NAVI overcome Gambit to win BLAST Premier World Final

19-12-2021 22:18

The victory in the CIS derby completed the lower-bracket run and earned Natus Vincere their eighth title in 2021.

In the 13th and final meeting of the year between Natus Vincere and Gambit, Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and co. overcame their regional rivals to finish 2021 as the undisputed best team in the world.

A loss to Liquid in the opening match of the tournament sent Natus Vincere to the lower bracket early, but the No. 1 team in the world fought back with wins over HEROIC, G2, Liquid, and Vitality to reach the grand final. Gambit put up a much better performance than the last time the two teams met at the PGL Major, but the victory escaped them once again.

An impressive Mirage victory by Gambit started off proceedings, with the surprise pick of Ancient looking like the ticket for a quick 2-0 by the underdogs. However, Natus Vincere won key rounds on the second map to push things to Inferno, where they were by far the better side, taking the series and the tournament title.

NAVI finish 2021 with absolute dominance

Gambit's 3-0 CT lead on Mirage was cancelled out by Natus Vincere thanks to back-to-back multikills from Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy, with a tight period following. After 5-5, Gambit managed to take the lead thanks to strong play from the trio of Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov, Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov, and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov, while AWPer Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov had an underwhelming showing.

In the second half, Natus Vincere bounced back with the pistol but Gambit won the first buy and followed it up with a crucial 3v5 turnaround to put their opponents in the chokehold. s1mple and co. fought back, but eventelly lost their map pick 16-11 as Gambit's patient T side found success.

The Ancient pick backfired for Gambit

An early clutch from sh1ro paved the way for Gambit to win three rounds on the offensive side of the map (3-2), but CT domination followed. s1mple stood out for his team (15-6 K-D at half) but Gambit's late resurgence saw them grab a total of six rounds before the switch.

Natus Vincere continued their incredible pistol record at the event (80%+ win rate, 95%+ conversion) and closed in on the map victory with a good start to the T side (13-8) before a mixed-buy from Gambit gave nafany's team a way back into the map. Any momentum they were building was stolen away after b1t's triple on B which allowed Natus Vincere to claim the map 16-11.

After four competitive halves, Natus Vincere put their foot down on the CT side of Inferno, giving nothing away to Gambit. Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov topped the scoreboard for his team with an incredible display on Banana, while nafany's team round wins were few and far between. Adding insult to injury, s1mple and b1t won a 2v4 in the second pistol, leading to an early conclusion.

BLAST Premier World Final 2021Best of 3

Gambit

Matchpage

19th December 2021

Natus Vincere

Mirage

Ancient

Inferno

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov Ax1Le	50 - 51	-1	76.5	60.5%	1.02
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov nafany	49 - 58	-9	75.4	51.3%	0.95
Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov HObbit	47 - 53	-6	65.7	69.7%	0.90
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov sh1ro	40 - 50	-10	58.3	60.5%	0.84
Timofey 'interz' Yakushin interz	31 - 50	-19	52.4	61.8%	0.69

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev s1mple	77 - 40	+37	103.0	81.6%	1.62
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy b1t	54 - 36	+18	72.5	71.1%	1.15
Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov electroNic	50 - 50	0	81.2	71.1%	1.10
Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov Boombl4	47 - 47	0	67.9	64.5%	1.01
Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Perfecto	33 - 45	-12	53.0	69.7%	0.82

BLAST Premier World Final final standings:

1. Natus Vincere - $500,000
2. Gambit - $250,000
3. Vitality - $120,000
4. Liquid - $50,000
5-6. Astralis - $25,000
5-6. G2 - $25,000
7-8. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $15,000
7-8. HEROIC - $15,000

well played navi

2021-12-19 22:18

17 replies

EZ4NAVI

2021-12-19 22:20

7 replies

#NAVINATION #NAVIDAVI

2021-12-19 22:21

3 replies

+1 NO DOUBTS

2 replies

JUST LIKE LAST YEAR POG #NAVINATION

2021-12-19 22:42

1 reply

Astralis - champion

2021-12-20 00:34

HARD4SH0R0

2021-12-19 22:22

Ez BROTHER

2021-12-19 22:28

Well done, Navi. Although I rooted for Gambit.

