Natus Vincere kick off EPL with victory over Spirit

The Ukrainian-majority team took down their CIS counterparts without much trouble.

Natus Vincere got off to a strong start in Group A at ESL Pro League Season 16, besting Spirit 2-0 in the opening game of the 24-team tournament. The Ukrainian-majority squad will look to keep the ball rolling as they're set to face off against fnatic Thursday at 16:00 in their second group stage game.

Natus Vincere were firmly in control for much of the affair, only allowing their foes nine and eleven rounds on the two maps. Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev also had few issues in the game against his former team of four years, averaging a 1.10 rating across the two maps.

Spirit, meanwhile, fell to Natus Vincere in what was their first official match since IEM Cologne back in July. Their newest recruit in Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov continues to be a worthwhile investment as the Ukrainian youngster put up a team-high 1.24 rating throughout the series, with their second-best player, Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev, being a fair bit behind at 1.05.

The two teams paid a visit to Spirit's pick of Nuke to get things underway. The Russian-majority lineup hit the ground running on the T-side to drum up a promising 5-1 start. Heroic defensive plays by both Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev clawed Natus Vincere back into the game, though, allowing the team to tie things up at 5-5. The remainder of the half continued to lean in Natus Vincere's favour with electroNic and company posting four of the remaining five rounds to lead 9-6 at half-time.

Natus Vincere didn't let off the gas at the onset of their T-side, with Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy and s1mple in particular having profound impact as their potent fragging powered the roster to an 12-8 showing. A diligent rest of the offense, which ended with hits on both the upper and lower site, scuppered any chance of a Spirit recovery, as Natus Vincere closed the map out 16-11 to send the series to Dust2.

Natus Vincere began steamrolling their opponents once Dust2 rolled around, brushing aside Spirit's defenses to jump out to a 7-1 T-side advantage. w0nderful's consistent AWPing, with five opening picks, dragged his team back into the game somewhat, but this didn't stop Natus Vincere from continuing to pile on the pressure, as they headed into their CT-side with a commanding 11-4 lead.

There, Natus Vincere looked poised to close out the game with ease, overturning a Spirit pistol round win with three of their own to reach 14-5. The hard task of beginning the comeback fell on magixx's shoulders, with the 19-year-old leading his team with 22 kills to bring the Russian-majority lineup to 9-14. Alas, Natus Vincere put a stop to any chance at a visit to a third map by shutting down Spirit's attempted hits onto the A and B sites to win 16-9 and go 1-0 in Group A.