Na`Vi defeat FaZe to book IEM Katowice semi-final spot

28-2-2019 18:51

Natus Vincere are through to the semi-finals at the IEM Katowice Major after beating FaZe on two maps (16-13 on Inferno, 16-7 on Mirage).

The first quarter-final of the tournament kicked off on FaZe's map pick, Inferno, where Natus Vincere won their CT pistol on the back of an all-headshot ace from Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev, and the subsequent anti-eco to take control of proceedings. The Ukrainians looked set to follow that up with the first gun round, but Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer and Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev denied them by turning a 2v4 situation around.

The match quickly turned into a one-way street, with FaZe constantly punishing the defense with slow-paced executions, fake plays or even with a successful 3v5 clutch in the 10th round. Then, in the 11th, Natus Vincere finally got back on the board, but they were immediately reset by the European mixture, who would close out the half with a 10-5 lead.

Just like in the first half, flamie found a crisp and clean ace to win the second pistol for Natus Vincere, setting his team up for another great run. FaZe responded with their 11th round as Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev could not clutch a 1v2 after flamie had failed to find what seemed to be an easy frag.

Natus Vincere still lost one more round, but then, in part thanks to a series of multi-kills from Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko, they strung five rounds together, 14-12, and remained calm and collected to lock down the map at 16-13, with Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and flamie leading the way with 22 and 23 frags, respectively.

Zeus' men never looked back in the series

Next up was Mirage, Natus Vincere's map pick, but it was FaZe who began the map on the right foot, winning their CT pistol and an anti-eco. Zeus' men responded with nothing but pistols, however, and quickly bagged three more rounds to make it 4-2 in their favour.

FaZe then equalised the score, but Natus Vincere managed to break their opponents' economy with doubles from Edward and Zeus, eventually securing a 6-4 lead. Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard then stepped up to the plate with a triple-kill in a 3v3 retake, but FaZe would only win one more round before switching sides.

Down 6-9, FaZe started the second half well, picking up a near-flawless pistol, but Natus Vincere replied with a great and triumphant Deagle buy. From that moment, the Ukrainians were far too hot for their opponents to handle, and went on a flawless run to seal the deal with a convincing 16-7 scoreline.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 3

Natus Vincere

Matchpage

28th February 2019

FaZe

Inferno

Mirage

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov electroNic	46 - 27	+19	94.1	78.8%	1.49
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev flamie	41 - 28	+13	83.6	65.4%	1.25
Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Zeus	28 - 32	-4	67.0	71.2%	1.05
Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Edward	34 - 31	+3	63.7	75.0%	1.05
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev s1mple	31 - 31	0	64.4	69.2%	0.97

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard rain	37 - 37	0	82.3	69.2%	1.01
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács GuardiaN	30 - 33	-3	63.2	53.8%	0.89
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer olofmeister	29 - 36	-7	59.2	67.3%	0.86
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač NiKo	28 - 39	-11	58.7	57.7%	0.77
Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev AdreN	25 - 36	-11	62.6	57.7%	0.77

meddl loide

2019-02-28 18:54

76 replies

FAZE DISBAND niko worst igl EU

2019-02-28 18:52

16 replies

so expected

13 replies

Wow NiKo amazing performance!!! Totally a better igl than karrigan and with insane numbers!!! I'm glad he got rid of his choking habit!!! LET'S GO FAZE THIS MAJOR IS OURS

12 replies

trash clan

2019-02-28 18:53

8 replies

s1mple had an off game and yet FaZe looks clueless and out of ideas. Something new has to happend, they cannot continue this way with such players. NiKo should drop his igl role and sign chrisJ -adreN

7 replies

Very expected

2019-02-28 18:58

Olof and rain are not consistant too

2019-02-28 19:44

4 replies

Well both showed good performance on T side and how are they going to perform when the teams structure is absolutely awful? They need an IGL immediately.

2019-02-28 19:49

3 replies

2019-02-28 21:53

Thats really good by navi showing a very strong and consistent T side , can help dismantle astralis's CT side.

2019-03-01 12:45

1 reply

Yeah they showed a really strong T side and came back!

2019-03-01 17:19

AdreN can IGL

2019-03-01 11:07

2019-02-28 19:01

I see being a fan of Faze makes you ignore the fact they get eliminated and shows sign of mental problems This needs to be studied

2019-03-01 11:11

Pretty clear that NiKo confuses individual skill with teamplay. CS is a team game and taking over the team just because you're the most skilled individually is clearly not the way to go. We've seen it time and again from these "stars".

