NAVI advance to the LANXESS with Astralis stomp

iM and jL deliver in spades as Natus Vincere move into playoffs and extend their Mirage win streak to 11.

Natus Vincere are the first team into IEM Cologne's playoffs after convincing wins over paiN and now Astralis (13-4, 13-7) in Group A.

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's squad have dropped just 19 rounds in four maps as the No. 1 side ripped through IEM Cologne's group stage to secure a top-six berth, at least.

A semi-final spot is now one series away, with Natus Vincere set to be heavy favorites against one of The MongolZ or SAW.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024
13/08/2024	Natus Vincere 16:00 SAW	Match

NAVI began the season by winning the Esports World Cup but then had struggles at BLAST Groups, losing twice to the new Liquid roster, but have learned from their mistakes to enter the highest prestige non-Major event of the season in red hot form.

It's a level of dominance NAVI never showed even during their Major win, where they famously lost more rounds than they won en route to the trophy. Here, that could not be more different: 73% round win rate, three players above a 1.40 rating, and straight into playoffs with a 4-0 record.

"You're playing better counter-strike now than when you won the Major," Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche told Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius on the analyst desk after the match and jL was in full agreement.

Clip: iM's Conn lurk works again

Key to their new season form has been the level of Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan, who had been under scrutiny ever since signing for NAVI despite the team's success.

The Romanian spacetaker averaged a 1.01 rating for NAVI in 2023, and a 0.88 at the Major, but is up to a 1.17 in the last month and a team-high 1.51 over IEM Cologne so far.

"It feels amazing," iM told James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks post-game. "Everything worked for me, every play that I did. As the guy taking space if everything works it's hard for the opponents."

"We did everything by the game plan, we spoke how we were going to play like usual and everything worked out."

The win also saw Natus Vincere extend their Mirage win streak to 11, a home map befitting a team that is ramping up at the perfect time.

NAVI now move onto a seeding match to decide if they will begin playoffs from the quarter or semi finals, against the winner of The MongolZ versus SAW after upsets saw Spirit and G2 drop into the lower bracket.

Astralis, meanwhile, join that lion's den, and will be disappointed with their performance against NAVI.

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and company barely made a dent and were blown out of the water by the combined firepower of iM, jL, and Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy.

The 4-13 defeat on Ancient should be particularly concerning, given it was the map that helped put the new Astralis on the map last season. The team's individuals, too, will need to improve greatly if the side want to match last year's playoff run.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024
12/08/2024	Astralis 19:40 G2	Match