by Kia KahaNatus Vincere win ESL One New York over Virtus.pro
(2-1; Cobblestone 3-16, Train 16-8, Mirage 19-17)
Virtus.pro kicked off the ESL One New York grand final in style. Paweł “byali” Bieliński began their Terrorist half on Cobblestone by grabbing four kills and a 1v1 clutch in the pistol, and another clutch came from Filip “NEO” Kubski in round six for a flying 6-0 start.
Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács’s triple in a low buy gave Na`Vi their first round, but then it was Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski to shut down the opposition with a stunning 1v3 triumph, as Virtus.pro continued dominating the half with explosive executes that would make Alfred Nobel proud.
Natus Vincere’s already slim chances went up in flames after Pogorzelski pulled off another shocking clutch, that time around an all-headshot 1v4 in the second pistol round. The CIS-based team managed to win the next forcebuy, although Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtasput up one more 1v3 afterwards to secure map one in stunningly dominating fashion at 16-3.
Snax gave us one of the most memorable plays of 2016
Accepting the huge loss on map one, Natus Vincere showed a formidable Terrorist performance on Train, grabbing a 5-1 lead early on. VP looked lost on the defence, as they dropped another gunround and elected to force up under the pressure, but nothing worked and Na`Vi went on to grab five more consecutive rounds.
The last four rounds were split evenly between the two due to the Poles winning a shoddy forcebuy for a 12-3 half in favour of Denis “seized” Kostin’s squad. Falling short in the pistol round, VP still had some life left in them, as Bieliński’s quad with a deagle allowed his team to go up to 6-13.
Once Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev gave his opponents a taste of their own medicine with a fantastic 1v4 clutch in a forcebuy, the map was nearly over as Natus Vincere closed Train out at 16-8 thanks to opening kills from Kovács in the last two rounds.
Mirage decided it all and it was Na`Vi to get up to a quick 4-1 lead as CT at the beginning. Their economy got reset shortly afterwards however, and once more when the next two gunrounds were traded as VP grabbed their first lead on the last map.
s1mple’s display on the second half of Mirage gave Na`Vi several crucial rounds
The last three rounds of the first half went back and forth, but the Poles still went over with a one-round lead. That lead was soon lost following Na`Vi’s comfortable pistol round win.
Kostyliev’s plays turned three close rounds around, putting his team in a great position to snatch the title away from Virtus.pro. The Poles were in another advantageous situation at 8-13, although that time Kovács was the one to step up to the plate to win a fantastic 1v3 clutch.
The Polish players finally stepped up with individual plays to get on the board and survive several more rounds, clawing back to an even 14-14. At that point Na`Vi broke the streak to reach match point and Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev nearly finished it off with a 1v3, but Jarosław “pashaBiceps” Jarząbkowski saved the day in the end and took the game to overtime.
Sukhariev and Kostyliev then turned another unfavorable situation around, while Wojtas won a 1v2 in the following round before VP got a 2-1 half to their name. The exciting plays didn’t stop there as Kovács provided another triple to make it even once more, helping Na`Vi grab the title just two rounds afterwards at 19-17.