2019-02-28 20:22

+1 NiKo is a terrible igl. But at least they have YNK, a guy who has had absolutely NO success as a coach. Smart addition.

2019-02-28 21:03

s1mple 0.97 LUL

15 replies

Faze is so bad that they got 2-0 and was missing LMAO. They surely are the most overrated team in all csgo history, prove me wrong pls

C9 after they won the major

2019-02-28 19:03

Gambit after they won?

2019-02-28 19:56

2 replies

VP after they won

2019-02-28 20:20

Like the major? They were a top 5 team for a long time.

2019-02-28 20:30

not in all of csgo history lol but theyre overrated, I agree

2019-02-28 19:07

2019-02-28 19:22

who? because u remember those faze teams with fox rain and dennis etc... they were overrated since the very beginning

2019-02-28 19:50

6 replies

faze lineup was alright kicking karrigan was just a huge mistake

2019-02-28 20:44

Their only mistake was not kicking that useless bot sooner.

2019-03-01 02:52

????? nice 0 iq

2019-03-01 06:31

Expected from 3rd world

2019-03-01 19:02

was good but many ppl thought niko was #1 (never was, not even for a single month) and also many ppl thought faze were #1 which i also dont remember

2019-03-01 14:04

Only people overrating FaZe is me

2019-03-01 11:08

S1mple tricked faze on that They were afraid of him and looking for him But instead they were killed by other team mates

2019-03-01 04:48

Superteam lul

too ez for navi... faze deserve tier2

5 replies

MIBR fan saying something ?

Slovakia only exposed in Avengers

but Brazil had been robbed in Fast and Furious 5, right ?

2019-03-01 02:18

HAHAHA OMEGALUL

2019-03-01 08:05

At least they we had Toretto

2019-03-01 11:48

disband this "Superteam" OMEGALUL

25 replies

HA! Funny MIBR fan

2019-02-28 18:59

24 replies

MIBR >>>>>>>> Faze. Why are u even comparing those 2 lmao

2019-02-28 19:02

23 replies

How you can say they are better? How many events have they won last year ?

2019-02-28 19:20

22 replies

2019-02-28 19:26

21 replies

I mean tier 1/2 events

2019-02-28 19:31

20 replies

last year lmao? last year doesnt matter shit, if u wanna talk about last years lets talk about 2017 as well. in this major mibr proved to be more consistent, more confident and better overall. mibr got 3-1 and it was pretty much ez despite that awful game against c9. faze struggled to be in the playoffs and got rekt by navi. mibr being better than faze is not even a opinion

2019-02-28 19:38

19 replies

Ok i agree maybe they are better , sorry but i am hard faze fan

2019-02-28 19:41

11 replies

im hard nip and mibr fan and i admit that astralis and liquid are better, and maybe even navi

10 replies

Yeah i know that faze in their current situation is playing like shit but i have to believe

2019-02-28 19:47

ofc

2019-02-28 19:48

Rip liquid

2019-03-01 04:49

that was so unexpected xdd

2019-03-01 14:05

Yeah 70 percent pickems dead If nip wins today which they should then its 95 percent pickems dead

2019-03-01 14:06

i only want the gold medal at this point xdd

2019-03-01 14:07

Same goes for me xD Or if navi wins i have chances of diamond

2019-03-01 14:10

honestly i just dont want astralis to win the major, let the underdogs win

I also domt want them to win. Tbh its only navi now who can stop them

2019-03-01 14:12

+1 probably true

2019-03-01 14:13

?? Mibr gonna get rekt by RNG.

lmao hahahha lmibr will win 2-0. RNG dont have the map pool and the experience, but u will see

2019-03-01 14:03

+1 but they will lose in the semis

2019-03-01 14:14

must likely y :(

2019-03-01 14:15

I am surprised how the boys went this far After last year's performance

2019-03-01 14:16

Clearly kid

2019-03-01 18:27

lol it was possible, but Liazz choked

2019-03-02 15:22

Nt F5

FaZe OMEGALUL

2019-02-28 18:55

i.imgur.com/nMA9Oun.jpg zeus<33 yeah nt from him (adren) but today was the last match for him with faze ;(

2019-02-28 18:56

clips.twitch.tv/PerfectBlushingMeerkatCe.. twitter.com/BLASTProSeries/status/107393..

etzala heats oba af des kann doch niad sa dassds wieder vor meim haus umananda kaschperlt

2019-02-28 20:01

2019-02-28 20:17

Koam zu mir ,ig prüggle die schaise aus ëuch raos

2019-02-28 22:24

DRAUD EUCH

2019-02-28 22:26

Niko is not an IGL! 😡

2019-02-28 18:51

Nik0_major is just overrated lul

nice nickname lul +1

2019-02-28 20:09

ez katka

Niko with the biggest ego out of another major lool No karigan STILL no major FaZe Down

Niko is the true team destroyer

+1 ez 4 s1mple 'bottom frag 2-0' s1mple

2019-02-28 19:55

So EZ....

