NAVI end Vitality’s “Last Dance” to secure Grand Final spot
It will be a full CIS title-decider match at BLAST Premier World Final, due to NAVI's confident 2-0 victory in the French side's last match together.
The Consolidation Final of the $1 Million event began on Nuke, a map which NAVI has turned into their very own fortress this year. Since late June, NAVI has won no more than 22 times on Nuke only losing once, despite taking on some of the best teams in CS:GO week after week.
It was Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev who set the tone from the start in today’s matchup, as the Ukrainian superstar managed to break through Vitality’s defence on several occasions, through his great showing on the T side. After the switch, his wing-man and partner in crime, Denis “electronic” Sharipov was the one in control and the main reason for NAVI winning 16-12 and getting to a 1-0 map lead, by averaging a stellar 2.04 in the second half.
On Vitality’s map pick on Dust2, the Frenchmen struggled heavily to find a footing in the battle against the Russian-Ukrainian side, which resulted in a troublesome 0-7 deficit for Dan “apEX” Madeslclaire and his men. The dominance continued and NAVI showed no intention to stop, setting the half-time score at 10-5 before going onto the T side.
Throughout the match, it stood clear that Vitality had run dry on batteries, despite this being their last fight together as a roster before splitting up. Vitality had no answer to NAVI their powerful individual weapons in the likes of electronic, s1mple, and B1T, which in the end resulted in a heavy 16-5 beating on the second map, sending NAVI to the Grand Final against Gambit.
The 2-0 loss does not only mark the end of Vitality’s campaign at BLAST Premier World Final, but it also marks the end of this current Vitality roster, with several roster changes already being nearly confirmed.
The Grand Final at BLAST World Final between NAVI and Gambit is set to start at 18:30 (CET), where the two CIS titans will fight each other for the $500.000 1st prize.
NAVI – Vitality 2-0 | BLAST Premier World Final
16-12 (Nuke) | electronic – 1.40 Rating / 23-17 K-D / 101.7 ADR
16-5 (Dust2) | s1mple – 1.73 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 114.6 ADR
MVP: Aleksandr ”s1mple” Kostyliev – 1.44 Rating / 44-29 K-D / 95.0 ADR