s1mple shines as NAVI squeeze past Cloud9

The Ukrainian prodigy put on a masterful performance to help his team to a narrow victory.

Natus Vincere got their ESL Pro League campaign off to a winning start as they edged past Cloud9 in a three-map thriller. The CIS giants have Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev to thank for avoiding a loss in their opening match of the tournament as they produced a disjointed performance for the majority of the series despite the Ukrainian's heroics.

Cloud9's players will be kicking themselves for letting the series go to a third map as it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they came close to pulling off a 2-0 upset. Still, they shouldn't be too disappointed with the final result, having shown clear improvements today after a string of lacklustre displays. The 'Colossus' can take some solace from their performance in the first two maps as they head into Saturday's clash against another CIS team, Gambit.

NAVI coach Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy praised Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy for his impact on Overpass after giving the youngster his first start on a map other than Inferno. "He has no experience, and the way he's playing inspires the other players," the 34-year-old said after the match. "We are far away from what we can be on Overpass, and I think he can do much more on this map."

The CIS team took an early lead on Overpass, Cloud9's map pick, but struggled to impose themselves on the game once both teams had money in the bank. It took a fantastic showing by s1mple (17-4 score, 130 ADR) for NAVI to keep things competitive as Cloud9 were clearly the better side, yet the half finished with a difference of only one round between the two sides.

The second half began a stunning P250 ace by b1t that put NAVI in the driving seat. The CIS giants took control of proceedings and shut down any chances of Cloud9 stringing rounds together, hitting map point at 15-11. Cloud9 responded in a 2v4 clutch by Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin and William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman and used that momentum to force overtime, but their efforts would be in vain as NAVI won two rounds in each half to secure the map.

The first half of Dust2 was almost a carbon copy of that of Overpass as NAVI looked flustered after a bright start. Cloud9 were in control for the majority of the half, but they couldn't get into double-digit territory as they met strong resistance from s1mple and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov, who combined for 28 frags, 74 percent of the team's total.

Cloud9 came out of the break still on the front foot, and quickly hit map point following a dominant 6-1 run. NAVI still attempted a response, but their comeback efforts were thwarted in the 25th round, when Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen and Erick "⁠Xeppaa⁠" Bach clutched a 2v4 situation.

The North American player opened the action on Nuke with a quad-kill to put Cloud9 ahead, but their lead wouldn't last long. NAVI took control of the game once they had guns in hand and steamrolled their way to a victory that still felt somewhat hollow in the end.