EZZZZ

expected

Nt forsaken

nrg 0-3

optic india oh wait

2019-03-01 04:52

liquid lost xDDDDDDD

2019-03-01 10:37

at least they made the major omegalul

2019-03-02 01:53

FaZe LUL

superteam lul

easy 1/4 QF

Zeus stepped up!

Ez af

FaZe choking whats new🤷‍♀️

They didnt choke, they just played badly

Yeah kind of same thing ,btw i said this while i was so fkn mad

2019-02-28 22:21

expected, simple couldnt sell any teammates today, bad day for all baiters

Aleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev 31 - 31 0 64.4 0.97 And NaVi won ???????????? wow

yeah man:)) this is also my question. wtf??? zeus and flamie...

this just shows how bad faze actually are.. s1mple not even playing his usual game and faze still lose 2-0 omegalul

2019-02-28 19:10

ZEUS is GOD

gg na vi played very well invidually

0/8

2019-02-28 19:06

naah it was at least 3

-Olof incoming

change in nick incoming

2019-02-28 23:38

LUL Keep believing simple will always be held back by his team.

When s1mple is playing shit and you still lose

Still top 1 hltv)

Yeah ofc

he wasn't playing bad, 4 another guys were good af

2019-02-28 19:05

Perhaps so; I didn't watch the games. But at the very least, his numbers and rating imply that he wasn't playing very well (31-31 and 0.97? Not great for the best player in the world)

He had lots of clutch and really important swing plays. Just wasnt tearing up every round as they seemed to push where he wasnt

2019-02-28 19:14

Fair enough - that in itself though is a positive for FaZe, as it shows that they did have some kind of idea for what to do on T-side: avoid s1mple

2019-02-28 19:18

He was 2-7 on inferno after 9 rounds with 30 adr. Definitely not his day

Yeah and then he picked it up the second half with better play. Dont need to go off every single game when flamie and electronic in good form too. Even zeus was fragging hard on mirage

2019-02-28 21:56

Hello NiKo? karrigan here! Nice strats.

📞 4Head HELLO NIKO 📞 4Head KARRIGAN HERE 📞 4Head NICE STRATS 📞 4Head

Well if Zeus starts to get kills it ez for navi

S1mple at the bottom? Thats new. It works i guess

noooo #FaZeDown 😭 #FaZeUp

NIKO TOP3 OMG WHY PLAY IGL

He thinks to be an IGL is easy.

congratz Na'Vi

EZ4RUSSIANS

1 MORE AND PICKEM IS DONE

navi vs nip final ? we can only dream LUL

Ence vs Nip

This is the only thing that could top Gambit-Immortals for least expected major grand final.

2019-02-28 21:05

Elec mvp

Niko shitty igl cunt kickinf karrigan for a worse player

I dont think faze know how to use AdreN properly. Pretty sure not giving him good role or to get best from him

Navi stronk

The day that s1mple was carried by Navi

happens once every 100000 years

Feels bad for GuardiaN Lots of amazing plays just for nothing

He deserved a Major :(

:((( yeah

2019-02-28 19:00

#navination

Faze are so shit that s1mple didnt even had to carry navi to win against those noobs

Noobs, saying some gold nova from India

Choko always choking

karrigan was the problem

S1mple throw LUL

ez 4 navi

Hello, Mr Karrigan. You can back to Faze and fix the errors?

unfortunately this team has no future i'm waiting for further changes within the lineup

faze down

2019-02-28 18:57

choke clan forever...

ez4ukraine

@YnK Curse Start

Na'Vi is the proof that an IGL DOES NOT need to be an heavy fragger.... An IGL leads by keeping the team motivated, bring up the right strats and insist on their execution till perfection as well as taking and puting to use the best qualities of their players that will do the rest of the work. Maybe FaZe, if not disbanding, will learn something from them...

