NAVI defeat Gambit to advance to EPIC League CIS playoffs

The world No.1 will have one more chance to progress to the next stage in the final round of group matches.

Natus Vincere have secured passage to the EPIC League CIS playoffs after taking down Gambit 2-0 in the fourth round of the Swiss group stage. The clash between the top two ranked teams in the world, who had last met in the DreamHack Masters Spring grand final, saw Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev & co. edge out their opponents in a highly-contested Dust2 (16-14) before comfortably locking down Train (16-10) following a dominant CT side.

With this result, Natus Vincere have guaranteed a playoff spot after concluding their group record with three wins and one loss, while Gambit will have it all to do in the fifth and final round of the Swiss stage.

Boombl4 led the way for NAVI

Gambit opened their opponents’ map pick of Dust2 brightly, as a flawless CT pistol spiralled into a 6-0 start against minimal resistance. Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov came alive with a couple of successful entry rounds to get his team off the mark, and the rest of the squad followed suit as Natus Vincere went on a strong run of their own to bring the scoreline to 5-7. A Timofey "⁠interz⁠" Yakushin 3K ensured an eighth round and the half for Gambit, although NAVI’s damage control brought the deficit to a solitary round.

NAVI's slow start appeared to be a distant memory as their momentum continued into their defence for a 12-11 lead. Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and company buckled down and racked up four in a row to approach map point, but NAVI, spearheaded by a razor-sharp Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy (81.8% headshot percentage), refused to roll over and concede as they stole victory from under Gambit’s noses.

With map one under their belt, Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy’s men were brimming with confidence heading into Train. The DreamHack Masters Spring champions pulled no punches on the CT side and completely overwhelmed Gambit for a commanding 13-2 advantage at the midway point, rapidly securing series point as the two teams swapped sides. Staring defeat in the face, Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov’s troops regrouped and put on a solid defence, but the deficit proved too much as NAVI soon closed out proceedings 16-10.

EPIC League CIS 2021Best of 3

Natus Vincere

Matchpage

2

0

21st May 2021

Gambit

16

Dust2

14

16

Train

10

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	43 - 34	+9	85.1	73.2%	1.25
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	41 - 33	+8	71.5	71.4%	1.14
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	34 - 34	0	79.6	75.0%	1.13
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiyb1t	38 - 30	+8	65.9	76.8%	1.12
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	32 - 32	0	71.2	71.4%	1.00

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	43 - 36	+7	92.1	66.1%	1.18
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	37 - 40	-3	73.8	76.8%	1.02
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	31 - 36	-5	58.9	66.1%	0.90
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	29 - 36	-7	55.3	69.6%	0.85
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	22 - 40	-18	45.4	51.8%	0.60

Natus Vincere join the first two teams who made it out of the Swiss stage, Spirit and FORZE, as well as Akuma, who were spearheaded by the in-form Dmytro "⁠SENSEi⁠" Shvorak in their 2-1 round match against K23, in the double-elimination playoff bracket, scheduled for May 24-30.

Group A

3W - 0L

Spirit

FORZE

3W - 1L

Natus Vincere

Akuma

2W - 1L

Entropiq

Virtus.pro

2W - 2L

K23

Gambit

1W - 2L

Nemiga

Trident

1win

IN.GAME

ex-Marlian

bankaPEPSI

0W - 3L

100PG

GROND