2021-12-20 03:06

wp s1mple*

2021-12-19 22:23

6 replies

yes go fap on stats, XANTARES used to be #1 KDR for years, where is he tho

2021-12-19 22:24

5 replies

#1 where? In BIG? So where is BIG now?

2021-12-19 22:35

4 replies

I just remember hltv had that top players thing somewhere and there were bntet and xantares somewhere in top of best players based on stats

2021-12-19 22:36

Oh maybe

2021-12-19 22:37

Ya but those stats are every single match ever everyone knows filter by big events

2021-12-21 01:50

i cant believe youre that stupid lol, he was obviously referring to hltv stats idiot

2021-12-21 00:34

Good to see you again my friend ))

2021-12-19 22:27

u2 bro))

LETS GOOOOOOO

Ez for NAVI

ez4thegoat

Thanks for unbelievable season, guys. I knew NaVi could win tournaments, but I never expected THAT domination through year. Nothing more left to say honestly, just thank you.

Congrats!! See u with Astrality next year

2021-12-19 22:30

I bet it will be a great rivalry if it works out. Still be missing some signature "100% french team" in the tops tho.

2021-12-19 22:34

GGWP Well played Gambit, really impressive for a team of basically no-namers rookies. They dug deep and have my respect <3 Also, s1mple smashed almost every single grand final this year. Broke records and he's still going strong. Absolute best player of all time!

Considering a bit over a year ago Gambit were still known as Gambit Youngsters, they've come really far. Sure, they aren't winning quite like they were in the middle of 2021, but they haven't dropped off... We'll see if they can keep it up Agree about s1mple, like him or hate him, he's ridiculously consistent and manages to put up great numbers almost all the time. Deserves no.1 this year

2021-12-20 00:32

They'll be interesting to watch next year if they can gain some experience/LAN nerves. I expect them to be even stronger in 2022.

2021-12-20 02:32

Very proud of NaVi. Well deserved.

That was a better showing by Gambit vs NAVI this time around, winning the 1st map and getting to double digits on the 2nd one, before finally getting rekt on the 3rd one. That NAVI's run through the lower bracket to winning yet another title says a lot in itself and was too impressive. Congratz to NAVI and congratz to Gambit placing 2nd on LAN, that's huge for them. GG BB for today and GL HF in the future!

2021-12-19 22:19

POGGERS

Blad3 did it again !

Sh1ro top2 my ass 😅

+1 top4 would be big surprise for this online clown

S1mple Zywoo/Niko Niko/Zywoo ??who's 4th then?? Axile or b1t or electronic??

2021-12-20 11:51

Shiro will be 2 3 zywoo will be neither

2021-12-21 01:52

Zywoo is definitely at least top3 this year.

2021-12-21 11:33

Well played from both sides asham it wasn't a decent last map

BEST JUST BEST

so ez

+37 s1mple w t f !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NAVI ERA GODS!!! S1mple #1 GOATTTTTTTTTTT

GGWP

sh0ro top2 2021 🤡

sh0r0 top4 (max)

They did to the final

Zywoo & Niko still better this year

2021-12-19 22:26

I agree but it was not this final that decided that

Yeah, for me it was clear even before this final, but something tells me he still gonna get top 2 hltv because he farmed enough online mvps

2021-12-19 22:33

We got both but i guess if its mvp worthy everything from the event is being counted

2021-12-19 22:39

S1mple + B1t = batman + robin = messi + ronaldo = God + Jesus

GOAT

s1mple wins again

Another mvp it is then lol

Broke dev1ce's record of 2018

2021-12-20 11:52

Oh really? Unlucko

2021-12-20 16:14

Nt gambit, now sit down !! Another MVP for the GOAT

+11

2021-12-20 11:53

NEW ERA 2021

EZ FOR THE GOAT, humiliated the overrated team

+1 ez smash these toxic t2 onliners with their toxic fanboys gamb0t

2021-12-19 22:25

Nafany screaming like an animal every round they win!! Lmao so fking cringe!!

NAV11111111111 <3

GG Na' Vi truly the best team in the world navi era ez

EZ ERA

Another mvp for the goat <3

+37 s1mple (WHAT THE HELLLLLLL?!) + beat device's record of MVPs per year!

