Na'Vi qualify for playoffs, Bad News Eagles eliminated
Day 2 ended with two exciting matchups!
After seeing Spirit qualify for the playoffs, Na'Vi and NIP now had the chance to do the same. After going 2-0 on Day 1 the two teams were hoping for a clean run through the Swiss Stage.
Na'Vi had a fantastic start to their opponents' map pick of Inferno. The CIS squad went in front 9-1 despite heavy resistance from "es3tag". The other Ninjas finally stepped up and the Scandinavians managed to take an acceptable five rounds before the break.
Changing sides did not bring more fortune for the Ninjas as they only managed to stop the Na'Vi offense a single time. Throughout the map, the trio of "s1mple", "b1t", and "Perfecto" was simply too much to handle for NIP.
Na'Vi looked to make a statement against the Ninjas as they capitalized on their momentum from Inferno to take a 6-0 lead on the second map of Mirage. "hampus" and co. somehow recovered from that devastating start and ended the half behind by only one round.
The CIS squad led almost the entirety of the map, and it seemed like a certainty that they were going to win it, but the perseverance of the Ninjas and the calls of "hampus" led to a surprising 16-14 in favor of the Scandinavians.
After their great Mirage, NIP struggled on the T side of Ancient. They conceded the first eight rounds of the map before they themselves put one on the board. "Brollan" and "hampus" were able to find some good openings for the team, but at the end of the day that only translated to two rounds at halftime.
The map was over after five second-half rounds as NIP could not stand up to the CIS giants of Na'Vi.
Na'Vi unsurprisingly qualify for the playoffs while NIP will have to try their luck again tomorrow.
Na'Vi - NIP 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage
16-6 (Inferno) | s1mple - 1.70 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 120.5 ADR
14-16 (Mirage) | b1t - 1.49 Rating / 29-20 K-D / 107.3 ADR
16-4 (Ancient) | flag Perfecto - 1.55 Rating / 21-10 K-D / 98.5 ADR
MVP: Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy - 1.48 Rating / 71-44 K-D / 102.9 ADR
On the b-stream, the Bad News Eagles and Imperial fought for survival.
The match started on Imperial's pick of Inferno where only a single round separated the teams at halftime.
Imperial, who had started as the terrorists, looked more convincing on the defensive side as they were able to make good reads with some aggressive maneuvers. "fer" also stepped up his game which helped the Brazilians win on their map pick.
On their map pick of Mirage, the Eagles managed to take their first pistol round of the series but were immediately shut down by a seven-round streak from the Brazilians, that had "boltz" and "fer" written all over it. The Kosovars managed to pull a few rounds back and were only behind by five at halftime.
The Brazilians quickly pushed the lead to 14-7 and things were looking bleak for the Eagles. But like the click of a button, all of a sudden the Eagles were turned on. Things started working out for them, most of all on an individual level. Especially "rigoN" came alive and boosted his team's chances massively. In the end, the Eagles fell just short of the mark after pushing the map to its 30th round.
The historic performance of bNE, therefore, comes to a close as they go 0-3 in the Legends Stage. On the other side Imperial stave off elimination and hope to make the reverse sweep.
Bad News Eagles - Imperial 0-2 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage
13-16 (Inferno) | fer - 1.55 Rating / 26-16 K-D / 102.3 ADR
14-16 (Mirage) | fer - 1.40 Rating / 24-17 K-D / 77.7 ADR
MVP: Fernando "fer" Alvarenga - 1.47 Rating / 50-33 K-D / 89.8 ADR