G2 vs Na’Vi: An Epic Rematch at IEM Katowice

G2 Esports went to IEM Katowice as one of the favorites and so far, they’ve delivered exactly what they were expected to deliver: amazing performances against some of the world’s best teams.

But Natus Vincere were certainly not expected to be as dominant as they have been. Their new roster member, Andrij “npl” Kukharsjkyj, is very young and has almost no experience at the highest level of Counter-Strike.

However, Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev took a liking to him and said that his understanding of the game is great for his age. So far, it seems that s1mple might have been correct in his assessment of his talent.

https://twitter.com/natusvincere/status/1622346254704381954

G2’s Wins

In their first two matches, G2 encountered BIG and FaZe Clan. The first opponent was not exactly a big challenge and they easily won the battle: 16-12 on Anubis and 16-8 on Inferno.

But the second opponent was FaZe, whose ambition is to complete the Intel Grand Slam at this tournament or the next. Against Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s team, G2 struggled, but only on the first map, Nuke, which happened to be their own map pick. The score here was 16-14 in their favor.

On the second map, Ancient, G2 won with ease: 16-7. Quite surprisingly, their victory came in spite of the fact that Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov had one of his worst matches in a long time and finished with a K-D score of 26-33. Three of his teammates had over 40 kills and Justin “jks” Savage had a fantastic match: 47-26.

https://twitter.com/G2NiKo/status/1622566550044569602

Na’Vi’s Wins

Natus Vincere’s matches were very similar to G2’s. In both cases, the team struggled on one of the maps but won the other with ease and closed the series undefeated. Their opponents were Cloud9 and Team Liquid. In both cases, Denis “electroNic” Sharipov was the MVP while Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy was the weakest player of Na’Vi.

G2 vs. Na’Vi

This match could have easily been the Grand Final of IEM Katowice and will determine which of these two teams will go directly to the semifinals. The runner-up will need to start in the quarterfinals.

The last three matches that took place between these two teams were won by G2 Esports. And that trend is likely to continue because Na’Vi are not ready to face such a strong opponent at this stage. They’re good, but s1mple is not in top shape and some of his teammates are considerably weaker than G2’s players.

It remains to be seen what will happen but the most likely outcome is a 2-1 result in favor of G2.

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