Cloud9 triumph in grudge match with NAVI

Three ex-NAVI players claimed bragging rights over their old team.

Cloud9 have secured a playoff berth at the BLAST Premier Fall Final with a close 2-1 battle with Natus Vincere, winning Anubis (13-11) and Inferno (13-9) either side of a loss on Ancient (9-13).

The first two maps were characterized by strong T sides, with the team bagging the most offensive rounds claiming the victory. On Inferno the result came down to Cloud9's successful defense, however Natus Vincere will lament the fact they let Cloud9 get to series point so early as the European squad seriously threatened a comeback on their own defensive effort.

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov seemed revitalized as Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov made his LAN debut with Cloud9, and the Russian side will be hoping the new constellation they have put together can continue to unlock electroNic. Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov had a strong debut for Natus Vincere, but ultimately it was in vain.

Cloud9 move on to face FaZe in the upper bracket, whilst Natus Vincere will fight for their tournament lives against Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023
23/11/2023	Ninjas in Pyjamas 10:00 Natus Vincere	Match
23/11/2023	FaZe 12:30 Cloud9	Match

The series began on Anubis, and Natus Vincere were made to regret their pick. The European side ran out to a 4-0 lead but Cloud9's aggressive defensive approach hauled them back into contention quickly, with electroNic leading the way.

Natus Vincere did enough to secure a narrow win on their T half, but Cloud9 were just a tad better on their own offense, largely due to the potency of electroNic and their superiority in gun rounds; Natus Vincere won both pistols, but still lost the game 11-13.

Natus Vincere fought back on their opponent's pick of Ancient, although it didn't seem that would be the case early doors. Natus Vincere struggled to get things going on their CT half, suffering in particular due to two big clutches from Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy and Boombl4.

The script was flipped completely as the sides switched with Natus Vincere running riot on their offense to the tune of 9-1, securing a 13-9 win. Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius deserves immense credit for winning a 1v3 of his own early in the half to maintain momentum.

Over on Inferno Cloud9 came out swinging, winning their first pistol of the of the match on CT side and marching to a dominant 8-4 half victory thanks to their potent crossfires, mixed in with occasional aggression.

It seemed Cloud9 would romp to the series win as they won another pistol to race out to series point, but once Natus Vincere got guns up on their defense, they started to work their way back into the map. Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan put in serious work holding the A bombsite, and helped Natus Vincere take five rounds in a row, but it was not enough to prevent Cloud9 rushing B to close out a 13-9 win.