Natus Vincere start EPICENTER run with victory over Heroic

Natus Vincere won two maps against HEROIC on Inferno (16-8) and Nuke (16-5) and move on to the Group A winners’ match.

Natus Vincere come to EPICENTER as the hometown favorites despite two other CIS sides being in contention at the event in Moscow. Known for their shaky group stage starts, Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company were authoritative throughout their opening match, giving up just 13 rounds across the two maps played in the series.

HEROIC got off to a flying start with a clean pistol round on the CT side of Inferno, but they were quickly overrun by Natus Vincere who took a 3-2 lead with guns in play. Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup was able to win a 1vs1 situation on B in the sixth round to tie it back up and prevent the half from snowballing out of control. A technical pause was called with 4-4 on the board, after which Natus Vincere took control of the half, not giving up a single round to an 11-4 half.

HEROIC once again managed to win the pistol round, gaining two more rounds after it. Up 13-8, Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács had a stellar four-kill round to ease his team to a 16-8 win and one map lead in the series.

HEROIC made it three for three in pistol rounds, but were instantly on the back foot as Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov won a 2vs2 retake on B to tie it up. That second-round win propelled Na`Vi to a 5-1 start. Despite a mid-half push by the Danes, Natus Vincere took the half without much trouble even reaching double digits, 10-5.

Boombl4 and Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev got Natus Vincere their first pistol round of the series, the one HEROIC most needed, to inch closer to series point. Na`Vi dominated from there on out, not giving up a single round in the second half for a final 16-5 scoreline.