With a 16-11 win on Inferno against North, Natus Vincere secured their place in StarSeries Season 3 playoffs with a flawless record.
Philip "aizy" Aistrup kicked off what turned out to be a mouth-watering start to the first half of Inferno with three kills from pit, which shut down the apps-short split onto the A bombsite.
Na`Vi quickly replied with a forcebuy win on the back of doubles from Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev and Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács. The back-and-forth continued in the next two rounds, as René "cajunb" Borg and Emil "Magisk" Reif put in most of the work, but it was the CIS-based squad who finally controlled the situation after yet another double from Edward on the B bombsite.
In the first real gunround at 4-2, Magisk put up three crucial kills, but their economy was in shambles after Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and Denis "seized" Kostin turned a 2v3 situation around with slow play.
GuardiaN led the way in the high-octane Inferno against North
That gave Na`Vi a 6-3 lead before Magisk retook the A bombsite with two kills in a 2v2, yet it was all for naught as GuardiaN destroyed North's economy with a quad-kill in a 3v5 situation thanks to a boost on short. The money advantage helped Egor "flamie" Vasilyev and company build up a dominant 11-4 half before the madness started all over again after the sides switched.
Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke's 1v3 clutch in the second pistol was negated by Na`Vi winning the forcebuy afterwards thanks to doubles from flamie and GuardiaN on each site. The following two rounds were exchanged as well when Na`Vi saved four weapons after flamie was left alone in B, using them to defend another attack towards the same bombsite with seized joining in with the individual plays.
GuardiaN's six kills over the next two rounds pushed his squad to match point at 15-6, although there was still life left in North who strung three rounds together. When it looked like Na`Vi would close things out after getting a read on North's B play, Magisk fought against the odds and came out on top of a 1v2 clutch.
Natus Vincere still finished match in a fairly comfortable manner after retaking the B bombsite again for 16-11, grabbing a spot in the playoffs with a 3-0 record.
PotM: After putting up a fantastic performance yesterday against fnatic, Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács repeated that feat versus North with a 27-13 score (100 ADR, 1.65 rating) and seven multi-kills, which included a quad-kill at 6-4 that broke North's economy.
SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 FinalsBest of 1 Natus VincereMatchpage 16 11 6th April 2017 North 16Inferno 11 News tags:
Natus Vincere
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN
27 - 13
+14
100.0
1.63
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple
27 - 14
+13
93.4
1.49
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized
19 - 17
+2
86.7
1.21
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie
13 - 16
-3
57.1
0.99
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward
15 - 16
-1
64.6
0.91
North
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk
18 - 17
+1
68.2
1.04
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig
15 - 20
-5
58.3
0.92
René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb
15 - 20
-5
69.1
0.89
Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy
16 - 22
-6
70.0
0.81
Mathias 'MSL' LauridsenMSL
12 - 22
-10
59.3
0.66
SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 FinalsBest of 1 Natus VincereMatchpage 16 11 6th April 2017 North 16Inferno 11
Natus Vincere
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN
27 - 13
+14
100.0
1.63
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple
27 - 14
+13
93.4
1.49
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized
19 - 17
+2
86.7
1.21
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie
13 - 16
-3
57.1
0.99
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward
15 - 16
-1
64.6
0.91
North
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk
18 - 17
+1
68.2
1.04
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig
15 - 20
-5
58.3
0.92
René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb
15 - 20
-5
69.1
0.89
Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy
16 - 22
-6
70.0
0.81
Mathias 'MSL' LauridsenMSL
12 - 22
-10
59.3
0.66
After five matches of the third round, the Swiss group stage's standings are the following: