BIG overcome Na`Vi despite s1mple show; IEM Katowice champions with 0

A 1.79-rated masterclass from Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev wasn't enough for Natus Vincere to stop BIG in ESL Pro League S11 as the German team took a 2-0 victory in the series (16-7 Nuke, 22-20 Dust2).

Natus Vincere opened up their ESL Pro League season with an upset loss to North and were looking to pick up the pace in the second match against BIG. However the winners of IEM Katowice and current #1 team in the world wasn't able to beat Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's team.

s1mple was outstanding throughout the series, but that wasn't enough to keep Natus Vincere afloat. BIG took a 16-7 win on Nuke and closed out Dust2 after multiple overtimes to claim the 2-0 for the series, their second win in the competition.

s1mple's 127.2 ADR over 42 rounds wasn't enough for Na`Vi to win Dust2

Natus Vincere started the series with a 4-0 lead as CT on Nuke, but BIG came back into it by winning eight out of the next nine rounds to finish the half with a minimal lead. With Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische on the AWP, the Germans put up a wall on the CT side to close out the map quickly, 16-7.

It seemed like the CIS side would bounce back on Dust2 as s1mple led the way with 20K-2D ten rounds into the game and they took an 8-2 lead. Natus Vincere extended that to 13-5 after the second half pistol, but that is where their troubles started for them.

Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov was unable to find the gaps in BIG's defenses and Natus Vincere's approaches fell flat round after round as they started to mount the comeback. s1mple broke 40 kills in regulation, but BIG was still able to complete the comeback and push the game into overtime. In the second set of added rounds, tabseN was the hero for BIG, closing out the series with a massive triple-kill on the A bombsite.

ESL Pro League Season 11 EuropeBest of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 0 2 19th March 2020 BIG 7Nuke 16 20Dust2 22

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	81 - 36	+45	119.1	1.79
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	41 - 52	-11	71.8	0.84
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	37 - 47	-10	59.8	0.83
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	30 - 50	-20	57.0	0.67
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	24 - 46	-22	50.2	0.62

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	52 - 41	+11	93.7	1.37
Florian 'syrsoN' RischesyrsoN	45 - 38	+7	67.8	1.20
Tizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschtiziaN	43 - 41	+2	71.8	1.10
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	48 - 45	+3	81.3	1.05
Nils 'k1to' Gruhnek1to	42 - 48	-6	65.8	0.97

With this result, BIG have tied FORZE at the top of the ESL Pro League Season 11 group B as both teams have two wins from two games. Meanwhile, Natus Vincere is still without a win, with only three more games to play:

Group B TEAM M P BIG 2 6 FORZE 2 6 North 2 3 Complexity 1 0 fnatic 1 0 Natus Vincere 2 0 Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov Age: 21 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 668 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 FORZE #24 Dmitriy 'facecrack' AlekseyevAlmaz 'almazer' AsadullinEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovAndrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Florian 'syrsoN' Rische Age: 23 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1160 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz Age: 24 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1378 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.70 fnatic #5 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin Andreas 'Samuelsson' Samuelsson North #23 René 'cajunb' BorgMathias 'MSL' LauridsenPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeNicklas 'gade' Gade Jimmy 'Jumpy' Berndtsson FORZE #24 Dmitriy 'facecrack' AlekseyevAlmaz 'almazer' AsadullinEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovAndrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Anatoliy 'liTTle' Yashin BIG #18 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Tobias 'tow b' Herberhold BIG #18 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Natus Vincere #1 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievEgor 'flamie' VasilyevDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy North #23 René 'cajunb' BorgMathias 'MSL' LauridsenPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeNicklas 'gade' Gade Natus Vincere #1 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievEgor 'flamie' VasilyevDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy Complexity #17 William 'RUSH' WierzbaKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeValentin 'poizon' VasilevOwen 'oBo' SchlatterBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Jamie 'keita' Hall Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 1121 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.65