NAVI ease past BIG in BLAST Premier Fall upper bracket

The CIS squad march on to the upper bracket semi-finals unfazed, knocking the Germans to the elimination bracket.

Natus Vincere have come out victorious in their first match since winning the PGL Major in Stockholm, taking BIG out without a hitch in the BLAST Premier Fall Final upper bracket quarter-final, their opening match at the event in Copenhagen.

The CIS squad did so by winning two quick maps, Dust2 (16-4) and Nuke (16-11), to secure a spot in the next round of the upper bracket, where they will go up against HEROIC on Thursday at 15:00 .

BIG on the other hand will be up against the ropes on Friday at 13:30 , when they will face FaZe in the first round of the lower bracket for survival at the event.

The series kicked off on the German team’s pick, but it was Natus Vincere who took control from the get go as Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company went 5-0 before BIG could make a B play stick. NAVI didn’t fret on the CT side, however, and continued to rack up rounds, giving just one more to take a 13-2 lead going into the switch. With such a gap in the scoreboard, it didn’t take long for Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy’s men to secure the map, 16-4.

BIG tried to strike back early on in the second map, Nuke, winning the CT side pistol round and following it up, but Natus Vincere were quick to regain their footing on a map in which they carried an 18 win streak, and started to rack up the rounds on the attack with Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy going on a tear early on, although BIG were able to keep things close winning five of the last seven rounds.

Natus Vincere won the three first rounds of the second half before BIG put forth their best attempt at making things competitive, winning three of their own, but from there on out it was Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov and company who set the pace with an impressive b1t at the helm, as the youngster ended the 16-11 victory with 29 kills.