Natus Vincere take revenge on mousesports, move on to StarSeries grand final

Natus Vincere have taken down MOUZ 2-1 (Inferno 7-16, Mirage 16-12, Nuke 16-8) in the second semi-final in Kiev, joining NRG in the grand final.

The second semi-final of StarSeries i-League Season 5 kicked off on Inferno, Na`Vi's pick, with MOUZ getting off to an early 4-1 lead as CT despite losing the second round to just pistols.

Winning the next round, Natus Vincere were unable to string more together, as the European squad extended their lead to 9-3. Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko's team finally found their way to two in a row after opting for two late attacks after baiting out aggression from their opponents, reaching five rounds before Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný finished things off at 10-5 with a Nova double in a solo defense on B.

The Czech added three more kills to his name in the second pistol round, allowing MOUZ to cruise to map point once Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi grabbed key doubles in the first two gunrounds. Na`Vi held on for two rounds, in part thanks to Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's 1v2 retake on B, but it was all they could do, as mouz picked up the first map 16-7.

Na`Vi were the ones to get an early 5-2 lead on Mirage as CT that time around after Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev put up nine kills over the pistol round and two of the first four gunrounds. The lead quickly dissipated once oskar put up three kills in a 2v3 scenario on the B bombsite, inspiring MOUZ to equalize things at 5-5.

WIth s1mple and Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev putting up doubles in the 11th round, Na`Vi were looking to win the half, but oskar and suNny had other ideas, as each of them stepped up with a massive clutch, a 1v4 and a 1v3, in the next two rounds to help MOUZ secure a comfortable, 9-6 half.

Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong's team grabbed the pistol round but conceded the following after Edward and electroNic combined with doubles in a 2v4 situation, with Natus Vincere taking advantage of the economy situation to get within one round of their opponents. s1mple and Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev then turned around a 3v5 retake scenario on A, extending the streak to seven rounds in a row for a 13-10 lead.

MOUZ were looking to climb back with a double AWP setup and chrisJ stepped up with key doubles to lower their deficit to just one round. Na`Vi still had enough money to buy up, however, and stopped the European side dead in their tracks with three rounds in a row to force the decider, Nuke, at 16-12.

A couple of big individual plays kicked off Nuke, with ropz bagging four quick headshots on ramp in the pistol before s1mple responded with a fantastic triple-kill with a scout in the following round, setting off a long streak of rounds going his team's way.

It wasn't until 7-1 that MOUZ mustered a reply, with suNny and oskar each getting a triple to start closing the gap. Na`Vi then pincered the A bombsite from each angle, but that was all they could do in the half, as oskar added three more kills to his name to help mouz secure a 7-8 half.

Natus Vincere ran away with the second pistol round after a close situation and proceeded to win the first gunround as well, before s1mple saved a 2v4 situation up against a forcebuy with a triple in a retake. That led to a 14-7 scoreline in their favor, and it didn't take long for Zeus & co. to close out the match 16-8, 2-1, to join NRG in the grand final.