NAVI defeat Outsiders; to face Heroic in IEM Katowice semi-finals

Natus Vincere continue to improve with their new addition Andrii "⁠npl⁠" Kukharskyi.

Natus Vincere have defeated Outsiders 2-0 in the first IEM Katowice quarter-final. They were made to work for their victory on both maps, winning Overpass 16-13 and closing out the series on Inferno with a 16-12 scoreline after a dominant Terrorist side. Natus Vincere now move on to the semi-final in Katowice, where they will face HEROIC. The match is set to be played on Saturday at 15:30 , with the winner securing a spot in Sunday's best-of-five final.

Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev was unsurprisingly the best performer in the series with a 1.17 rating, while npl also had an impressive performance on his stage debut. The 17-year-old averaged a 0.99 rating but was especially impactful on both CT sides, where he had a much higher 1.30 rating. "Our style is really good against Outsiders, which helped us feel comfortable," the youngster said in the post-match interview.

This is the end of the road in Katowice for Outsiders, fought through Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG, and Complexity to complete their lower-bracket run and qualify for the Spodek Arena in their debut event with Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin. They were no match for the CIS juggernauts, however, despite Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's 1.30-rated performance.

The game began on Overpass and it was Natus Vincere who were quicker out of the gates, powered by their youngest member npl, who got a triple-kill in the pistol. The Ukrainian side weathered the first force buy but dropped the next to KaiR0N-'s saved AK-47. A back-and-forth followed as four rounds in a row ended in saves, the scoreline standing at 4-3 in Natus Vincere's favor after the opening exchanges. It was then that s1mple was let off the leash, as the Ukrainian superstar found opening kills three rounds in a row to put his team in an 8-3 lead.

Outsiders kept up their usual playstyle and clawed away at the NAVI economy, with a single round win at 4-8 putting their opponents' buy in disarray. That enabled Jame and company to come back into the game, going into their CT side just three rounds behind.

Outsiders won the second-half pistol to get within one round of Natus Vincere, who were quick to get back on the board with a flawless win in the first gun round. Natus Vincere then dropped a round In a way that characterized their older teams, as they ran out of time in a 4vs2 situation and were unable to plant the bomb. That misplay helped Outsiders take the lead, 11-10.

The teams continued to trade blows with whatever weapons they could muster together and the scoreline remained incredibly close, but it was Natus Vincere who closed out the game by the skin of their teeth with a 16-13 scoreline to move the series to Inferno.

Outsiders got off to a lightning start on Inferno, choosing to begin the map on the attack. A pistol-round win gave them the upper hand in the economy game and they rode that momentum to find themselves 5-1 up. Natus Vincere did stabilize on their map pick and strung three in a row, but were kept honest in terms of economy.

Outsiders' constant saves and economic pressure paid off as a round win got them back into the driver's seat, allowing them to reach eight rounds and make their first-half victory certain. Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy was the player to have the final say of the half with a 1vs2 clutch, however, meaning his team went into their offense down by just one round.

Natus Vincere showed why Inferno is by far their most-played map in the last three months as Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov found a triple-kill with a Tec-9 in the forcebuy after the pistol-round loss. They dominated their T-side and stopped Outsiders from stringing any rounds together.

Natus Vincere increased their advantage and converted several disadvantageous situations in which electroNic was usually the man to deliver the deciding kill even though he had an otherwise quiet map. The Natus Vincere IGL was also the man to get his team over the line with an ace in the final round, booking his team a spot in the semi-final.