S1mple’s best performance of 2020 helps Na’Vi eliminate NiP from IEM Katowice

Natus Vincere beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 today in IEM Katowice’s Group A lower bracket semifinal.

With this loss, NiP are out of the tournament after three series, having lost to Vitality and eliminating Cloud9 before. Na’Vi, on the other hand, will have to win one more elimination match to advance to the IEM Katowice quarterfinals.

Na’Vi decimated NiP on the first map of the series, Mirage, which was the Ninjas’ map pick. The Russians, however, dominated it from the beginning and won 16-3. It was s1mple’s best performance of 2020 so far. He finished with 26 kills, only six deaths, and a rare 2.07 rating.

The heavy loss didn’t affect NiP on Train, though, since the Swedish squad played much better. But Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskyi and flamie won a few big rounds for Na’Vi and carried them to the 16-10 win. The duo combined for 48 kills.

This new version of NiP isn’t bad, but they aren’t ready to defeat the best teams quite yet. They’ll have to keep practicing to play better collectively and help their newest player, Tim “nawwk” Jonasson, adapt to the team.

If s1mple delivers more performances like this, Na’Vi will be on the right path to at least reach the playoffs at IEM Katowice. Their newest player, Perfecto, has also been one of the best competitors at the tournament, which indicates that he’s fitting in well with the team.

You can keep track of the IEM Katowice results here.