FACEIT Major: defeat vs Astralis

A tough closing series.

The grand finals of FACEIT Major 2018 was  NAVI.GG.BET vs  Astralis in a bloodbath of a series. The encounter ended with 0:2, as we end the performance on the 2nd place.

Nuke - NAVI.GG.BET [0:1] ASTRALIS

The first game of the series was Nuke.  NAVI had a good beginning for the initial portion of the first half - pistol and 2 more went our way, as we were sitting at 3:0. However, the first gun round went the way of the Danes, and they capitalized on it. They avoided the reset in the next round and moved forth quite confidently. Triple grenades changed our approach towards the squeaky door, and the opponents used it to their advantage. Ultimately, they took 8 in a row, securing the first half at least.

It had been a while since we won a round, but the round 13 saw a 1v3 clutch by  electroNic - he defused the bomb and killed the last enemy standing - 4:9. Unfortunately, the next round didn't go that well, as it boiled down to 2v2, and our guys were out of position.  Astralis broke into the double digits, and the next round sealed the first half with an 11:4.

The pistol of the second half was taken by  NAVI yet again.  Astralis went for a force buy, and it proved to be effective, as they got one more point their way, so we had to force, taking it right back. The economy of the opponent was quite bad, but even with that,  Astralis denied us the time just enough to prevent the bomb from being planted - 6:13. Ultimately, the opponent took the 15th point, as we had to take 9 more rounds to get to the overtime. Unfortunately, that was too much to cover this time, as we fall on this map 6:16.

OVERPASS - NAVI.GG.BET [0:2] ASTRALIS

The second game was Overpass.  Astralis took the first pistol and the next round, with the third round coming down to 1v1 - s1mple planted the bomb on the wrong side, and the game settled at 0:3. We were trying to make the opponent spend as much utility as possible - while it was working, they were still getting the kills and the rounds. After 4 rounds, though, a good utility use by  NAVI drove the CT away, as we make our presence on the map known - 1:4. The next round was the consecutive one, as Edward managed to keep the CTs busy.

Slowly but surely, we started to come back into the game but didn't manage to tie the game, as the 8th round came down to the clutch - 3:5.  Astralis were trying their best, but the situation started to destabilize -  NAVI tied the game at 5:5. The opponent didn't allow us to break ahead just yet, as the teams traded rounds again, but we took a key round, putting us at 6:7.  Astralis secured the half lead at 8:6, closing it at 9:6.

The second pistol had nobody die on the opponent's side, as they break into the double digits, and continue the domination. We didn't seem to be able to take any round for quite a while, with the game coming to the gun round of the 2nd half. It came to a 1v1, but with 7 seconds remaining, the T side got the better end - 6:13. The game was becoming dangerously close.

As we didn't have a good economy, we had to concede one round, but not without a fight - 6:14.  Astralis were close to getting to the match point, but  NAVI bounced right back - 7:14, and then 8:14, as  Astralis had to eco. However, they managed to take a round after this one, and the game came to the dangerous position - 9:15. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to drive the game into the overtime, as we drop the second map, and finish the event at the 2nd place.

OVERALL MATCH STATS