IEM Chicago 2018: The end of the run

NAVI.GG.BET lose 0:2

NAVI.GG.BET played an elimination match against BIG at IEM Chicago 2018. The intense match ended with a 0:2, as NAVI leave the tournament.

Dust 2 - Natus Vincere [14:16] BIG

The first game started off with a pistol round victory for BIG, and they converted it successfully into the next round. NAVI came online in the fourth round, getting their first point on board, but got reset right after. However, that didn't set us back a lot. BIG only got another round before NAVI went on a massive streak, greatly improving the economy. The opponent wasn't able to get the hands on a point for a while, as we have firmly established the lead, even making it to the 8th point, securing the half at least.

BIG were managing to plant the bomb fairly consistently, which kept their economy rather afloat. Still, NAVI maintained their lead despite buys coming in from the opponent. Only towards the end of the half did the T side manage to take a round, but it was rather late, as NAVI closed the half with a 10:5 score.

The second half didn't start very well for NAVI. BIG won another pistol round, and converted it again. We scored no kills in the first round, so buying an AK was off the charts. Still, after 3 rounds, we established a good enough economy to afford good guns and took over the initiative. The lead went back to 5 rounds again, with the score sitting at 13:8. BIG, though, took a couple more, and 2 rounds with no bomb plants proved to be quite a disaster.

Slowly but surely, BIG were catching up to NAVI, as the latter had a tough time securing the map control. BIG ultimately secured themselves the match point, but not before NAVI claimed a point, too. Unfortunately, we were left in a 2v5 situation pretty soon, and that was too much for the team - we drop Dust 2.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	24-23	+1	81.9	1.13
Edward	21-17	+4	71.8	1.08
Zeus	19-19	0	65.2	1.02
flamie	14-23	-9	67.4	0.83
electronic	14-23	-9	55.0	0.64

Inferno - Natus Vincere [13:16] BIG

The second map kicked off with a pistol round win for NAVI. We made sure to convert that into a couple more points, getting a good buy very soon. BIG, in turn, weren't able to get much done on the map, building up a very solid economy. Finally, as the score hit 5:0, BIG stepped up and picked up a round, but  NAVI were quick with the reset. This dealt a heavy blow to BIG, as they didn't quite have the full buy. On the back of that, NAVI got some more points, securing a solid lead.

As we got to 7 points, BIG seemed to have woken up. A couple of rounds their way seemed to improve their economy, but the 11th round saw s1mple win a 1v4 situation, which crushed BIG. They only had pistols for the next round but recuperated right after - a defuse and another point brought them closer to us. We had to force for the last round of the half, and the first portion of Inferno closes with a 9:6, with the lead secured for NAVI.

The second half seemed to have BIG in better spirits, as they picked up the pistols and converted very well, taking the advantage rather fast. The game was very back and forth, as neither side was willing to let the other run away with the advantage. When BIG secured their 11th point, NAVI started to score their own points. The game started to go better for us, as BIG weren't even able to get the bomb down, hurting the economy. NAVI hit 13 points, reclaiming the advantage.

The game was nearing its conclusion, and teams started trading a lot more. It seemed as if BIG were getting better ends of those trades. NAVI got stuck at 13 points, while BIG were getting round after round. Ultimately, they got to the match point and didn't take long before closing out the map - NAVI drop out of the tournament.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	28-17	+11	89.7	1.46
Zeus	19-23	-4	74.8	0.96
electronic	17-19	-2	72.2	0.94
flamie	14-22	-8	56.6	0.71
Edward	12-25	-13	56.6	0.53

Overall match stats

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	52-40	+12	85.7	1.29
Zeus	38-42	-4	69.9	0.99
Edward	33-42	-9	64.3	0.80
electronic	31-42	-11	63.4	0.78
flamie	28-45	-17	62.1	0.77