I think they're tied

2021-12-19 22:29

no, he already beaten the record

8-7 in a year and 19-19 total

EXPECTED

1.62 in final so noob omg why s0mple so bad?

not even 2.0... that's your goat? XDDDDDD

2021-12-20 02:02

wtf why no 100 kills? so trash...

2021-12-20 09:12

bruh too bad... not even close to the real GOAT. FORSAKEN >>>>>>>> s0mple

2021-12-20 13:42

THE CIS YEAR also GOAT S1MPLE

NAVI YEAR* S1mple's YEAR* + NAVI ERA*

Guessing good coaching by Blad3 and Boomich's IGLing gotta be a big part of the win and not just the massive fragging department.

S1mple and Co are just too good

GOAT and the rats

sh0ro is nothing compared to s1mple and zywoo!

and nikola chokola

He is not, and that is normal. How many players are there like s1mple and zywoo?

2021-12-19 23:16

Niko is up there with just a rifle!!

2021-12-20 11:55

proud of my team

must be proud to be NAVI fan dude... such a huge history.. all these years of non-stop fighting on TOP of TOP

thx dude, huge respect!

2021-12-20 00:31

The 5 best players in the world are all in Natus Vincere

twitter.com/Thorin/status/14726791066009..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BOOM! LOVE YOU!! DAVAYE NA`VI !!

Well played Gambit and congratulations to Na'Vi for overcoming the lower bracket to become the winners. :D s1mple to break yet another record with the 8th MVP medal of the year! :)

b1t 100% LAN win rate in 2021

B1T is aim god + best headshot machine

Dimitrii won fantasy Pog

rigged

s1mple even cheers up his haters What a GIGA CHAD

2021-12-19 22:31

Great year of CS by Natus Vincere, cheers to all fans!. See you in 2022 with more NaVi-Vita matches.

2021-12-19 22:32

I am so excited about new Vitality!

Navi era. B1t best roster move of all time?

Magisk then b1t

2021-12-20 11:56

+1 b1t besterestest

2021-12-20 20:23

It was awesome performance. So happy for their win. Cannot stop smiling, :D

Amazing!!!!!!

ggwp

Prize money +5% to Ukraine's gdp lol

NaVi 2021 better than BIG 2020 I have to admit.

Big top1 hltv never forget

2021-12-19 22:46

<333 men those were good times))

2021-12-19 22:58

EG top1 too in 2019 OMEGALUL

2021-12-20 02:40

overrated

2021-12-20 03:55

Good job NaVi,Gambit also proving that onliners is not right term for them.

2021-12-19 22:40

expected

NaVi by far THE best team in the world and one of THE best rosters of ALL TIME. Nothing much to say about s1mple other than dude's absolutely insane. He's literally "built different". GOAT status and it's not even close. Well deserved finish to the year. GGWP

At this point they just need more majors to compete with astralis and fnatic, only sucks that majors happen so rarely compared to before when we had like 3 per year I think?

2021-12-19 22:48

Agreed. And yeah, we had 3 majors per year in the very early days of CSGO. But nowadays, I don't think we'll see more than 2 per year, even if that. I have a feel Valve might try and stick to 1 major per year and make it a big event like The International in DotA. Although that would mean more teams, bigger time frame, etc. But all things considered, 2022 is looking more exciting than ever for CS.

Gg wp, another pic for blad3 insta

2021-12-19 22:45

1. Russia Natus Vincere - $500,000 2. Russia Gambit - $250,000 Enjoy your X-MAS presents boys!

2021-12-19 22:47

GG NaVi but Sh1r0 needs step up in big games, very poor game from him

2021-12-19 22:52

2021-12-19 23:22

ggwp I WAS HERE #NAVIERA

2021-12-19 22:53

2021-12-20 11:58

After all the heartbreaks and pain of 2020 and early 2021 losses to gambit. I never expected NaVi to have an era with unmatched dominance! so happy for my boys and hoping for more fun in 2022. gg)

2021-12-19 22:55

Well played both teams! Hope Gambit will finish top 2 in 2021. Glad that Ax1Le's been playing well last two tournaments. I wish Sh1ro could close the gap between him and S1mple a bit. Time is on his side though.

2021-12-19 23:27

GG Navi !! What a great year !! I hope a lot of teams catch up next year with those roster changes everywhere, so we get to see an exciting scene !! Lets go Navi!! Born to win!!

2021-12-19 23:21