StarSeries i-League S7: victory versus BIG

NAVI is sitting at 1-1 score

NAVI played against BIG in a Bo3 series at StarSeries i-League S7. The match ended with a 2:0 for NAVI.

Mirage — Natus Vincere [16:4] BIG

The pistol round saw NAVI take no casualties, surfing through the opponents. The teams bought up for the third round — BIG went for a B bomb plant, but NAVI rotated and still managed to defuse the bomb. The opponents had no money, as they lost everyone in the previous round, so they had to eco. We moved forth quite confidently — some rounds were closer than others, but overall, we maintained a good economy.

BIG bought up and went for a B split, but  s1mple prevented that with 2 AWP kills — 12/1 score, and the game was already 7:0 our way. The next round saw NAVI capitalize on A bombsite, and  Zeus on B was able to stall the plant for some time — enough for us to come there, and secure the half. The 12th round saw a 1v1 clutch —  Zeus killed the opponent but had no time to defuse. Next up, BIG managed to score another point by going to A with only electronic there, as we had almost no info and had to guess. After a couple of successful rounds, the half ended with 13:2.

The second half started with a clutch —  Edward lasted enough to deny the defuse and give us the 14th point. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to capitalize on that — losing 2 players on A very fast denied us a chance to plant. NAVI went for an eco round after that, only getting pistols —  flamie and  s1mple went to connector and managed to secure man advantage and an AWP, which enabled us to take an almost impossible round, with s1mple claiming an ace. The final round of Mirage had  electronic defend the plant in a 1v2 situation — map closes at 16:4.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	26-7	+19	120.2	2.06
Zeus	16-10	+6	88.8	1.28
electronic	13-13	0	78.2	1.12
Edward	15-12	+3	72.9	1.10
flamie	14-14	0	79.8	1.05

Dust 2 — Natus Vincere [16:11] BIG

The pistol round had NAVI lose all but 1 player, so BIG secured the first point for themselves, but we retaliated with the force buy in the next one. This enabled us to get good guns and sent BIG into an eco territory. The 5th round had both teams buy up, but as BIG went for the B bombsite, we chose to save. The game was still going back and forth, eventually tying at 4:4. 2 back-to-back rounds from BIG put NAVI back onto the pistols.

For a while, we didn't find any opening into the game, so BIG got to 8 points. Another pistol round for us resulted in getting 2 AWPs and securing a defuse. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to close the gap in the last round, as the half closes at 6:9.

The second half started with a pistol win. We capitalized on it with 1 more round our way, but BIG responded with a round of their own, denying us the plant and breaking into the double digits. Our economy was still doing decent thanks to the plants coming in; for the 19th round,  Zeus was left alone, and he successfully distracted the CTs to allow the bomb to explode. Slowly but surely, NAVI amassed some money and some points, catching up to BIG. NAVI broke ahead without too much difficulty. We eventually hit the 15th point.

The game wasn't over just yet, though — our A attack got dismantled quite fast, but our economy allowed us to rebuy. The last round of the half saw NAVI take no prisoners, killing off the entire BIG to claim the map and the series.

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
electronic	26-14	+12	100.3	1.68
s1mple	23-11	+12	70.3	1.33
Edward	21-14	+7	85.2	1.27
Zeus	14-14	0	70.7	1.05
flamie	15-15	0	62.5	0.98

OVERALL MATCH STATS

Natus Vincere

Player	Kill/Death	+/-	ADR	Rating
s1mple	49-18	+31	91.5	1.62
electronic	39-27	+12	90.9	1.44
Edward	36-26	+10	80.0	1.19
Zeus	30-24	+6	78.4	1.13
flamie	29-29	0	69.8	1.00