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G2 finally broke the curse of losing versus NaVi and came out on top to eliminate them from IEM Katowice 2022. Famed for losing to them in Grand Finals time after time after time, G2 reigned supreme today, powered through by huNter- and m0NESY, yet again. This is the second time that Aleksib has eliminated s1mple’s NaVi from IEM Katowice as he did the same in 2019 with ENCE. G2 will now play the winner of FaZe vs Heroic in the Grand Final tomorrow.
It should be taken into account that NaVi came into the game with a lot of mental pressure, considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, the fact that they even came out to play was appreciated by the casters and analysts alike.
MAP VETO
- G2 removed Overpass
- Natus Vincere removed Vertigo
- G2 picked Inferno
- Natus Vincere picked Mirage
- G2 removed Nuke
- Natus Vincere removed Ancient
- Dust2 was left over
MAP 1: Inferno (G2 16-12 Natus Vincere)
The semi-final started on G2’s pick of Inferno and the international roster got off to a flier with a beautiful pistol and conversion to go up 4-0. The preparation from IGL Aleksib was on point as they were able to find openings, again and again, exploiting Boombl4’s position on Banana. It was only s1mple that was able to find entries for his side and only when he did find entries did NaVi take a round. With the score at 10-2 and only s1mple positive in K/D, the CIS side turned the gears after a timeout and were finally able to string together more than 1 as they ended the half with a respectable 5-10 score.
NaVi won the T-side pistol but on the second force buy, a good read from Aleksib had NaVi walking into a stack as they lost to pistols and then the next 3 too as the score read 14-7. They traded rounds and G2 found match point at 15-8 but NaVi weren’t done just yet. Fired up by s1mple’s heroics they strung together 4 more but that was mainly due to G2’s broken economy. Once the guns came out, m0NESY took control and swiftly ended the map for his side 16-12.
MAP 2: Mirage (G2 16-13 Natus Vincere)
NaVi’s map pick started with a bang for them off the back of a pistol win and conversion to go up 3-0. But that is almost all they got in the rest of the half. m0NESY’s AWP went ham on his former organisation, helped greatly on the side with huNter- as G2 took round after round from NaVi, not even letting them plant the bomb in the next 6. The only round they got was off the back of a 1v2 from IGL Boombl4 on the B site.
Then, m0NESY once again raised the roof and defied the odds to bring back a lost round for G2 with a magnificent 1v3. He sent shockwaves through the arena with his wrist breaking AWP shots as even NiKo had to get out of his chair and hug the 16-year-old to congratulate him on what he had just done.
That broke whatever momentum NaVi had as the half ended 11-4 in G2’s favor.
On the CT side, the s1mple show began once again as he took G2 by the horns and made short work of them everywhere they went. NaVi came back firing on all cylinders to bring the score to 11-11. The sides then traded rounds once again, courtesy of another sick 1v3 from captain Boombl4 to keep NaVi even at 12-12 and then at 13-13.
But a series of on-point calls from Aleksib to attack the A site 3 times in a row bore fruit as G2 took the last 3 rounds to send NaVi out of the semis 16-13.
GRAND FINAL FOR G2 ESPORTS
G2 make it to the Grand Final of IEM Katowice for the second time in history after doing it the first time in 2020. This will be the third IEM Katowice grand final for NiKo (2017, 2018) and second for huNter-, JACKZ(2020), and Aleksib(2019). m0NESY will be playing his first.
NaVi will finish in 3-4th place while G2 will play the winner of Heroic vs FaZe Clan tomorrow at 21:30 IST.
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