | 75.0% | 0.94 |
 MVP PK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 - 49 | -1 | 80.1 | 64.7% | 1.07 | |
| 45 - 48 | -3 | 73.5 | 58.8% | 0.95 | |
| 38 - 50 | -12 | 59.4 | 63.2% | 0.84 | |
| 35 - 54 | -19 | 63.6 | 66.2% | 0.79 | |
| 27 - 50 | -23 | 50.7 | 52.9% | 0.66 |
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