GG.BET ICE London Challenge 2019: the loss in the finals

A bitter loss, but an interesting series

The grand finals of GG.BET ICE London Challenge 2019 pitted NAVI.GG.BET against North.GG.BET. The tough series ended with NAVI losing 0:2, taking the second place.

Dust 2 - Natus Vincere [14:16] North

The first game started off with NAVI on the attack. North claimed the pistol round and scored another victory to follow it up. The third round ended with a clutch, as s1mple and electronic were left in a 2v2, which became 1v1, with electronic being the last man standing. The very expensive initial rounds, and the lost 4th round dealt a heavy blow to the economy of CT. They forced, only getting 1 rifle with 4 pistols — another clutch broke out, with electronic facing valde+  aizy, and he managed to plant and secure the round. Round 7 followed the suit, with s1mple finding himself alone, and bringing another point our way.

The game went all the way to 7:3, and North started getting the buys together, going for double AWP setup. It worked for a few rounds, denying us the plants, as NAVI were often in number disadvantage. Finally, though, as we got our hands on better rifles again, we won the crucial 8th point in the half. The final round saw another close clutch — s1mple vs valde; the opponent threw a grenade through the doors, but went through the window, but s1mple was ready, with the half ending 9:6.

Another pistol victory for North marked the start of the second half. With a couple more they establish a good economy and were able to buy up. On the other side, NAVI had ups and downs, having to force and eco. The opponent tied the score and broke ahead; the first point as a CT was earned by NAVI only in the 22nd round after s1mple AWP 4k. Another electronic - valde standoff ended with the round going the way of NAVI, but we lost quite a bit of weapons.

That allowed North to maintain the advantage for a bit more, and they made it into a matchpoint at 12:15. NAVI, though, weren't ready to throw in the towel just yet — North lost 4 members, and Zeus made short work of the remaining one. North were running out of money, as NAVI got a good chance to drive the game into the overtime, but even whatever the T's had was enough - we drop the first map 14:16.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
electronic	28-18	+10	85.4	1.39
s1mple	27-21	+6	99.4	1.32
Edward	13-21	-8	49.9	0.78
Zeus	9-20	-11	49.6	0.66
flamie	11-23	-12	49.8	0.66

Nuke - Natus Vincere [12:16] North

Nuke started with NAVI planting and defending 5v3; North forced into the next, but failed to do much. However, the full eco from North actually worked, as they get their first Nuke point. NAVI were swift to deny the series, though, claiming 3 straight. The loss money added up for North, though, as they finally mustered a good buy with rifles, and started to climb back into the game, denying us 2 plants one after another. Slowly but surely, our money was drained, and we had to force. North dealt with it well, though, and propelled themselves further. Ultimately they got to 8 points, securing the half. Teams traded 1 round each, and NAVI concluded the half with 6:9 on the board.

The pistol round pushed North into the double digits with a 1v1 clutch. The force buy didn't work either — NAVI lost all guns and armor. We recuperated in a couple of rounds — Zeus caught the enemy team off-guard and scored 2 crucial kills, allowing us to take the round. NAVI capitalized on that, pulling off a defuse; it didn't take us long to make it to double digits. After 2 more rounds, we tied the game, fully regaining the control.

Unfortunately, we lost control just as fast as we gained it — North caught us off-guard by changing the tactics mid-round. That threw us off the tracks so much, North got all the way to 15 points. electronic was left alone against 4 enemies, and the map goes to North.  Natus Vincere drops the series 0:2.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
electronic	25-19	+6	94.5	1.25
Edward	20-18	+2	74.3	1.07
s1mple	20-19	+1	65.1	1.00
flamie	17-21	-4	75.2	0.98
Zeus	7-21	-14	55.5	0.54

Overall match stats

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
electronic	53-37	+16	89.8	1.32
s1mple	47-40	+7	82.8	1.15
Edward	33-39	-6	61.7	0.92
flamie	28-44	-16	62.1	0.81
Zeus	16-41	-25	52.4	0.60