GG.BET ICE London Challenge: moving forth!
An intense show of top-notch CS:GO!
NAVI.GG.BET started the run in the lower bracket with the game against 
AVANGAR GG.BET in a Bo3 elimination match. The intense series was full of upsets and comebacks, and in the end, we advance forth with the score 2:1!
Overpass - Natus Vincere [17:19] AVANGAR
The first game started off with a pistol round victory for NAVI. For the third round, NAVI chose a slow approach towards B, but it didn't work out, as AVANGAR managed to rotate the players on time. That upset our economy a bit, so we went for a 4AK+Deagle — this setup worked out, as 
flamie opened up the B bombsite, resetting the economy of AVANGAR, but since we lost a few players, our economy wasn't doing too well either, but we still had money to buy. After 2 more rounds our way, NAVI ran out of time, and 2 deaths after the timer deteriorated our money even more, so we saved 2 devices in the next round.
The half hit 4:4, and AVANGAR seemed to be gaining momentum. Round 11 saw NAVI go for a full buy, but the loss broke our economy completely - we had to eco. The game wasn't looking up for us — we lost the eco, but managed to give s1mple an AWP for the next one. It almost worked out, but in the final clutch, Jame overpowered Zeus, defusing the bomb. AVANGAR crossed 10 points soon, while NAVI still struggled, with no rounds taken since the 4th point. For the last round of the half, though, we managed to kill 4 AVANGAR players very fast, and claim the 15th round — the score hit 10:5.
The second half saw NAVI take the pistol and the second round again, making the score 7:10. All NAVI players survived the 18th round, while AVANGAR only saved the AWP. We were close to making the score equal, but AVANGAR faked, forcing us to go to A website, but then going towards B. In a little while, we had to eco again. Slowly but surely, AVANGAR were inching towards the match point, while we were still lagging behind, only breaking 10 points at the 24th round; a cherry on top was the fact we lost 0 players, which solidified our economy a lot. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough — AVANGAR planted 3v1. NAVI went for the full buy, as this was a very important round to deny.
AVANGAR planted the bomb as the timer almost ran out, but the 2v2 situation favored NAVI — 11:15. Another intense round ended with s1mple denying the plant, as NAVI denied another map point. The 29th round saw AVANGAR approach B slowly, but s1mple was watching out, and killed several players, buying time, and denying the opportunity to plant — Zeus found the last player after the time, further ruining the T economy — overtime.
The first round of the overtime had NAVI take 2 quick kills at the beginning and surrounded the opponent, but AVANGAR retaliated, going to the B bombsite. The first round ended with 17:16, until AVANGAR managed to defend B and take over the initiative — 17:17. They managed to score 2 points in a row — for the last round, Zeus got killed while carrying the bomb, and that spelled the end of Overpass - 17:19.
| Player | Kill/Death | +/- | ADR | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| s1mple |
38-24 | +14 | 102.7 | 1.47 |
| flamie |
21-24 | -3 | 75.8 | 0.98 |
| Edward |
22-26 | -4 | 65.3 | 0.94 |
| electronic |
23-26 | -3 | 76.5 | 0.94 |
| Zeus |
15-23 | -8 | 48.8 | 0.72 |
Natus VincereDust 2 - Natus Vincere [16:8] AVANGAR
The pistol round had NAVI attack B through mid, and the round boiled down to 1v1 with s1mple and fitch, but the opponent had better aim. The eco went the way of AVANGAR too, and the third round followed the suit, clutched by fitch. Round 4 had Zeus and flamie left in a 2v1 — we brought the first point home along with an AWP. Another round our way crushed the CT economy, and they had to eco, bringing the score to 3:3. AVANGAR denied us the possibility to break ahead, but NAVI tied the game back, this time resetting the opponent. NAVI had a good run during the 9th round, since AVANGAR had to eco.
NAVI continued to gain the advantage. ultimately closing in on 8 points after 3 successful plants in a row. The economy on the attack has already been established, but the 13th round, unfortunately, saw AVANGAR pull off the double AWP setup, which worked well. Till the end of the half, AVANGAR claimed round after round, and the half finished with 8:7 score our way.
The second half started off with a standoff in smoke at long. The next one saw a clutch plant retake, and Zeus managed to take it, killing the last remaining T and defusing — still, we lost 4 our players, which meant a heavy economic blow. After a plant came through for AVANGAR, we decided to force buy, getting all we could. It paid off, as we were able to clutch out the round and defuse, resetting the opponent. The T side wasn't able to recover just yet, so we continued moving forward. Eventually, we hit 15 points, and only had 1 point left till the victory. It didn't take long for us to finish the map — the game ends 16:8.
| Player | Kill/Death | +/- | ADR | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| electronic |
19-12 | +7 | 93.4 | 1.43 |
| Zeus |
20-15 | +5 | 80.6 | 1.31 |
| s1mple |
19-14 | +5 | 79.2 | 1.21 |
| Edward |
18-18 | 0 | 79.4 | 1.13 |
| flamie |
16-16 | 0 | 76.0 | 1.01 |
Mirage - Natus Vincere [16:14] AVANGAR
The decider map started with an attempted retake from AVANGAR, but it was unsuccessful — pistol is ours. After 3:0 scoreline, the opponents had to eco, only holding on to the saved AWP. The 5th round saw another double AWP, which worked again, but only once. NAVI reset the CT very fast. The opponent tried a variety of approaches — going slow, fast — but it still wasn't working. They managed to snatch 2 rounds at some point, but that only decreased the gap a little bit. Eventually, NAVI hit 8 points, securing the half and moving forth. The first half ended with 4:11.
The second half started with a plant and successful defense for AVANGAR, and they followed it up with another after we force bought. AVANGAR continued to dominate the pace of the game, as NAVI weren't able to crack the code 5 rounds straight. Finally, we managed to take 1 point, setting ourselves up for another point in the next round. Still, 2 rounds weren't enough for us to establish a solid series, so AVANGAR took a round off of us. Losing all the weapons, we had to re-buy. The teams started actively trading rounds, which wasn't boding particularly well for our economy. The gap was shrinking fast — 14:12.
Again, NAVI bought up using all the money. Round 27 saw s1mple do a 4k after the bomb was planted — even though this dealt some economic and moral damage to AVANGAR, the round was still theirs. They finally caught up to us in the 28th round, but a 2k by s1mple early into the 29th prevented the opponent from scoring the match point — we got there first at 15:14. The round 30 was getting increasingly intense — we had a few grenades to work with, and in the end, we pulled off a defuse to win the map and the series.
| Player | Kill/Death | +/- | ADR | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| s1mple |
26-17 | +9 | 82.6 | 1.33 |
| flamie |
21-23 | -2 | 78.3 | 1.14 |
| Edward |
21-18 | +3 | 75.4 | 1.06 |
| electronic |
18-15 | +3 | 60.0 | 1.06 |
| Zeus |
12-15 | -3 | 54.5 | 0.87 |
Overall match stats
| Player | Kill/Death | +/- | ADR | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| s1mple |
83-55 | +28 | 89.8 | 1.34 |
| electronic |
60-53 | +7 | 75.5 | 1.10 |
| flamie |
58-63 | -5 | 76.7 | 1.04 |
| Edward |
61-62 | -1 | 72.4 | 1.02 |
| Zeus |
47-53 | -6 | 59.2 | 0.92 |
