EPICENTER 2018: one step short

NAVI drop the series 0:2.

NAVI.GG.BET played against  FaZe Clan in a Bo3 grand final at EPICENTER 2018. As the result of the series, NAVI settled down on the 2nd place in the tournament.

Mirage - Natus Vincere [0:1] FaZe Clan

The first game was off to the explosive start right away - back-and-forth trades for both teams, but ultimately, we took the pistol, and the next one went the way of NAVI too. As we got to 2:0,  FaZe retaliated, and good comebacks in the rounds secured them 3 of their own. NAVI ran into economic problems and decided to eco. For a while, we were unable to take a point, coming close a few times, but still falling short. The score hit 2:6, and soon enough, NAVI had to eco again.

 FaZe hit 8 rounds soon, as s1mple and Zeus chose to save, not going for the retake. That save from the previous round helped us a lot, as we had the money to get good guns and finally take the first round in a while. The reset followed soon enough, as we failed to find a defuse yet again. Eventually,  FaZe made it into the double digits, but didn't get much further - the half ended at 5:10, as we had quite a lot to do in the second half.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	24-13	+11	77.7	1.46
flamie	16-20	-4	78.6	1.00
Zeus	17-19	-2	62.7	0.90
electronic	17-21	-4	74.2	0.90
Edward	12-17	-5	48.6	0.79

The second pistol was taken by  FaZe, as they went 7 rounds ahead of us. The third round, though, had NAVI purchase some guns - we converted this round victory into a good series of plants, without  FaZe managing to defuse for quite a whle. Unfortunately, flamie didn't manage to pull off a 1v2, coming very close.  FaZe failed to convert it, though - even if they did save the double AWP, NAVI had the next round, and the next one to cross the double digits.

An unfortunate friendly fire gave  FaZe manpower advantage, as they took another point their way. Fortunately, the opponent didn't convert that round - NAVI claimed the following one, resetting  FaZe. Another couple of rounds our way put us up in a rather nice position, but another round for  FaZe pushed them over to the match point. The final round of the half went incredibly close, but as we were running out of time, we had to act fast, which was nigh impossible -  NAVI lose the map 12:16.

Dust2 - Natus Vincere [0:2] FaZe Clan

The second map wasn't going well for us either - the pistol round had  FaZe kill the entirety of NAVI without losing a single member. Some plants were coming in for us, boosting the economy a bit, yet it was still long before NAVI came online on the map. The score was 1:5, and as we tried to convert it, the 2v1 didn't go our way - we got reset. Another couple of rounds allowed  FaZe to take 8 points, securing the half. Right after, though, NAVI got their second round after some good entry kills.

The plant came in from NAVI right in the next round, but 2 of our players had 12 HP combined, which was not good enough -  FaZe run away with yet another. We had troubles taking anything still, as we weren't managing to kill a single opponent, leading to the eco. The half ended with 3:12 on the board and NAVI had a lot of work to do in the second half.

The pistol round of the second half was taken by  FaZe yet again. That allowed them to get a good economy, and take 2 more rounds, getting to 15 points. Getting to the overtime from such a huge disadvantage was too impossible of a task, as NAVI stops just 1 step short from the trophy, losing Dust2 3:16.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	11-17	-6	71.4	0.68
Zeus	8-18	-10	62.4	0.56
Edward	8-16	-8	53.1	0.54
electronic	4-16	-12	36.2	0.49
flamie	5-19	-14	31.1	0.41

Overall match stats

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	11-17	-6	71.4	0.68
Zeus	8-18	-10	62.4	0.56
Edward	8-16	-8	53.1	0.54
electronic	4-16	-12	36.2	0.49
flamie	5-19	-14	31.1	0.41