ESL One: Road to Rio - CISSyman triumph over NAVI; Hard Legion take down Virtus.pro in Road to Rio
Natus Vincere were handed their second defeat in ESL One: Road to Rio - CIS as Syman managed an upset, with Hard Legion's win over Virtus.pro tying all six teams in group B at two wins from four games.
Earlier this week, a confident victory over pro100 restored some faith in Natus Vincere's form following their upset-loss to Virtus.pro, but things looked shaky for the CIS powerhouse again today as they met Syman, the lowest-ranked team in their group (#59).
The squad that added Rustem "mou" Telepov and Rasmus "kreaz" Johansson to finalize their roster in February after the departure of Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy outclassed Natus Vincere on their own map pick, Overpass (16-4), suffered a narrow defeat on Dust2 (14-16), and closed out the series after a dominant T-side on Train, (16-12).
Denis "electroNic" Sharipov and Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev were the main driving forces behind Natus Vincere's Dust2 victory, posting a 1.74 and 1.73 rating respectively, but couldn't repeat that on Train where Sanzhar "neaLaN" Iskhakov's squad outplayed them tactically, and denied the second-half comeback attempt.
 Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 73 - 51 | +22 | 87.9 | 76.9% | 1.37 | |
| 59 - 50 | +9 | 88.9 | 73.1% | 1.22 | |
| 42 - 54 | -12 | 60.0 | 67.9% | 0.85 | |
| 43 - 56 | -13 | 63.9 | 64.1% | 0.84 | |
| 35 - 51 | -16 | 60.6 | 65.4% | 0.82 |
 Syman |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 - 49 | +11 | 78.5 | 69.2% | 1.14 | |
| 59 - 58 | +1 | 80.4 | 71.8% | 1.10 | |
| 46 - 43 | +3 | 70.2 | 74.4% | 1.10 | |
| 52 - 48 | +4 | 71.5 | 71.8% | 1.09 | |
| 45 - 54 | -9 | 66.3 | 66.7% | 0.92 |
Hard Legion (#50) also picked up an upset victory, taking down the inconsistent Virtus.pro (#22) who followed up their win over Natus Vincere with BO3 defeats to Sprout and Apeks.
In the Road to Rio series, Hard Legion managed a CT side comeback on Overpass, powered by their latest signing Dmitry "rAge" Bolotov, to start the series 1-0 up, before an inspired Inferno from Dzhami "Jame" Ali and Timur "buster" Tulepov equalized the series score. After two fairly contested maps, Hard Legion put up a wall on the CT side of Train (14-1), making it just a matter of time before they closed it out (16-9).
 Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61 - 56 | +5 | 82.4 | 69.9% | 1.13 | |
| 56 - 57 | -1 | 68.8 | 72.3% | 1.03 | |
| 50 - 45 | +5 | 61.1 | 69.9% | 0.99 | |
| 45 - 56 | -11 | 68.4 | 68.7% | 0.89 | |
| 47 - 61 | -14 | 66.1 | 63.9% | 0.86 |
 Hard Legion |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68 - 45 | +23 | 79.5 | 69.9% | 1.26 | |
| 56 - 53 | +3 | 79.6 | 71.1% | 1.07 | |
| 51 - 52 | -1 | 76.7 | 75.9% | 1.00 | |
| 52 - 55 | -3 | 66.9 | 71.1% | 0.99 | |
| 47 - 56 | -9 | 61.6 | 57.8% | 0.87 |
With today's two underdog victories, all six teams in the group are now tied at six points from four matches played. That makes the last playday, which takes place on Sunday, May 10th, all-important in deciding which three teams will go to the playoffs.
Espada
pro100
Michał 'snatchie' Rudzki
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
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ShawnM
BRAZlL
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MSL_Deserves_Major
YEKINDARisUnderrated
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Carsten_Stahl
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Kirb
valeriaf0x
Pedro_Betacock
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POk3R_rEf0cus
namSgg
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Rhenie
JUNG13
DeadFinger
ZywOo_TOP1_2019_2020_2021_2022
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ZinedineZyw0o
Megustalalechuga
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herocoolzzz
CRY_ME_MIBR
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WuammarWaddafi
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I_HATE_MUSLIMS
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Haoyuan
Martis
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randomguywitha$500haircut
Ozimandias
Choke_And_Load
NaVi_DISBAND_FFS
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DreamsAndVisions
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camarena401
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BnTeT_Polish
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subzera
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get_baited_cry_is_free
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LoOuU2
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Megobari
alwayslove22
kappad0g
Denysis
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lemuig
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dreamingLow
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veasih
VssVK
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So_Dumm
DemetriusTerrance
