IEM Katowice 2019: defeat against Team Liquid

NAVI continue to play in the groups.

The game for the playoffs saw NAVI.GG.BET face off Team Liquid in a Bo3 match. The games were intense, and the series ended with 0:2, as NAVI move to the next day with 2-1 score.

Mirage — Natus Vincere [16:14] Team Liquid

The first game took place on Mirage. The pistol round went the way of NAVI, as we eliminated all opponents, with the following 2 having the B bomb plants. That set up a good economy, and the 4th round had Liquid on the buy round. Nonetheless, we still planted and successfully defended — 4:0. Liquid came online in the 5th round, solidifying the success right in the next round. This put NAVI in a somewhat suboptimal economic territory. This eventually led to Liquid tying up the game 4:4.

The CTs broke ahead in the game — we couldn't afford to buy just yet. Finally, though, the 11th round had NAVI muster a decent buy, and we broke the streak of Liquid. Unfortunately, we didn't convert the round victory into anything, as Liquid defused the bomb, and hit 8 rounds soon. NAVI tried to minimize the difference, but didn't seem to be up to the challenge — half ends at 6:9.

The second half saw teams trade 2 initial rounds, but NAVI were the ones to capitalize on their round and take the second in a row. We finally caught up to Liquid, with Edward defending B against 3. Unfortunately, this 4-round streak was cut off by Liquid. The game shifted back into uncertain territory, as Liquid eventually found themselves buying only pistols. The round 24 had s1mple and flamie left in a 2v1 — flamie bought enough time for s1mple to smoke defuse, and the next round pushed us ahead of the opponent — 13:12.

Team Liquid went for the plant once again, and they did so successfully, but Zeus stepped up and killed 2 on the retake, allowing an uncontested defuse. The opponent, though, managed to equalize the score yet again, as it came down to the wire — 14:14. Zeus scored the opening frag over by the B, but s1mple got caught out over at A — Liquid got to the match point first. The final round saw flamie left in a 1v2 — he almost managed to bring the victory home, but not quite, as we drop map 1.

Natus Vincere

Players	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
flamie	26-23	+3	97.8	1.38
s1mple	21-19	+2	77.7	1.14
electronic	13-16	-3	53.7	0.91
Zeus	17-22	-5	74.8	0.87
Edward	13-20	-7	42.3	0.71

Dust 2 — Natus Vincere [0:2] Team Liquid

The pistol round of the second map saw s1mple left in a 1v4 — he tried to bring the round home, but was unable to defeat all the opponents. The third round had NAVI plant the bomb on A, and Liquid went for a very open defuse with the kit, scoring another point, as we fell back 0:3. Finally, on the 4th round we managed to plant and defend, scoring the first point, and following it up right away with 2 more, catching up at 3:3. Another round trade dealt a reasonably heave blow to the economies of both teams.

Liquid still had better ways to deal with the aggression from NAVI, as they managed to consistently either deny the bomb plant or defuse it altogether. This pushed them to 4:7; at that point NAVI planted the bomb and mustered a decent defense — the time to defuse was over. The next round saw a clutch with Zeus and electronic — we planted again, and Liquid found themselves in a tough economic spot, so they ecoed, only for NAVI to power through the round — 7:7; unfortunately, we failed to take the last round of the half — 7:8.

The second pistols had Liquid plant — they only lost 1, and the next round followed the suit. We failed to get a solid footing in the half just yet, and Liquid broke far ahead. The domination went for quite a while. Finally, NAVI managed to hold the A bombsite, claiming the first point of the second half. Unfortunately, that point didn't transform into a sizeable series — Liquid grabbed the momentum back and that allowed them to surf towards match point. The first one had NAVI in a 4v1 situation, but it came down to the wire, as flamie clutched out in a 1v1, We had no right to make a mistake, but unfortunately, the tension took its toll — Liquid lost the bomb, but managed to kill our only player guarding the bomb, and the series ends at 0:2

Natus Vincere

Players	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	20-19	+1	84.5	1.24
electronic	16-18	-2	76.4	0.90
flamie	13-20	-7	76.6	0.86
Edward	15-20	-5	67.1	0.81
Zeus	8-21	-13	33.1	0.45

Overall match stats

Natus Vincere

Players	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	41-38	+3	80.8	1.19
flamie	39-43	-4	88.2	1.14
electronic	29-34	-5	64.0	0.90
Edward	28-40	-12	53.6	0.75
Zeus	25-43	-18	55.8	0.66