#G2 advanced to the IEM Katowice semi-finals with their commanding 2-0 victory against Natus Vincere, continuing their impressive start to 2023. Rasmus #HooXi Nielsen and crew defeated their opponents on Inferno (16-8) and Nuke (16-7) while maintaining the same veto from both of their prior encounters in 2023.
Following the BLAST World Final, the victory puts #G2 in a position to win their second S-tier competition in a row. Given their impressive performance, the European team is now unquestionably the favorite.
The Match Recap
The team’s triumph in Abu Dhabi, according to Nemanja #huNter Kova, was a factor in their current success because “Counter-Strike is a game of confidence, and we acquired heaps of it after the World Final.” G2 go forward to the Katowice semifinals, where they will take on the victor of Saturday’s contest between Liquid and Vitality.
Since Natus Vincere had already qualified for the playoffs before to the game, they are still in the competition. Due to their defeat today, they will now play either Complexity or the underdog Outsiders in the quarterfinals.
G2 got their CT side off to a fast 5-0 start by winning the pistol round. While Valeriy #b1t Vakhovskiy managed to score two kills with a spare AK-47 to give Natus Vincere their first round, they were unable to continue. The sides swapped rounds in a back-and-forth that ended with a 3-7 score, with the majority-Ukrainian squad eventually breaking G2’s economy.
Despite having inferior weapons, G2 won the next round with a successful stack of the A site and dominated the first half, winning five straight games to lead 12-3 at the end. With 14 kills, seven more than his closest colleague, b1t was the sole bright spot in the NAVI offensive.
During the momentum crisis, Natus Vincere managed to win a crucial pistol round to start their comeback. Electrician Denis To begin their defense, Sharipov and his colleagues strung together many rounds with several kills.
G2 had trouble getting underway before an A rush with just handguns netted them their first, and the European combo immediately regained their confidence. Following three rounds in a row, G2 was shortly on the map point, and it was none other than Ilya #m0NESY Osipov’s elegant quad-kill on the AWP gave his squad a 16-8 win.
The Final Touch
With a victory in the opening pistol round of Nuke, Natus Vincere claimed the series’ lead for the first time. Due to their quick 5-0 start as a result, they were one of the few teams in recent memory to successfully stave off the early-map G2 onslaught. G2 eventually started posting rounds, and they did so with three in a row to cut the lead to two rounds and push the Ukrainian side to an eco.
When Andrii #npl Kukharskyi won the eco for Natus Vincere with a 1vs2 clutch, he displayed remarkable decision-making skills and snatched the momentum back in his side’s favor. G2 immediately responded with a round before the European combo dropped another eco round, giving Natus Vincere a 7-4 lead.
G2 encountered a circumstance that put their mental toughness to the test, but they triumphed by responding with a force purchase win of their own. At the end of the first half, they won four straight games to advance one round into their defense.
HooXi and Justin #jks Savage successfully converted a 2vs4 scenario on the pistol to open the second half’s offensive. G2 didn’t give up and continued to win consecutive rounds, concluding the match with a perfect seven-round run to win 16-7. Now that they’ve triumphed, Nikola #NiKo Since adding HooXi and jks to the map, Kova and company have gone on a ten-map winning streak while not dropping a single match.
