Na`Vi see off Gambit, G2 beat mouz to secure playoffs spot

Natus Vincere have eliminated Gambit from ESL One Cologne with a swift 2-0 victory (Overpass 16-6, Train 16-5), while G2 have advanced to the playoffs after defeating MOUZ 2-1 (Dust2 16-14, Mirage 10-16, Inferno 16-9).

The second elimination match of Group A began on Overpass, where Natus Vincere got off to a 6-1 start as CT on the back of Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev's quad-kill in the pistol round.

Gambit then started fighting back with three in a row, as they entered each bombsite with a few pickoffs, which led to Na`Vi saving their weapons. The Kazakh-Russian squad couldn't find their way to any more throughout the rest of the half, however, as Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko & co. finished off the half with a five-round streak.

Gambit grabbed the second pistol round to close the gap to six rounds, but it was too little, too late, as flamie's second quad-kill and a 1v2 clutch gave Na`Vi the first gunround and opened a way to complete the first map in a quick manner, which they did at 16-6.

Train followed and Na`Vi once again picked up a 5-0 lead, that time as Terrorists, with the help of double-kills from Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev in the pistol round and a 1v2 clutch from the latter in the first full buy.

Gambit clinched four out of the next five rounds with openings from Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev and Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov, but much like on Overpass, they were unable to keep the pressure, as Na`Vi secured four out of the last five rounds.

Switching over to Counter-Terrorists, Zeus's team had little trouble closing out the match 2-0 on the back of huge plays in B retakes from s1mple, who grabbed a quad-kill, two doubles, and an ace in the six-round streak his team pulled off for a 16-5 victory.

In the upper bracket semi-final, MOUZ and G2 first faced off on Dust2. The two teams traded the first few rounds, with the Frenchmen eventually taking over to claim a 4-2 lead as Terrorists. The European side couldn't string rounds together, as G2 extended their advantage to 9-4 with everyone chiming in, while the last two rounds went MOUZ' way.

The first two rounds of the second half were traded once again, this time with MOUZ coming out on top of the shenanigans to grab a 12-11 lead after the first few gunrounds played out. The match kept going back-and-forth, but in the end it was G2 who claimed the last two rounds on the back of two doubles from Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub to win the opening map 16-14.

Despite losing the pistol round, MOUZ quickly took over on their pick Mirage, as Terrorists, leading 5-1 after Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool turned the second round around with a 1v2 clutch while Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi converted a 1v1 in the first gunround.

G2 replied with three out of the following four rounds, as kennyS clutched a 1v1 of his own, saving a 1v3 attempt from suNny. Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong stopped his opponents' momentum with a quick triple from connector, inspiring MOUZ to secure four more rounds before the half ended at 10-5 in their favor.

The two teams traded rounds back and forth at the beginning of the second half, with Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans's 1v2 swinging it in G2's favor, who lowered the deficit to 9-12 after a couple of anti-ecos. suNny's five kills over the next three rounds helped MOUZ get within two before equalizing the series at 16-10, as ropz and Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný each put in a triple.

Inferno saw MOUZ secure the pistol round as CT, but Ex6TenZ's triple in the following forcebuy turned the tide, as G2 went on to grab a 5-1 lead, after kennyS triumphed in a 1v2 clutch scenario. The next four rounds kept being traded until MOUZ came out on top, locking down the last five to end up with an 8-7 lead going into the offense.

G2 opted for an aggressive play down middle in the pistol round and converted it, with kennyS picking up three kills, as well as the following antiecos. MOUZ replied in the first gunround with an explosive A strategy, but their opponents reset them immediately and went on to secure the series 16-9, 2-1.