NAVI are the champions of ESL Pro League Season 14!

NAVI have claimed the ESL Pro League Season 14 title after defeating the Frenchmen from Team Vitality 3-2 in the grand final of the event, while also winning the Intel Grand Slam worth $1.000.000!

The action of the grand final started on NAVI’s pick, Dust2, where ZywOo and company quickly made their presence felt with some offensive plays on the CT-side to go up 2-0. But as soon as NAVI’s economy started rolling, the Russian-Ukrainian side began to showcase their T-side masterclass and took control of the half, storming to a 6-2 lead. Team Vitality didn’t manage to stabilize their defense and went into the second half 10-5 down. The Frenchmen managed to lower their deficit to only two rounds, but unfortunately for apEX’s squad, NAVI proved to be too much for them and closed it out, 16-10.

The series took us to Team Vitality’s pick of Inferno and he were saw a French team in good form, rallying to a 8-2 lead on the attacking side. NAVI had a hard time closing gaps in the defense and stopping ZywOo from racking up kills, but they still fought their way to put up 6 rounds on the scoreboard before halftime. After the sides switched with the Frenchmen on double digits, apEX’s troops cruised to victory without too much drama, not giving up a single round along the way while ZywOo ran rampant.

NAVI had a solid start on the attacking side of Nuke, which s1mple and company dominated all the way up to the end of the half, 11-4. In the second half, NAVI once again started things off on the right foot, grabbing the first three rounds of the half before Vitality started to answer back on the attacking side. Team Vitality slowly began to climb their way back into the game at 9-14, but were put up against the ropes as NAVI cruised to victory, allowing only two rounds before closing the map out 16-11.

After a small break, the series continued on Overpass where NAVI took the pistol with a convincing defense. But that didn’t last long as a forcebuy round from Vitality and a 3k from shox with the deagle quickly turned things around. Not a single player from NAVI stepped up to stop Vitality’s massive run as the Frenchmen finished the half 12-3 in their favor, with shox dropping 21 kills. NAVI tried to stay in the fight by winning the first three rounds in the second half, but as soon as Vitality got a hold of weapons, they started to dismantle Boombl4’s troops and closed out the map 16-7 to force map five.

The million-dollar map, Mirage, was going to be the last battleground of the series to find the winner of the grand final. Here, NAVI came out and grabbed an early lead to go up 4-1. Just as Vitality’s executes started paying off, NAVI’s B1T stepped up and delivered a crucial play to shift the momentum back in his team’s favor at 8-4.

NAVI finished the first half with a 10-5 lead going into the final half of the series, with electronic putting up 20 kills before the break. Vitality began their climb back in the second half with a forcebuy win and managed to close the gap until the point where just one round separated the two teams at 12-11. From there on, NAVI kept staying in the lead and made it to map point at 15-13 before Vitality won a chaotic round to close the gap to one round. But unfortunately for the Frenchmen, NAVI kept their composure and closed out the map 16-14 after a beautiful A execute.  

Dust2: 16-10 | electronic – 1.55 Rating – 111.0 ADR – 29-18 K/D
Inferno: 6-16 | ZywOo – 1.83 Rating – 102.0 ADR – 25-10 K/D
Nuke: 16-11 | s1mple – 1.40 Rating – 85.0 ADR – 21-16 K/D
Overpass: 7-16 | shox – 1.96 Rating – 123.2 ADR – 25-11 K/D
Mirage: 16-14 | electronic – 1.47 Rating – 95.7 ADR – 27-17 K/D

MVP: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – 1.23 Rating – 78.8 ADR – 71.9% KAST – 102-78 K/D

Despite losing the grand final, ZywOo finished as the highest-rated player in the grand final.