The first elimination match of the day feature Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro where the Ukranian team managed to overcome their Polish opponents with 2-1.
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The first elimination match of the day was played in group A. Both, Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere, didn't really have a great opening at this tournament so far as they managed to lose their initial matches which knocked them down to the lower bracket. Now, they had to fight for survival as only one team could move on to the next match of the group against Team Dignitas. The map pick was mostly expected. Virtus.pro went for de_dust2 and de_overpass bans, while Na'Vi decided to remove de_nuke and de_cobblestone. When it comes to picks, VP decided to play on de_cache, and Na'Vi went for de_mirage. The last map in the pool was de_inferno and it was supposed to be a decider if needed.
We couldn't ask for a better opening of de_cache. byali made a great show as he sneaked his way up over the boost on the middle of de_cache to backstab his T opponents and to make an ace in the pistol round. VP didn't allow Na'Vi to make any upsets in the first three rounds and it was 3-0. Na'Vi was trying to make some of their well known executes, but they weren't really working out. However, led by a phenomenal Edward who also scored an ace of his own, the Ukranian squad managed to score a five rounds on the T side and they still had a plenty space to work with as they were moving over to CT side. The second pistol round was a really chaotic. We could see both teams going back and forth where in the end VP managed to prevail. pasha made a crucial double-kill which eventually sealed the faith of Na'Vi on de_cache. Later on Na'Vi was just forcing but it didn't really worked out and the first map went to VP with 16-5.
Teams were moving on to de_mirage which was Na'Vi's map of choice. This time the Ukranian team won a knife round which brought them a CT side. Only after the pistol round we could see how dominant Na'Vi is on this map. They haven't lost a single member and slowly they started building a momentum. VP was looking a clueless and they couldn't find an opening. However, as the half time was coming closer VP started waking up and it was GuardiaN who saved Na'Vi in 2v4 situation where if they lost VP would most likely end up with 5 instead of 3 rounds in the first half. The second half was once again Na'Vi just snowballing in the pistol round and then following up with the next round. VP could stop it only for 1 round, but that was it. Na'Vi won mirage with 16-4.
The deciding map was de_inferno wit Virtus.Pro quickly securing knife round and CT side. Natus Vincere, however, managed to win the pistol round and 2 anti-eco follow-ups. The Polish team returned fire, securing first buy round, but slipped it and lost the next buy. NaVi returned initiative and forced VP to do the eco twice, getting the 6-1 score. 9th round saw an amazing highlight-worthy moment of Guardian planting bomb in the last second right in front of TaZ, who did not have time to react properly as he was shutdown by other NaVi players, on who Slovakian sniper put the great trust in that moment. NaVi continued to dominate, getting 12-3 score, even denying Neo from ninja defuse, who was 1 second away for adding 1 more round to his team score. VP grabbed the straw and won the pistol round, getting more chances for the comeback. The second half was pretty convincing for VP but great clutch-performance allowed NaVi to grab the 15th round. First matchpoint was a nail-biting stand-off on B bombplace with Edward being 1-2 seconds to be able to defuse. Second matchpoint saw TaZ caught in a 1v3 clutch which he couldn't pull off despite killing 2 of his opponents.
Today's schedule:
13.45 CET - CPH Wolves vs 3DMAX
16.45 CET - Team Dignitas vs Virtus.pro
20.00 CET - Titan vs Winner of CPH Wovles vs 3DMAX
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