CSGO: Na`Vi defeat home team BIG, win ESL One Cologne

Natus Vincere won the ESL One Cologne 2018 cup against BIG with a final score of 3-1.

“We want to win the tournament where all the strongest teams participate. That is the goal of the team.” Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev spoke after the team won StarSeries i-League Season 5 in April. This dream has come true.

The finals started at Overpass, Natus Vincere’s map pick, but BIG quickly took a 2-0 lead under the enthusiasm of the home fans. In the 3rd round, Na`Vi loaded the gun and won 4 rounds in a row, but BIG responded with a duel with the advantage and the ability to use the utility well.

A quadruple from s1mple in the next round put Na`Vi back in the lead and disrupted BIG’s economy. Everything seemed to be going in the direction of the black gold team, but Na`Vi made a few mistakes, including losing two anti-eco rounds to a very tight score at 8-7 in the first half.

Going to CT, Na`Vi widened the gap by winning the next pistol and anti-eco round. BIG tried to respond in round 3 with a full buy, but was shut down by electronic – he got himself 4 frags.

S1mple continued to apply pressure and got early kills, Na`Vi continued to lead 12-7 and played comfortably. After stabilizing the economy, BIG started to win, narrowing the gap to 3 rounds, but Na`Vi tightened their defense and won 3 consecutive rounds to get themselves a score of 16-10, ending the map. Overpass.

? CHAMPIONS ?

Congratulations @natusvincere! #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/27Ur5jxVPt

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2018

Next up is Dust2, a map where Na`Vi has lost all three in the last three months. However, the team still promoted 2-0, after being 3-0 down.

The hosts countered with a successful split A after taking control of Long, but they were quickly extinguished on the B site in the next round. The match entered the brainstorming phase when no one would give up.

Down 3-6, BIG once again won the eco round, shocking Zeus’s team. This was also the key point to help the German boys turn the situation around and they had the advantage of 1 round before the opponent when the CT half ended.

BIG got their second pistol round thanks to an incredible ace from “tabseN”, which made the stadium explode. After two unsuccessful force-buys, Na`Vi shortened the gap.

BIG’s economy was tough, but they miraculously won the next round thanks to an ace from nex who had twice as many frags as his teammates. electronic exploded in the next round from a 1v4 clutch to rescue Na`Vi. Unfortunately, BIG quickly controlled the game, winning 4 consecutive rounds to equalize the score 1-1.

OWENED!@smooyacs @BIGCLANgg #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/bgFDCJYld0

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2018

Continuing the momentum, BIG took a 4-0 lead on CT in Train. Germany’s defense finally cracked, after Edward’s 1v2 clutch, but they immediately adjusted the formation.

Almost out of money, Na`Vi still won the next round when they killed smooya and used the AWP from this player. Right at this moment, Na`Vi’s journey back upstream begins. They brought the score to 5-5, but BIG was not willing to give up and continued to lead 8-7 at the end of the first half.

The second half started with a successful push from BIG, they went on to win the next round to widen the gap to 10-7. But some error handling from Germany in the following round allowed the opponent to win full-eco and return to the game.

S1mple started to heat up, Natus Vincere played great to get the first map point without losing any more rounds, before flamie beat 4 opponents to claim this map.

electronic got off to a great start at Inferno with a quick treble in B, giving Na`Vi a 3-0 lead. However, with the amount of money, BIG quickly turned the situation around. The German team won 6 more rounds to lead 6-4.

Zeus, IGL made a strong impression against Astralis on the same Inferno map, turning the game in their favor, pocketing 7 lives in the next three rounds. s1mple got himself 4 kills in round 15, giving the team a tight 8-7 lead.

Natus Vincere started the second half like a dream, winning 6 rounds in a row, with the third round being a 1v3 clutch from s1mple. BIG clearly lost their heat, but tabseN managed to keep the team’s hopes up with the next treble. Unfortunately, his efforts did not pay off, Na`Vi quickly took control of the map and won 2 more convincing rounds in the final map.

Final rankings of the teams at ESL One Cologne 2018:

first. Natus Vincere – $125,000

2. BIG – $50,000

3-4. FaZe – $22,000

3-4. Astralis – $22,000

5-6. fnatic – $11,000

5-6. G2 – $11,000

7-8. ENCE – $7,500

7-8. MIBR – $7,500

9-12. Renegades – $6,000

9-12. mousesports – $6,000

9-12. Cloud9 – $6,000

9-12. North – $6,000

13-16. NiP – $5,000

13-16. Gambit – $5,000

13-16. Liquid – $5,000

13-16. BOOT-d[S] – $5,000