The ongoing Counter Strike Global Offensive tournament ESL Pro League pitted the world’s best team, against a close second. That’s right it was Natus Vincere up against Astralis in stage 2 of Season 11. Natus Vincere won the series 2-1 to go level on top of the stage 2 standings with Fnatic.
Counter Strike Global Offensive: Top 2 teams face off
Astralis went with Inferno as their first pick and got off to a blistering start to the series. They looked determined to avenge their semi-final loss to Natus Vincere at the IEM Katowice. The best possible start came down to a 1v2 clutch for Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth, who took it to enable Astralis to take a 6-1 lead.
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After a very slow, s1mple managed to wake from his slumber to help his team get a foothold in the series. Natus Vincere managed to close the gap to just 5 between their opponents at the break.
Xyp9x gave Astralis the best possible start, winning the pistol round with three kills. There was no stopping them after that as they took the first series.
Astralis carried their momentum into Dust2 with a 4-0 lead. However, Natus Vincere displayed some world-class defiance by fighting back. Having gone 14-5 and in need of just one more win, Natus Vincere stumbled a little, allowing Astralis to edge into it. However, they were never going to let the series slip up.
The final map, Train, saw electronic take the initiative for Natus Vincere by claiming 17 kills! On the other hand, Astralis’ device failed to cause any damage with the AWP. Natus Vincere never let Astralis back into the game, winning Train 16-8 to win the match and preserve their dominance.
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.@natusvincere secure the series 2-1 by reverse sweeping @astralisgg 🧹
5:16 on Inferno
16:10 on Dust2
16:8 on TrainGGWP #ESLProLeaguehttps://t.co/ZvDWXMUbM0 pic.twitter.com/PwjzpSKyx0
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) April 5, 2020
After the match, s1mple revealed Natus Vincere had a lucky charm working for them. Turns out it was flamie’s birthday!
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Happy birthday @flamieCS!
According to @s1mpleO with the win today against Astralis he's won every year on his birthday four years in a row 🥳
Hope you keep the tradition going next year! 🤙#ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/eCzV0FLzh8
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) April 5, 2020