Natus Vincere kicked off the Legends Stage in style with a 16-11 win over Heroic. Expectations were high from NaVi and they delivered on every front. Heroic had been looking shaky throughout the Challengers Stage, losing to Copenhagen Flames and Entropiq before finally qualifying as legends. NaVi go 1-0 up alongside FaZe Clan, Gambit, Entropiq and G2.
MAP VETO
1. Heroic removed Dust2
2. Heroic removed Nuke
3. Natus Vincere removed Vertigo
4. Natus Vincere removed Inferno
5. Natus Vincere removed Overpass
6. Heroic removed Mirage
7. Ancient was left over
Ancient was picked again, and neither team was an expert on it as they both have quite a small sample size on it. NaVi had the preferred CT started and got off on the right foot, with the pistol and conversion as they went 4-1 up courtest of ‘s1mple’ and ‘electronic’.
But things went south as Heroic found their form and whittled down NaVi’s economy. It wasnt until the final 3 rounds that NaVi could string together 3 rounds to end the half 8-7.
After losing the pistol, it was NaVi’s turn to turn the gears and they did just that. The scoreline didnt do justice to the game as it was back to back clutches from ‘B1T’, ‘Perfecto’ and a 1v3 from IGL ‘Boombl4’ that turned the tide for the CIS side.
Heroic were always on the cusp of winning rounds and kept it close until the end, but it was the clutches that made the difference.
NaVi go 1-0 up in the winners bracket while Heroic drop down to 1-0 alongside CPF, EG, ENCE and Team Liquid in the Legends Stage.
