NAVI still have another opportunity to qualify for Fall Finals
A slot for the BLAST Premier Fall Finals in Denmark was on the line and Heroic emerged victorious against NAVI when it mattered the most. Heroic took down NAVI in three maps to secure their spot for the Fall Finals event in November.
CS:GO fans were near certain it would be a clean 2-0 for Heroic. NAVI is a relatively new team and there have been signs of discord within the team and the players. So when NAVI managed to take Heroic to three maps, it raised hopes for the team's fans about the roster's future.
Changing the way the players communicate with each other is never easy. And NAVI’s decision to move to English as their preferred language was always going to be bumpy. But so far it seems to be decent and the skill level on the team is obviously exceedingly high.
Heroic shocked by the new NAVI, but survive
NAVI had a quick 5-0 start on Mirage, which was largely due to the CS:GO economics at play. However, once the economy stabilized, Heroic looked like a significantly better team with control over how the round played out.
Heroic won eight of the next ten rounds to secure themselves a lead in the first half despite the horrendous start.
Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard was on point with his aim and his positioning to confound the CIS roster. NAVI once again won the second pistol to try to regain some of the momentum. But alas, the Danes snatched it right back winning the next and following it up with two more victories. NAVI’s round wins were few and far between and ultimately Heroic won Mirage with a 16-11 score.
The next map saw NAVI completely dominate the CT side. They won six straight rounds towards the end of the first half to secure a 10-5 lead at half-time. This lead allowed them the comfort and the space required to experiment on their T-side. Inferno was an extremely close map with the final score being 16-14 in favor of NAVI. The map could’ve gone either way, however, the substantial first-half lead allowed NAVI to break through the Heroic defenses in the second half.
With only four rounds to their name in the first half of Nuke, it was always going to be a question of when rather than if for NAVI. When will they lose, when will they give up. Fortunately for NAVI fans, the squad didn’t give up easily, fighting till the final round for a potential comeback.
The result didn’t really change. NAVI still lost the map and the series, however, their spirited comeback attempt did not go unnoticed. NAVI lost Inferno 12-16 after starting off with a very discouraging 4-11 first half.
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What’s next for NAVI?
NAVI is still a new roster and the team is acclimatizing itself in terms of firepower and synergy. There were issues, as obvious by S1mple’s social media outburst earlier this tournament. However, their spirited fight against Heroic proves that the team has some fight in them. It will take time especially for the players to start communicating in English and not their native language. But with adequate firepower, NAVI could be a force to reckon with.
With this loss, NAVI will now have to go through the group stage knockout stage to try to earn their spot at Fall Finals. They go directly to Round 2 which does give them an advantage over some others. However, they still need to win their only remaining match at the tournament to qualify for the November event.
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