DreamHack Masters Marseille: the second place

A tough final series.

The final Bo3 saw NAVI.GG.BET play against Astralis. As a result of this encounter, NAVI takes second place at DreamHack Masters Marseille.

Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] Astralis

The first pistols round was taken by Astralis very fast, and the subsequent force buy did not work out for NAVI, forcing us to eco. The opponents went up 0:5, and the max loss bonus rolled in for NAVI; we put it to good use, as we claimed the first round. Unfortunately, we did not manage to strengthen our economy with a subsequent win, but at least we managed to deal a serious blow to enemy economy.

The next series of round trades helped us to get some good guns thanks to plants, but we were still far from catching up to Astralis. The opponents eventually broke the double digits with 2:10. The first half concluded with 13:2, and we needed to do some serious work.

The second pistols was taken by Astralis yet again, abd the score hit a dangerous 3:14. The next round, though, was claimed by NAVI, as the opponents lost 2 quite early in a rush. Unfortunately, the next round did not work out well for us - matchpoint at 3:15.

This would be an incredibly tough journey back up, but we tried our best regardless. Edward mistakenly thought the bomb would be planted on a different bombsite in a 1v1, which ultimately spelt his demise - 4:16.

Game 2 - Natus Vincere [0:2] Astralis

The second map started off with 2 rounds going the way of NAVI right away. The third round went the way of Astralis after they pushed down to the bombsite, and we decided to not retake. 3 more rounds passed, of which 2 were take by us, and 1 by the opponent. Round 7 saw a 1v1, as Zeus ran out of time to defuse the bomb, and the point went to Astralis, who eventually tied the score 4:4.

NAVI economy was not in a great shape post-round, as we struggled to take the matters back into our own hands. Astralis, on the other hand, were able to string round after round, eventually securing 8 points. But towards the end of the half, we pulled ourselves together and claimed a few points - 6:9 was the score.

The second pistols was claimed by NAVI, allowing us to bounce back to tie the game 9:9; unfortunately, we did not manage to break ahead, as the next point went the way of Astralis. The score eventually hit 13:9, as the economy ofours was in really bad position due to multiple force buys and no plants coming in. It was then that we've managed to plant and defend the site, getting us the first point in a while, but not capitalizing on it.

The game was becoming a bit too close for our liking, as Astralis hit the first match point at 10:15. This would prove to be a very hard journey for NAVI to get all the way back into the game and force the overtime. We started on this road, claiming the 11th point, but failing to advance further - GGWP! NAVI.GG.BET take the second place.