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ESL Pro League S7 Finals: a tough victory

CS2 / News / 16 May 2018 — 01:59

A tough, but well-earned victory!

The match for the place in the playoffs at ESL Pro League S7 Finals pitted ua NAVI.GG.BET against dk Heroic in a Bo3 series. This series ended in a 2:1 victory of ua NAVI, the decider map going all the way into the overtime!

Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] Heroic

The first game started off very comfortably for ua NAVI, as the pistols and 2 subsequent rounds were taken by us. However, on the 4th round, we were unable to decide where to go exactly, and this indecisiveness gave the opponents their first round. Right in the next one, though, dk Heroic were unable to solidify the advantage, as their economy got reset. The domination of ua NAVI continued, as the opponents did not manage to get any key frags, as we were raking up the points. The 8th round saw dk Heroic take their second round on board.

The history repeated itself, as yet again the subsequent round fell into our hands, with ua Zeus stepping up for a quadra kill. Following that, the teams traded rounds, and those trades were hitting quite hard on dk Heroic economy, but they were keen on keeping the distance as small as possible. As ua NAVI dropped a couple of rounds, it was our economy that wasn't in the best shape. The first half ended with 9:6.

Zeus with a quad kill

The second half saw dk Heroic sprint ahead, taking the first three round to tie the game back to 9:9 - even if the rounds were close, it was still not enough. Round 19 saw a good retake by ua NAVI, but unfortunately, the defuse kit was too far away, as we fall behind.  Only a round later did we manage to take the first point of the second half. The game was becoming rather dangerous, as our economy was not too good after a couple of dropped rounds.

A somewhat interesting buy paid off for ua NAVI, as we claimed another point. Still, we were quite far away from reclaiming the lead, and dk Heroic were still up there. Ultimately, one round allowed the enemy to get to the 15th point, and our economy was rather bad. The first game goes to dk Heroic.

Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Heroic

The game 2 started with the rounds trades coming in for both teams, as dk Heroic took the pistols, but ua NAVI claimed one in return and broke ahead, with 3 points right away. The trades continued, but they were mostly benefitting us economically. Still, dk Heroic was not too far behind, denying us the chance to get many points as Terrorists. Unfortunately, past those 5 points we've taken, the first half saw no more points going the way of ua NAVI, as we finish the first half at 5:10.

s1mple with a triple kill

The second half kicked off with a pistols victory for ua NAVI; despite the opponent's victory in the next round, we've still managed to break the curse and claim a few more points. We were 1 round away from tying the game, but dk Heroic was able to stop the streak of ua Natus Vincere, bringing the score to 10:12. Still, the game was close and incredibly intense, as a single mistake would potentially open the way to a big advantage.

Allowing the opponent to make their way to the match point was not too high of a priority for ua NAVI, so we pulled ourselves together to clutch the rounds, making it 12:12. A few rounds later, we found ourselves at 15 points and 3 match points to work with. The first match point was denied by dk Heroic, but the next one saw the CTs decide the map once and for all - 1:1, moving to the decider!

Game 3 - Natus Vincere [2:1] Heroic

The deciding map saw the first 3 rounds going the way of ua NAVI, giving us a good headstart into the game. The first gun round, though, was claimed by dk Heroic; a win in the 4th round would have been a great news, but unfortunately, it was not meant to be. The opponents took a couple of rounds, but ua NAVI stepped back up, denying dk Heroic the possibility to tie the game.

Our economy was in a rather comfortable spot, while the opponents had to eco very frequently. Ultimately, we broke the 8-point milestone. Right after that dk Heroic claimed their 3rd round of the half, as ua Zeus was left in 1v2. This upset was just a temporary one, though, as we followed that up with a 4-point streak. The first half was ours with a 12:3 score.

electronic triple kill

The second pistol round went to dk Heroic, as the opponents seemed to be keen on coming back into the game. We dropped 3 rounds, winning the gun round, but losing the grip on the next one. The score hit 13:10, as we've only taken 1 round for this while. Despite this, the economy of dk Heroic was at a pretty big risk, but ua NAVI hit an even harder bottom, and the opportunities to improve the position were rather scarce.

The game was not going our way at all, as dk Heroic tied the score 13:13. We had to save to have a chance of fighting for the 28th round with at least some devices. Unfortunately, even the saved weapons did not salvage the situation, as ua NAVI found themselves at 13:15 score. We found the power to make it 15:15, driving the game to the overtime.

The first OT round went to ua NAVI without too much sweat, while the second saw a very clutch situation. The final round of the first OT half went the way of the opponents, maintaining 1-round difference. The first round of the second half went the way of ua NAVI, which gave us 2 match points to work with. It was more than enough for us, as right in the next round we take the game 19:16!