NAVI defeat BIG and secure Champions Stage spot
s1mple and company are through to the IEM Rio Major Champions Stage!
NAVI are through to the IEM Rio Major 2022 Champions Stage after taking down BIG and eliminating them from the tournament with a 2-0 result. The Germans from BIG made NAVI struggle at times, but there was a class difference between the two teams when it mattered the most.
The Russian-Ukrainian squad is the seventh team to secure a spot in the playoffs and they are going to play against the hometown favorites from FURIA in the quarter-finals at the Jeunesse Arena where 18.000 CS:GO fans will be waiting for a banger matchup.
The action began on NAVI’s map pick of Mirage, where the Germans started off things on the right foot and comfortably cruised their way to a 9-3 lead on the CT-side. It was close to becoming a dream half for BIG on their opponents’ map pick, but NAVI were able to turn things around in the last remaining rounds of the half to still keep the game wide open. After winning the pistol in the second half and the following two rounds, NAVI equalized the score which made them eager to make some offensive plays. After losing the next three rounds with BIG going up 9-12 on the scoreboard, NAVI quickly regretted that and began to hold themselves back a bit. That paid off for the Russian-Ukrainian squad that went on to string together seven consecutive rounds in a row to close their map pick with a 16-12 win.
Next up was Dust2. Here, NAVI took their good form from the second half on Mirage with them, grabbing an early 4-0 lead on the CT-side. But their early success on BIG’s map pick did not continue. The Germans started to find their footing on the offense, and successfully put themselves in a strong position by finishing off the half with a single-round lead going into the CT-side. However, tabseN and company had a hard time keeping up with NAVI’s T-side after losing the pistol, with the Russian-Ukrainian squad grabbing the first five rounds of the half. Suddenly, s1mple and company were unstoppable and BIG managed to just secure three rounds before NAVI took the series win by closing out their opponents’ map pick with a 16-11 result.
IEM Rio Major 2022 - Legends Stage | NAVI vs. BIG 2-0
Mirage: 16-12
Dust2: 16-11
MVP: 
Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy - 1.22 Rating | 43-27 K/D | 72.3 ADR | 80.0% KAST
