NAVI advance to IEM Katowice playoffs; send Liquid to lower bracket

The North American side now face stiff competition for the single playoff spot on offer in the lower bracket.

Natus Vincere are through to the Spodek Arena following a 2-0 victory over Liquid in the upper bracket semi-final of Group A. The Ukrainian side were relentless on their own pick of Inferno and emerged from the map with a dominant 16-5 victory, but needed an extra set of rounds to take Anubis over the line (19-17) to clinch their spot in the playoffs of IEM Katowice.

The victory marks the first time NAVI have beaten Liquid in a best-of-three in almost exactly a year, their last series win dating back to BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2022. Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's side struggled against the North American team for much of that year, but came out of the gates swinging in this series to book a spot in the bracket stage. Whether they get to start their run in the arena from the semi-finals or quarter-finals is yet to be determined, with the team set to face G2 on Tuesday at 16:00 in the upper bracket final to decide where their playoff run will commence.

Liquid have made the task of making the IEM Katowice playoffs extremely difficult for themselves after faltering to NAVI. Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's troops must now fight through a stacked lower bracket that includes FaZe, Cloud9, Spirit, and IHC, with only one team advancing to the bracket stage. IHC may well deal with Cloud9 and ease up the pressure slightly, but Liquid must first move past Spirit in their next match on Monday at 19:30 to keep their tournament hopes alive.

electronic mustered a 1.31 rating with immense impact in the series

Inferno was a brutal affair from start to finish as Liquid couldn't find an answer to Natus Vincere's T side for much of the first half. Opening kills from Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm were repeatedly squandered, only one out of five of them resulting in a round win, and NAVI quickly established a monumental lead off the back of stellar multi-fragging from s1mple, Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy, and Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy to go up 12-3. The slaughter continued after the side swap, and Liquid could only add a pistol round and subsequent conversion to their tally before NAVI got right back into the driver's seat to bring the map to a swift end, 16-5.

Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis rose to the occasion to pull Liquid out of freefall on Anubis, five rounds on the trot offering the North American side an early lead on their map pick. NAVI put a halt to Liquid's attacking effort on round six to get their first round on the board, with multi-kills from Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov in ensuing rounds allowing the Ukrainian side to briefly pull ahead, 6-5.

A phenomenal ace and 1vs3 clutch from YEKINDAR allowed Liquid to regain control, however, and the momentum from that victory — and further multi-kill rounds from the Latvian — enabled Liquid to establish a 9-6 lead at the break.

Liquid maintained momentum after the side swap, winning the second pistol round and ensuing anti-eco to extend their lead to 11-6. A reply to NAVI's first gun round win further increased the gap between the teams by another two rounds, 13-7, but their drive faded from there.

s1mple, electroNic, and b1t came alive and cracked open bombsites round after round to get NAVI back in the running, and although big rounds from YEKINDAR, oSee, and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic allowed Liquid to force overtime, it was NAVI who ultimately ended up edging out victory, 19-17.

IEM Katowice 2023Best of 3

Natus Vincere

Matchpage

2

0

5th February 2023

Liquid

16

Inferno

5

19

Anubis

17

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	45 - 37	+8	90.0	77.2%	1.31
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	43 - 29	+14	74.9	68.4%	1.29
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiyb1t	40 - 34	+6	72.0	80.7%	1.16
Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyinpl	30 - 34	-4	61.0	70.2%	0.95
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	25 - 30	-5	51.5	73.7%	0.91

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	44 - 39	+5	87.3	70.2%	1.16
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	34 - 35	-1	66.6	73.7%	0.97
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	31 - 31	0	51.4	71.9%	0.96
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	32 - 39	-7	65.6	66.7%	0.84
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	22 - 40	-18	55.2	66.7%	0.71