NAVI eliminate OG from IEM Cologne; set up FaZe fixture

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and company will play FaZe for tournament survival.

Natus Vincere live to fight another day thanks to their 2-1 victory over OG in the lower bracket, eliminating their opponents from IEM Cologne 2023. The two squads traded map picks on Anubis (16-13) and Inferno (11-16) before Aleksib's men were able to secure the series on Ancient (16-10).

The victory means Natus Vincere will take on FaZe on Tuesday at 12:30 following Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and company's loss to G2. Both squads are fan favorites, but only one will earn the privilege of playing in the Lanxess Arena on Friday.

The series started on OG's pick of Anubis, and Natus Vincere wasted no time taking the initiative, stealing the pistol round before a string of attacks on the A bombsite. OG had no answer to the aggression, even with a double-AWP setup with Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău and Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne. Despite his team's struggles, the Romanian marksman was the standout player during the half with a 1.29 rating, but his efforts paled in comparison to Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy and Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's output on their way to an 11-4 lead.

OG showed signs of life after swapping to the T side, courtesy of Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen's incredible offensive performance while Natus Vincere found modest defensive success thanks to CT aggression towards the A site. The offense crawled their way back to a 13-15 scoreline before Aleksib's side was finally able to close out the map thanks to Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan's 1v2 clutch.

Inferno started off competitive between the two squads as Natus Vincere struggled to find consistent success on the T side and OG pulled off a fierce defense despite b1t's heroics. nexa had an explosive CT performance, registering a 1.68 rating and a 19-8 K-D to power his team to a 7-8 scoreline before the break.

The second half quickly turned into one-way traffic in favor of OG as they executed a solid offense while their individuals stepped up to the challenge. regali and k1to both had moments of magic in the second half, leading the line for their team as they strung together six consecutive rounds on their way to a 16-11 victory.

Natus Vincere quickly found their footing after moving to Ancient's CT ideas they claimed the opening pistol round as well as the next three wins that followed it. Aleksib's men easily took map control around mid in the early stages of the match, and b1t exploited the area to perfection, skyrocketing to the top of the scoreboard from the very start.

The teams switched sides with a 10-5 scoreline in favor and despite a short OG resurgence in the late game, Natus Vincere were able to clutch a few late rounds to secure match point. The Ts managed to close the game with a quick A rush, overwhelming the defenders to claim the series in style.