Na’Vi and G2 had a very close series in the consolidation final, but eventually Na’Vi pulled ahead to secure a slot in the Grand finals.
The lower bracket finals of the BLAST Premier Spring Finals saw G2 and Na’Vi play against each other. The winner of this match would earn a spot in the grand finals, where the world’s best team, Gambit is waiting.
The BLAST Premier Spring Finals has a $425,000 prize pool. The winner of this event will earn a spot in the BLAST Premier Global Finals later this year. The battle between the best teams in the world is now down to three teams: Gambit, Na’Vi and G2 esports.
Na'Vi upset G2 on Mirage
Na’Vi was off to a great start on Mirage. Perfecto and electronic led Na’Vi to a 8-1 lead with some clutch plays and display of high skill. G2 would win the next five rounds to find a way back into the game. A 9-6 score after an amazing 8-1 start seemed to be extremely good news for G2 fans.
But G2’s defense was relatively lacklustre and Na’Vi would soon march on to a 16-9 victory. Despite some heroic performance by the G2 players, Na’Vi was able to build on its lead, consistently hitting the A bombsite.
Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy and Denis "electronic" Sharipov finished Mirage with 22 and 23 kills respectively, helping Na'Vi secure Mirage. G2 were heavily favored on Mirage and this Na'Vi victory was a massive upset.
Dust 2 - Nexa goes Boom!
Na’Vi picked DUst 2, a map where the high skill level of the players has given Na’Vi a huge advantage. The CIS squad had a 4-0 start but G2 clawed back with stellar defenses on the B bombsite.
The teams continued to trade rounds and the first half ended with an 8-7 score. There was very little separating the two squads. Perfecto and Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev were topping the charts for Na’Vi. But they had to contend with Nemanja "nexa" Isaković who was in God-tier form on Dust 2.
The scores tied at 13-13, the match could go either way. But G2 had the momentum and won the 27th round with some exemplary display of skill. G2 had a string of round wins at this time, having won seven of the last eight rounds. The team went ahead to win the map 16-13, a heroic performance by Nexa to secure Map 2. Nexa finished the map with 33 kills, a big difference between him and the next best player on the server.
Each team won their opponents map pick. And now the two teams would face each other on Nuke. Nuke is a very CT-sided map; however, neither of these teams has a clear advantage on this map.
Nuke - Na'Vi take the series
Despite the tough loss, Na'Vi seemed focused before the start of the final map. The team started off with a 6-2 lead but just as in some of the previous maps, G2 clawed back to finish the first half at 8-7. Niko had several jaw-dropping clutches that saw him run through the Na'Vi players.
However, when Na'Vi went to the T-side, the CIS squad dug deep into its playbook. While the Na'Vi squad was able to secure a strategic advantage, there were moments of brilliance as well. Most notable was s1mple's epic 1v4 play that helped Na'Vi win the 29th round.
It was a round that should have gone the way of G2 esports. But a combination of poor coordination by G2's players and some amazing skill by s1mple, saw Na'vi clinch the round with 0.24 seconds to spare.
Na'Vi will now face Gambit esports in the grand finals. The team has been phenomenal so far, but Gambit has already defeated Na'Vi once before. CSGO fans can look forward to see whether Na'Vi can secure its revenge or whether Gambit will be the champions once again.
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Featured Image Credit: G2 esports.