DreamHack Marseille: a spectacular victory!

A long and spectacular fight

The group С winners' final pitted NAVI.GG.BET against Fnatic in a Bo3 series. The drawn-out series was truly the one worth watching, and in the end, Natus Vincere take it 2:1!

Game 1 - Natus Vincere [1:0] Fnatic

The first map started off with a good roll for Natus Vincere, as we claimed the first 3 rounds rather confidently. Round 4 was a bit tougher on the retake. Despite, we maintained the round advantage; the 6th round almost went south, bt s1mple managed to smoke defuse the bomb against flusha, and the next saw Edward step up massively, claiming 4 kills.

Only in the 8th one did Fnatic get their first point, and we decided to save in the next round - 7:2. NAVI only dropped one more point before claiming 8 points. The next few rounds got traded, which, unfortunately, resulted in NAVI economy getting very low - just enough to buy pistols for the last round. Even despite that, we still had a good shot at it, claiming the round for the 10:5 scoreline.

The pistol round of the second half went towards NAVI, as we faked, and ended up in 5v1 on the bombsite. The rounds were going by fast, as Fnatic were unable to maintain the good economy, allowing NAVI to take a few points. But a couple of rounds later, the tides turned, as it was our economy that hit a low, which still did not discourage us, as NAVI eventually hit the match point at 15:7 and the game at 16:7 - a strong and spectacular performance!

Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Fnatic

The pistols saw us try to go for a fast B site, but NAVI was unable to finish the job, as the first round goes to the opponent. The first gun round had us go for 5 AKs, and that was when Natus Vincere got the first point on board, and very soon we got up to 3:3.

Unfortunately, we did not carry on with the momentum, as the next couple of rounds was taken by Fnatic - the score hit 6:3 before we found another point, bringing the economy down low for the opponent. Rounds were going back and forth, but Fnatic still maintained the advantage.

The pistols of the second half went to Natus Vincere, but a subsequent couple of rounds proved to be quite a challenge, as we were unable to get a hold on the game - 10:10. The domination of Fnatic continued, as they've hit their match point - 10:15. NAVI denied the first attempt, but fell to the second - 1:1, as we move to the decider.

Game 3 - Natus Vincere [2:1] Fnatic

The third game of the series was off to a rather tough start for NAVI, as Fnatic took the first 3 rounds and counting. Soon the opponents were 5 points up. We almost took the round 6, but an unfortunate turn of events turned it all upside down; round 7, though, was the first one for us, as s1mple clutched out a 1v3, and 1v2 in the next one, ruining Fnatic economy. We went up 6:4 before Fnatic claimed one, only to be reset right away. We've ultimately tied the score 7:7, yet unfortunately, the last round was taken by the opponent - 7:8.

The second pistols was taken by Fnatic as well, making it 7:9, yet the next 2 put us on the even foot, at the same time really hurting the enemy economy. Since their economy was in a tough spot, the opponents were unable to afford a full buy, allowing NAVI to get quite a few rounds in a row.

The max loss bonus allowed the T side to go for 5 AKs, getting us down to 2 members, with 22 HP combined, but nonetheless, the round was ours. 24th round was the first one in a while for Fnatic, but we were still the ones to get to the first match point. The first one got denied, putting us into eco - now we were struggling. It came down to the round 30 - it seemed as if the round was falling apart for us, but NAVI managed to defuse the bomb, taking the round, and the series!