Lack of practice bites The MongolZ after early EPL elimination at the hands of NAVI

The world number one have been sent home to end their streak of consecutive grand finals.

Natus Vincere have knocked The MongolZ out of ESL Pro League and secured themselves a playoff berth with a 2-0 victory.

Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren's side have been world number one for two weeks after three grand finals in a row but looked a shadow of themselves in Sweden.

The commentary team were quick to point to a lack of practice — Ayush "⁠mzinho⁠" Batbold admitted the team spent their week at home with family due to spending so much time away before the event — and ring rust was visible today even after four matches in Stockholm.

The MongolZ stayed at the PCs between maps after NAVI opened the match with a 13-3 win on Nuke, and it seemed to pay off as they raced to a 6-1 lead.

But Natus Vincere then won 9 in a row to lead 10-6. And, even after The MongolZ won what should have been a back-breaking 2v5 with a Azbayar "⁠Senzu⁠" Munkhbold 1v2 and forced overtime, it was Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's men who stood tallest with a 16-12 win in the extra rounds.

"We need to do more practice," Sodbayar "⁠Techno⁠" Munkhbold said post-game to Freya "⁠Freya⁠" Spiers, and they will at least have time before the The MongolZ's next event at Thunderpick in a week's time.

Regardless of The MongolZ's underperformance, take nothing away from Natus Vincere after overcoming the demons that saw them take losses to Falcons and 3DMAX.

"Nuke was so easy," Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov told the couch after the match after his 15-5 first half on the map. "I don't think I've ever done so much stuff with the AWP, it was so easy. I was so surprised, I could do whatever I wanted."

Natus Vincere made top-four in Cologne before suffering a dip in form. But, by making the playoffs here, they are proving that confidence from a win at StarSeries Fall can be translated into tier one events.

Aleksib, however, wasn't getting carried away. "This run shows exactly where we are at. 3-2, very close, playoffs secured. Now it's only up to us how far we can go."