Relax, they are out in the next game

Wdym, higher ADR than s1mple :D

Well duh. I don't think anyone thinks that an IGL needs to top-frag. It's the fact that NiKo is also the star, that means he needs to top-frag. He's doing his best as an IGL, which admittedly isn't all that great, or at the very least, consistent. But I don't see why people can blame him; for all we know, AdreN (i.e. the only other possibility currently for the IGL spot) may have specifically requested not to play the role, meaning NiKo must continue with it. All I'm saying is, no need to have a go at NiKo - he's doing his best, and maybe changes are coming; we don't know.

2019-02-28 19:09

My friend, Nothing, absolutely nothing, moves me against Niko. However, if this is "his best" I'm am truly sorry but, it's not much and certainly not enough. I mean, there's so many basic and rookie mistakes that makes me wonder why is someone IGLing when do not have a clue of what they are doing. That last result vs C9, mainly against a team that DOES NOT play D2, the insistence on washup up strats, the lack of imagination almost compromised their "legend" status. Also, we all know that Niko was the lever that lead to Karrigan abandon. Last, if he was not prepared to take igl, he should not take it at all and let Team decide on someone that can fit that role. It just sad to see such a star player like Niko lost on IGLing when he should be fragging the sh*t out of everyone, imho.

2019-02-28 19:23

Fair enough, all fair enough - I do agree, especially with the last part. Perhaps soon after this, someone may be leaving and they may try to buy chrisJ off mouz - it'd be the best thing for them, I think

2019-02-28 19:24

I think Chris is not an option for them, otherwise, if we have in mind for how long Chris is now free, believe they would have take him by now... I could be wrong but, that's my personal reading. Honestly, I think FaZe will be addressing first to some internal questions and then will "aim" higher, regarding igl... I have a feeling that they will have a go for Valde... Let's wait and see m8...

2019-02-28 19:35

I feel like they would have wanted to try the Major with this line up, one last go for it, before trying for Chris, but oh well. Yeah, we'll see indeed, and good luck to them

2019-02-28 19:37

Well... They took AdreN at the last minute. Yes, he's better fragger than chris-j for sure but, if they were already "aiming low" on expectations, why not bring chris and make him familiar with the existing lineup? This is why I think they are not considering Chris although, and again, I might be wrong...

2019-02-28 19:45

I suppose in the end, none of us know - we just need to wait and see

2019-02-28 19:57

Very true!

2019-02-28 20:58

They didn't make Adren as the IGL because he's a temporary replacement until they can get a 5th and as you can see from this major he isn't good enough to play in tier 1. Maybe if this was 2017 it would of worked out, Adren is really imo one of the worst players at this entire major.

2019-03-01 04:28

2 s1mple for NaVi | gj wp

0.97 btw

2019-02-28 19:11

shit happens ;)

2019-02-28 19:52

Niko bestest team wreaker IGL ever. First mouz now this. Gl rebuilding.

ez4electronic andhe nales s1mpl0l

Flamie pistol god

s1mple wants to win. He doesnt care about stats. I’m sure he’s happy as hell to have bottomfragged and still humiliated FaZe like they did.

Indeed and it was awesome to see na'vi play so well. The comeback on Inferno was absolutely solid and you don't need S1mple to carry when the other four are playing with that level of confidence and skill. Flamie is looking like vintage Flamie again which is cool and Zeus had some genuinely impactful plays.

HOLY SHIT, well done

So expected

why they call them "pros"

Ukraine power!

Niko best IGL OMEGALUL

S1mple 0.97 and navi still win here u go haters

izi axaxaxa

NiKo back to mouz ?

It was not s1mple, elec show, It was great team play and team win! Na`Vi always used to be better in playoffs, but this navi is damn sexy. Hopefully they can get into the final and then who knows what can happen.

karrigan was the problem?

flamie is actually steping up, that's something we didn't see coming into the major

Yeah hes been putting up great numbers

2019-02-28 19:08

S1mple new role in team - bottomfragger

and nothing changed elec carrying them answer is s1mples frags are useless eco/exit frags stats boosting

2019-02-28 21:25

Expected from bra71l. Just accept it guys ,baitzera isnt a top 5 Player anymore.

