Natus Vincere Upset Astralis in ESL One Cologne Semi-Final in Close Match
Tournament favorites Astralis took on European rivals Natus Vincere in a close semi-final at ESL One Cologne, in a very closely contested match.
Na’Vi were coming in hot after their quarter final match against Fnatic, which they took in dominant fashion thanks to their star player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev taking over.
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And their momentum was clearly still the wind in their sails as they finally edged out Astralis on map one, on Overpass.
The two teams were neck and neck for after the first twenty rounds, but s1mple backed up by Denis “electronic” Sharipov remained sharp and closed it out 16-13.
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On map two Nuke though, Astralis seemed unfazed by the tight map one defeat, immediately opening up a massive 10-1 lead on their T side.
Na’Vi regained some composure at the half way point, but Astralis’ quality and team play on Nuke was ultimately the difference as they took it 16-6 and forcing map three, Inferno.
Map three was suitably more close, as the the pressure was on for both of these teams as the spot in the grand final was in touching distance.
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Na’Vi were sharp still despite their setback on map two, and it wasn’t just down the stars like s1mple, as Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko providing an unusual amount of fragging in the first half.
Things were looking very slow for Astralis, but in true champions style they bounced back after the half bringing it to trail by only a single round at 10-11.
But Na’Vi fought off a spirited fight from Astralis to close it out 16-13 and book their spot in the grand final, where they would face FaZe Clan or BIG.
