NAVI beat Vitality to qualify for BLAST Fall Final

Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev played just two maps upon returning to help his team advance.

Natus Vincere are through to the BLAST Premier Fall Final after taking down Vitality in their gauntlet bracket final, claiming victory in 2-0 fashion (16-10 Inferno, 16-13 Mirage) to make good on s1mple's return after he missed the initial group stage.

The loss casts Vitality down to the last chance stage, where they will take on G2 in a rematch for another spot at the Fall Final. The Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen-led side had taken Vitality to three maps in their gauntlet matchup, but were not convincing in the series whatsoever, with the Danish in-game leader in particular struggling alongside Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage as they were blown out on Vertigo and Inferno. The rematch is slated for 20:00 on Sunday, the last match of the BLAST Fall group stage from which the loser will be sent to the brutal single-elimination Showdown.

It was Vitality's pick of Inferno where things got underway, with the team jumping out to an early lead as they converted a pistol round into a 5-2 start. A triple kill and 1vs2 clutch from Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov allowed Natus Vincere to get their foot in the door, and that gap was used to wrench it open, further multi-frag rounds from the in-game leader giving them the momentum needed to win out the half and pull ahead, 9-6.

Three multi-kill rounds from Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen allowed Vitality to tie up the score after the side swap, but there was little offered beyond that as Natus Vincere quickly got back to winning ways, decimating the international team's defenses and recovering a few man-disadvantage situations en route to a 16-10 finish.

Mirage was a more contentious affair, although it didn't look as much at the onset as NAVI continued to lay waste to Vitality's defenses with a strong set of opening T side rounds. It was only at the dying moments of the half that Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's men stabilized, winning the last four rounds to bring themselves within one round of the Ukrainian composition as they sides swapped over.

NAVI's edge was extended to 11-7 after the break, but it seemed like Vitality were recovering as they began to mount a small comeback, fighting back from deficits and trading out kills effectively to keep themselves in contention. Just when it seemed they would truly run with that momentum and come back to force a third map though, s1mple stepped up to deny, sniping down three Vitality members to win a 1vs3 clutch and turn the tides for NAVI. Still, Vitality had a shot at fighting back, but again their opportunity was denied by Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy on the B bombsite, who gunned down three to give his team match point before they closed things out.