NAVI overcome Astralis, set up first place decider against Heroic

Both Natus Vincere and HEROIC enter the final day of Group D with no losses and a showdown for the group's top spot.

Natus Vincere welcomed back their in-game leader, Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov, with a hard-fought win over Astralis in their ESL Pro League group stage match. The Russian-Ukrainian powerhouse proved why they are ranked as the world's best team at the end of a back-and-forth series, picking up Ancient 16-4, narrowly dropping their map pick of Nuke, 14-16, and taking Inferno 16-13 after mounting an impressive comeback.

Their victory places a lot on the line for both themselves and HEROIC heading into the decisive series, as the two squads face off with the eventual winner securing a 5-0 record and direct advancement into the tournament's quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Astralis' loss sees them sit on a 2-2 record heading into the final day, where an encounter with Complexity, who are also in contention of the final EPL playoff spot, awaits them. A victory against the North American side would ensure the Danes a playoffs spot, but even a single map win would be enough in case AGO beat Evil Geniuses in the final round.

The series opened on Astralis' map pick of Ancient, where Natus Vincere took the first pistol round and got off to a good start, leading the Danes 4-1 early on. Despite winning twice more, Astralis quickly fell behind due to excellent fragging from Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov. Natus Vincere's defense just proved too troublesome as s1mple's 20 kills helped his side enter halftime leading 12-3.

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Boombl4 back in action on day 4 of EPL Group D

After swapping sides, Natus Vincere wasted no time in getting the rounds they needed to take their rivals' map pick, winning pistol and the next three out of four rounds to wrap up Ancient 16-4 in their favor.

Nuke was up next, and the game started off with Natus Vincere getting off to an early 4-0 lead. Astralis were then able to turn things around, winning eight consecutive rounds and eventually leading by halftime, 9-6, on the back of Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's 17 kills at that point. Astralis were quickly able to secure control of the second half, negating Natus Vincere's success on the first two rounds after the swap to amass a 15-9 lead over the Russian-Ukrainian team.

Astralis secured six map points by going up 15-9, yet Natus Vincere were able to pull back and take five straight rounds, bringing the game to a 14-15 score line on the brink of OT. The Danes made good on the 30th round and won Nuke after a fantastic display of teamwork and execution on their T-side, winning 16-14 and sending the series to a deciding third map on Inferno.

Astralis opened Inferno with a successful B-site retake starting on the defensive, and quickly made their mark on the game, scoring eight straight rounds before Natus Vincere could get their first round on the board. The Danish team led by halftime, up 11-4 in their biggest lead of the series yet.

The second half saw a resurgence from Natus Vincere, who won the opening six rounds as CT-side, denying Astralis' attempts to take site. Their T-side deficit was completely erased, as they managed to win 12 out of the 14 rounds played after swapping sides in absolutely convincing fashion to take the map and the series.