BLAST Global Finals: NaVi Kick Off 2021 With Important Victory

After an 0-2 loss to Team Liquid in the Opening Match of the BLAST Premier: Global Finals, Natus Vincere have rebound. They swept through the Lower Bracket all the way to the Grand Finals. There, they achieved a convincing 2-0 victory over Astralis.

Their start to the tournament could not have been any worse. Team Liquid, who had just announced their new in-game-leaders days before the event, completely played them off the server. A 6-16 scoreline on Inferno sent them over to Nuke, where the NaVi players had to concede a 14-16 map despite mounting a great CT side. With the exception of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, Keith “NAF” Markovic outplayed the opposing side. He ended the match on a 1.46 overall rating.

So Natus Vincere had to continue on in the Lower Bracket. Apparently, they hadn’t really recovered from the winter break just yet, as they struggled against Complexity as well. Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and his men even fielded a stand-in and yet they were ahead for a large portion of the match. At the end, Denis “electronic” Sharipov and s1mple gunned their way through to a 2-1 scoreline, but the team’s performances weren’t inspiring a lot of confidence in them.

It was a tough series and we close out it with a 2:1 score. GGs @Complexity! #navination #BLASTPremier @BLASTPremier @csmoneytrade @hdac_rizon @redmagicgaming pic.twitter.com/xtZ6wEKp7P

— NAVI (@natusvincere) January 21, 2021

Going up against G2 Esports, they finally started to show some form. On 16-6 and 16-8 maps, they dispatched the team of Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and gained some of their confidence back. Unfortunately, they were bound to face Team Liquid next. But while they had lost to them before, they were now in much better shape.

NAVI HEADING FOR A REMATCH

Liquid felt just as strong as before and allowed the same maps to go through. On Inferno, they had surprisingly won on a 16-6 scoreline earlier on, but now, they suffered a 1-6 deficit at the start. Even though Jake “Stewie2k” Yip and his men pulled through for a 6-9 half, the game was already much closer this time around. On the CT side, they managed to win six rounds in a row and took the lead. However, that was enough time for Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov to figure them out. With the exception of a single round loss, NaVi rose to a 16-13 finish and defeated Team Liquid on their own map pick.

This meant that Liquid suddenly stood with their backs against the wall. Earlier, they had won Nuke on the tiniest of margins, so their victory was by no means guaranteed. The 10-5 half they had posted in the Opening Match decreased to an 8-7 scoreline on the CT side. So when NaVi then secured the second pistol round as well, Liquid quickly stared at an 8-13 deficit.

Without the monster performance courtesy of NAF, they would never have found back. The Canadian did most of the work to lift them back up. Soon, they stood on a 14-13 scoreline and were in prime position to close out the map and tie the overall scoreline of the match. However, at this point the NA offense failed and allowed s1mple and his men to quickly snatch the remaining rounds for a 16-14 victory.

So NaVi managed to overcome yet another hurdle in this tournament. On the way to the Grand Finals, they still had to face Team Vitality, though. Last year, the Frenchmen won quite a few encounters against the Russian team.

S1MPLE VS. ZYWOO

The biggest storyline heading into this match was obviously the rivalry between the two best players in the world. In this tournament, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and s1mple had already been the two heavy hitters for their respective teams. Now, they were bound to show who had the upper hand.

At the start, this was obviously ZywOo. Despite playing out a fantastic 8-7 T side on Nuke, NaVi’s s1mple was at the bottom of the scoreboard. His French rival was en route to becoming the match MVP, as Vitality headed for a 15-9 scoreline in the second half. But suddenly, s1mple woke up and started bringing these rounds back. At the end, NaVi managed to make the comeback happen. In overtime, they set themselves on top of the Frenchmen.

After such a critical defeat, a deflated Vitality had to move over to Overpass. There, they suffered yet another 7-8 half, but on the CT side, they were set up much better than Natus Vincere. The Russians’ executes weren’t working out, ZywOo and his men clutched their way to many round points. Soon, Vitality held the 16-12 victory in their hands and ZywOo had his 1.60 rating. This forced the teams onto a third map. There, NaVi took some time to get going, but eventually they moved ahead. After a 10-5 half, they quickly secured the 16-10 victory, which granted them a slot in the Grand Finals alongside Astralis.

IS THIS THE NEW RIVALRY FOR 2020?

Back in November and December, the question had been whether Astralis or Vitality were the best team in the world. In that ranking, Natus Vincere firmly made third place as they failed to consistently break through to these two teams. At the BLAST Premier: Global Finals, however, they had already beaten their first nemesis in decisive fashion.

So after defeating Vitality, they had to go up against Astralis on the same day. The Danes had dashed through the Upper Bracket with relative ease, making it appear as though they would have the upper hand in this encounter as well. However, this feeling didn’t last for long, as Natus Vincere were much better prepared for Nuke this time. Once again, they won their T side and gave the Danes very little opportunity to impress on their own offense. A 16-12 scoreline for NaVi sent the teams over to Inferno.

There, the Russians quickly took the lead. They had secured 10 rounds at half time already and only needed six more rounds to attain the victory. Astralis were defeated on just two maps and one of these losses was in such decisive fashion that NaVi’s performance can only be called dominant. Once again, s1mple was the star of the match and the entire event. His team turned around a horrible start to the event and converted it into an impressive Lower Bracket run, the likes of which we haven’t seen in quite some time. There’s only one question remaining: Come IEM Katowice, will they actually be able to repeat this performance?