NAVI best Monte to qualify for ESL Pro League Season 18 Grand finals

The first semifinals of ESL Pro League features Monte going up against NAVI. The clash between the underdog and the favorite is one to watch as Monte have been punching above their weight in this event. Here’s everything to know about Monte vs NAVI including the team rosters, where to watch, and live scores.

Monte started Anubis strong with a 5-1 lead. Most of the early momentum was based off their pistol round victory. After the early dominance, which included some stellar plays from both sides, NAVI seemed to find their groove to make a comeback in the first half.

The half ended with an 8-7 lead for Monte, a very small lead considering their blitzkrieg start. The final round saw br0 hold off the NAVI offense with a splendid triple-kill. He got two frags staring down mid and then had the spatial awareness to throw a smoke and take a 1v1 fight to get his third kill.

Monte won the second pistol to once again build up a small lead. But once NAVI got guns in their hands it was game over for Monte.

B1t, S1mple and jL each had more than 20 frags to secure a dominant performance against Monte. Although the score was much closer, NAVI seemed to be the more dominant team in the tournament.

Monte got off to a 9-4 start on Mirage with the first-half looking relatively even from both sides. There were several standout moments on Mirage, with somedieyoung and AleksiB both putting up Ace performances. The first half ended with a 9-6 lead for Monte.

But once they went over to the T-side, it seemed they had no answer to the NAVI defense. NAVI was insurmountable on its defense constantly negating the Monte push with grenades, utilities and thoughtful rotations.

Sdy ,in particular, was the top performer on Mirage with 28 kills to his name. The 26-year-old former NAVI stand-in, now on Monte had 104.6 ADR and was the best player on the server. Playing against his former team seemed to have ignited an inner passion within the player.

NAVI ended Mirage with a 16-10 score, becoming the first team to qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 18 Grand Finals. They now wait for the winner of MOUZ vs ENCE to know who their opponent is.

Monte have definitely been a surprise entry in the Top four. The team had to struggle through the group stage, falling down to the lower bracket. But their victories against Heroic and MIBR propelled them to secure a spot in the playoffs. The win against Heroic, in particular, was impressive, but they have not stopped surprising fans since then.

The team’s playoff run started with a victory against Fnatic and later Complexity. But the quarterfinal victory against Team Vitality was possibly the biggest upset in the ESL Pro League Season 18. Monte is still a relatively new team compared to some of their opponents so far in the event, and they are definitely still adjusting to the roster and finding their groove. So to see them flourish in the way they are is inspiring to say the least.

That being said, they are against NAVI, one of the best teams in the world. The roster comprises superstar players, who at their peak, can single-handedly demolish most of the other teams in the world. NAVI comes into this series as the favorites, but the team has not been in the best of form recently. NAVI finished outside the Top four at both Gamers8 and ESL One Cologne. But NAVI at ESL Pro League Season 18 has already performed much better and they can possibly go on to win this event as well. 

The Monte vs NAVI match at the ESL Pro League Season 18 broadcast is live on Twitch. We have also embedded the stream below for your convenience.

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