Two European teams will face off in the grand final of the FACEIT London Major, as Natus Vincere and Astralis advanced after a day of incredible semi-final matches.
The day of semis started with Made in Brazil taking on Na’Vi, with the former finally looking like the team they were predicted to be when the roster formed.
Na’Vi remained favorites going into the match however, with their star player Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev having taken the crown of world’s best player from MiBR’s Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, in many fans’ opinion.
Na’Vi started the stronger of the two teams on map one, Overpass, and s1mple was indeed the star of the show. MiBR were not completely out of it though, and did manage to steal a few rounds back, often thanks to smart, and somewhat fortunate, individual plays.
As has been the case with Na’Vi for some time now, as long as s1mple’s teammates contribute with the frags, they can beat anyone. Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov stepped up big time on Overpass, only 2 kills short of s1mple’s server-leading 26, as they took Overpass 16-10.
Map two, Dust2, was much more one sided as MiBR simply looked out of ideas and Na’Vi didn’t put a foot wrong. Once again s1mple lead the way, as a dominant performance saw the Ukranian’s team take it 16-5, advancing to the grand final at the peak of their form.
Astralis were the heavy favorites in their semi-final against Team Liquid, but to write off the North American’s would have been foolish.
Even on Astralis’ map pick, Nuke, Liquid put up valiant effort, going toe-to-toe with Astralis on one of their most dominant maps. In the end, Astralis had too much, but the 16-8 scoreline was somewhat flattering for the Danes.
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After such an exhilarating first map, more of the same was expected on Liquid’s map pick Mirage, but Liquid simply didn’t provide the same performance.
Losing the early pistol and throwing away some winnable rounds, it suddenly got out of hand for Liquid, who completely ran out of steam, finding themselves down 12-3 at the half.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half either, as Astralis continued to look assured and comfortable, despite throwing away an easy pistol, they bounced back immediately to secure their grand final spot.
Astralis will face Na’Vi in an all European showdown on Sunday September 23 at 6pm BST (1pm EST, 10am PT, 7pm CEST).
Na’Vi are hoping to win their first ever CS:GO Major, while Astralis will aim to become only the second team to win multiple majors, with Fnatic’s (three major wins) the only other team to do so.