P1mple and niko... you absolute chokers

adren should be igl

2019-02-28 19:12

nice job YNk put adren on B site where olof excels... NiKo with awp on b = 0 impact. nice job... olof on A site = 0 impact. we've seen this before i dont get why they changed it

2019-02-28 19:13

Ynk who's meant to be such a CS genius has been given two top sides who have both been very bland predictable and unimpressive under him. Go back to analyst

2019-02-28 19:16

their strats as T on inferno were on point tho. i liked it

2019-02-28 19:19

That's fair enough

2019-02-28 21:37

Good perfomance from navi but they always can do better. Hope so.

2019-02-28 19:15

Yanko needs to stop being Nikos enabler, kick him in the nuts, and tell him to shut up and listen to whichever leader comes along next because this team will do nothing

OMEGALUL expected still hurts

NiKo AND s1mple getting the lowest ratings of their teams omg 😮😮

Never thought i'd see a day where Edward has a higher rating than S1mple :D

when you dumb asses realise that its not just about frag rates

2019-02-28 19:51

Man why did my comment get up your ass? I was just making a joke which is also true. It wasn't meant to say that S1mple is bad, i think he's the best player out there currently. Just a joke, no need to take it so seriously ;)

2019-02-28 21:19

Are you ass fixated? How do you rate a player then?

2019-03-01 00:15

GG WP to both teams ! Disappointed with FaZe but Na'Vj was the better team . GL in tournament !

28-32, Zeus is beautiful

this must be the first time s1mple has the worst rating among him teammates on a bo3

2019-02-28 19:29

p1mple XD

2019-02-28 19:28

ez clap

2019-02-28 19:34

s1mple 5th monkaOMEGA

russia carrying ukrain LUL

2019-02-28 19:43

LUL

2019-02-28 21:27

They need an igl

2019-02-28 19:46

NaVi is great. Will cheer for them for the major. As for Faze not for me to decide.

Simple get carried lul

no surprise...

Faze shouldn't have got this far anyhow

Cool

zeus -4 niko -11 WutFace

2019-02-28 19:59

deserved gl navi flamie god

2019-02-28 20:19

OMG 31-31 S1mple

2019-02-28 20:32

OMEGA LULULULULLLULULUUUUUULUUUUULLLLL

2019-02-28 20:43

gg navi wp FaZe #FaZeUP! <3

2019-02-28 20:57

s1mple 0.97 and navi wins so easy? edward wanna win a major finally?

2019-02-28 20:59

Haha, no.

2019-02-28 21:13

More like flamie wanna win it already.

2019-02-28 21:26

i hope they will improve

2019-02-28 21:11

s1mple bottom frager and nothing changed elec carrying them answer is s1mples frags are useless eco/exit frags stats boosting

No show Niko back at it again...

2019-02-28 21:31

best team!

EZ4NAVI

2019-02-28 21:57

Gg no re.

2019-02-28 22:40

2019-02-28 23:07

Nip will -dennis +olof after this major

2019-02-28 23:17

CHOKO

2019-02-28 23:43

Never thought I'd ever see S1mple in backpack mode.

2019-02-28 23:49

There is a reason people call him a choker look at his major history in CS Go, thing is only a couple times ever he had team to carry him in the major this being Na'vi and Liquid, rest of times when he choked team had no chance to win.

2019-03-01 04:15

Astralis will win major again xd

2019-03-01 05:41

Na`Vi !!!!! ChoKe Clowns with ChoKo lose every time LOL

2019-03-01 05:50

Niko = worst player on the planet. Karrigan was not a problem. Navi >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> faze

2019-03-01 05:57

Go Na`Vi, win this MAJOR!!!!!!

2019-03-01 08:23

nope, be real ASTRALIS you can PM me,,,then we can bet 1000 dolla,,,are you freash,

2019-03-01 10:26

You are Astralis (device's) fan so it's ok to think like you. But let's be real, Na`Vi are ready to win it. Too many Grand Finals in the past. It's their prime time now.

2019-03-01 10:32

WE SE BRO, lets the best team win.

2019-03-01 20:35

you have to remember that ASTRALIS is even STRONGER this year,,,have you se the game ?

2019-03-01 20:49

#niko_destroyed_chokeclan

#choko_destroyed_chokeclowns*

2019-03-01 12:32

BOT ChoKo Sh*t IGL, sh*t player.

Na’Vi didnt need S1mple to carry them to win this series. They really need Zeus and Flamie to step up. You cant deny how much important kill zeus got. So impactful on entry kill. Flamie with pistol round. S1mple,elec and edward can just hold an ez angle and play safe. That should make them serious contender for title.

2019-03-02 03:53