The review of the playoffs of Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2020

March 1 was not just the first day of spring and the symbol of the new season this year but commemorated the beginning of the new era of NAVI and a few players of the team personally. We have previously told about the group stage. If you have missed our material, you will be able to catch up by clicking the link.

The end of Team Liquid’s victorious Bo3 series over Natus Vincere, which lasted 3,5 years

Playing in NAVI, s1mple became very popular and generally recognized, however, a big boost in his career happened in 2016 when the Ukrainian was representing Team Liquid. Then, he was playing with nitr0 and EliGE and together with the Americans, he achieved the second place at MLG Columbus 2016, the first Major tournament with the prize pool of $1,000,000. That year the esportsman moved to NAVI and since then, Natus Vincere have not been able to win a bo3 series against Team Liquid for three years and a half. The tournament IEM Katowice 2020 made a point in this story about the one-sided game. The quarterfinal with the participation of Liquid and NAVI was probably the most interesting and one of the toughest matches of the final stage. There, the match was over on two maps with a score of 16-11 and 16-13. As a result, Oleksandr Kostylev managed to beat his former teammates in a bo3 series for the first time.

100 Thieves

The battle between Fnatic and 100 Thieves has become one of the most stressful matches of the playoffs. It is surprising but both maps were over with a result 19-16 and both of them were finished in the favor of the Swedish team. Despite Fnatic made it to the semi-final where took part in another tough battle, the Australians proved that they were able to compete with the representatives of the Tier-1 scene on a decent level and show them an appropriate opposition. It is worth to remind that they eliminated weak TYLOO and strong Evil Geniuses and mousesports from the competition, which, of course, surprised all viewers.

Astralis’ fiasco

Many people expected something bigger from Astralis than being eliminated in the semi-final with a score of 2-0. The Danes defeated Cloud9, Vitality, and Fnatic with a score of 2-0 in the group stage almost without making efforts. The only opponent who made Astralis try hard was Team Vitality. There, gla1ve with his teammates achieved victory on Vertigo with a result 22-19. In the semi-final, Astralis had been morally ready for their opponents from Natus Vincere but, as it appeared later, they had not been ready in terms of tactics. The coach of the team, Zonic shared the information that he had been watching demos, matches, and NAVI’s preparations for 18 hours in a row but it did not help at all, as a result. The map Dust 2 was over with a score of 5-16, just like Nuke. Finally, Natus Vincere made it to the final and Astralis placed 3rd-4th at the tournament. Very few people could expect that but it happens sometimes. Many have already associated this with the end of the Astralis era. Maybe, the time has come and it is time to let someone else get on the top of the world rate?

G2 Esports’ performance

G2 Esports’ performance was surprising us at the tournament both in a good way and a bad one. It is worth to remind that they got in Group B where defeated 100 Thieves with a result 2-0 and then achieved victory over mousesports and Team Liquid with a score of 2-1 and 2-0, respectively. Due to this, the expectations from G2 were pretty high in the playoffs and they were met in the semi-final. The French fought with Fnatic and beat the last ones with a score of 2-1 and proceeded to the grand final where they were waited by the battle machine NAVI. The only thing G2 managed to show in the match with Natus Vincere was 13 won rounds on Dust 2. The players only managed to win 4 and 2 rounds on Nuke and Mirage, respectively. Despite this, becoming the silver medalist at the championship with the prize pool of $500,000 is a very good result, which is rewarded well. If G2 continues playing on the same level, we will easily state that this will be the strongest team in France. It can be seen only in matches now but soon, it will be prominent in the world rate too, which is made by HLTV.

Natus Vincere — Born to win

NAVI have, probably, come to the tournament and crushed all their opponents for the first time in many years. The main challenges were in the group stage where they fought well with FaZe Clan, having achieved two victories over them with a score of 2-1 and also lost in the equal fight with Fnatic with the result 1-2. It is surprising but we playoff matches, except for quarterfinals, were so quick that we did not have enough time to enjoy watching games with the participation of NAVI. After Natus Vincere defeated Liquid with a score of 2-0, having lost 11 rounds on one map and 13 on the second one. As was said previously, they won two maps with a score of 16-5 in the match against Astralis. Oleksandr said in one interview that they were always trying to prepare surprises for their opponents in the form of some prepared things, which had not been seen in other matches before. In the match with G2, the opposition of the opponents was minimal. Two maps were over with a score of 16-4 and 16-2 and the French managed to show some pressure only on one of them where won 13 rounds against NAVI.

When they had losses, Natus Vincere always said that they did not have enough time to synergize with a new player and they needed more time. With the arrival of Perfecto, the team started playing in a new way and reached the new level only in a few days. Now, many CS:GO viewers have the following question: “We need time” — is it the phrase, which has become a meme, which they used to justify themselves or Perfecto is a very talented player? According to s1mple, the fact that Ilya ‘Perfecto’ Zalutskiy is the same age as the other players in the team makes the situation easier and makes the atmosphere more comfortable and friendly. Even during matches on a stream, it is clear that the esportsmen are simply having fun from the game, like it is not big LAN tournaments but usual rating CS:GO matches. Oleksandr also noticed Perfecto’s other strong quality. He never shows his fear and due to small experience, he is always ready to study and learns the experience of his teammates. Ilya also gave an interview, in which said that he was always working on himself, not the least psychological and mental. Generally, looking at Natus Vincere’s current gaming shape, it can be said that now the tag will probably prove itself and fans of NAVI will be able to watch their matches without being nervous.