Natus Vincere beat FaZe Clan 2-1 today in IEM Katowice’s Group A upper bracket quarterfinal. The encounter was described as the “marquee matchup” of the day, according to the CS:GO caster Jason “moses” O’Toole.
This match could’ve also been called the battle of s1mple and electronic vs. NiKo and coldzera. Na’Vi finished on top despite losing the first map.
FaZe dominated Na’Vi in the first map of the series, Nuke, with a strong CT side in the second half of the match. Coldzera, olofmeister, NiKo, and Helvijs “broky” Saukants all played well and combined for 85 kills.
FaZe could’ve won Dust II since they were ahead 13-9 at one point in the game and NiKo was securing multi-kills in almost every round. Na’Vi got back into the game when s1mple started fragging after a slow start in the first half. But the Russians couldn’t have completed the comeback without Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy’s two decisive clutches in the second half, one against Coldzera and the other against broky and olofmeister.
Na’Vi lost the first half of Overpass 9-6 but dominated the second half, losing only one round to win it 16-10. Although it was a strong performance by all of their players, in-game leader Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov shined the most with 24 frags.
With this result, FaZe face a tough task at IEM Katowice since they’ll now play in the lower bracket and need to win more matches to qualify for the playoffs. They looked like the better team for most of the game against Na’Vi, but they struggled to close out rounds after the Russians adapted.
You can keep up with the IEM Katowice 2020 results here.
