Eternal Fire's Katowice run ended by NAVI

A convincing second and third map kept the series in NAVI's hands.

Natus Vincere's individuals bounced back to form with a 2-1 victory over Eternal Fire, continuing their lower bracket run and setting up a third-placed decider against Falcons.

Their last match was a labored victory over Apeks, with the rifling trio of Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy, Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan, and Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius having their struggles, but the whole squad bounced back in the latter two-thirds of the series and now they have their sights firmly set on Spodek.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2024
06/02/2024	Falcons 16:30 Natus Vincere	Match

Eternal Fire, on the flip side, are left eliminated and lamenting their missed chances in multiple overtimes against FaZe and today versus Natus Vincere after going 1-0 up in the best of three.

Signs of frustration within the Turkish squad became more common as the series went on, and the squad ended the tournament in disappointing fashion after impressing so much in wins over BetBoom and Falcons.

"I'm really sad about tonight. I don't have any excuse," Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli said post-game. "I didn't feel like my team was having a good day, our energy was a bit low."

Nuke began with Natus Vincere winning both pistols but otherwise struggling, missing Outside smokes in multiple rounds and forcing Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen to start throwing two grenades himself.

Eternal Fire also displayed their low-buy prowess that has haunted teams all tournament, and their six-round streak at the start of their CT half put them out of reach of a disjointed NAVI.

The switch to Mirage came with a renewed energy in the Europeans, whose individuals stepped up with elimination on the line. Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov provided a stable base as he had done all event long, but the addition of impact from iM and b1t ensured an easy map for Natus Vincere.

The storyline for NAVI in Katowice and 2024 has been of poor CT sides and strong T ones, and that was true of Mirage, but on Anubis improved individual form enabled Aleksib's side to a 5-5 scoreline at the start of their defensive half.

There, the defining moment of the match happened as Aleksib stuck the defuse in a 5vs5 retake on the B site, the noise masked by a CT flashbang as EF lost focus in the chaos. The Finnish IGL had just one kill at the time, but his defuse provided all the impact anyone could ask for.

The T side bias is a trend the side are aware of, with jL joking post-match that "if NAVI gets 7 rounds on CT Anubis, how can you not feel confident? We've won games with three rounds."

From there it was elementary, as NAVI displayed their T side prowess with little competition from an exhausted and mentally drained Eternal Fire. Aleksib's side won eight on the trot for a 13-5 win, and a crucial confidence boost ahead of an all-or-nothing bout with Falcons next.