NAVI overcome Vitality to reach BLAST grand final

In the face-off between the two best players of 2020, the Ukrainian superstar finished on top.

A thriller consolidation final BO3 between Natus Vincere and Vitality finished with the former team taking a 2-1 victory and earning a spot in the title match against Astralis.

The best player of 2020, Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, and the second-best one, Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, both had stellar showings in the match. Though, it was Natus Vincere's AWPer that pushed it across the line with a 1.74 rating on the decider, Dust2, to ensure his side a grand final bout against Astralis.

s1mple put up another masterclass to take down ZywOo and co.

Nuke kicked off with Vitality taking a 4-1 lead, but Natus Vincere managing to break the Frenchmen's bank with a mixed-buy proved pivotal to them getting into the groove. The score was 6-4 for them when ZywOo's aggressive ramp play netted him a double entry, pulling the scoreline back to finish with just one round between the two teams at half time.

Vitality pushed ahead after the switch by winning the pistol and were up 11-8 before Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's double put Natus Vincere in a strong situation to win their first defensive buy round. However, Vitality struck back and reached 15-9 after a Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire - Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon 2v4, but the CIS side still showed class. With their back against the walls and s1mple powering up, they chained six in a row to reach overtime and then closed it out, 19-17, to win their map pick.

Things moved to Overpass next, where Natus Vincere's 3-0 lead post-pistol was canceled out by Vitality thanks to Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier showing up in first buy with a quad kill. From 3-3, the CIS side took back the lead with great play from s1mple as well as Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev, who put up a 4K hold in round 8. Just when it was looking like the Frenchmen were going to get run over on their map pick (8-3 down), they scraped their way back into the half to finish it 8-7.

The second half was a full-out brawl, as Vitality took four of the first five rounds, but Natus Vincere came alive after a triple-kill from Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov to equalize at 12-12. In the dying embers of the map, shox found consistent success playing aggressively on A, helping his side to close out Overpass 16-12.

Strong play from shox set Vitality up for the early lead as CT on Dust2, 4-0, with the scoreline turning on its head after s1mple's AWP triple kill and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy's 1v2 clutch, which destroyed Vitality's economy. After that, Natus Vincere ran up a strong lead by punishing the mid holds from Vitality, finishing the half 10-5.

Another pistol added to the tally of the French side gave them a route back into the game, however, Natus Vincere were back to winning ways after their double eco, reaching 13-8. apEX's team managed to add one more round soon, but were unable to convert against a low-buy which saw their opponents take the victory, 16-10.

BLAST Premier Global Final 2020Best of 3 VitalityMatchpage 1 2 24th January 2021 Natus Vincere 17Nuke 19 16Overpass 12 10Dust2 16

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	74 - 56	+18	83.7	1.24
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabiermisutaaa	22 - 18	+4	82.8	1.19
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	51 - 64	-13	69.6	0.89
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	44 - 67	-23	62.7	0.79
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	51 - 70	-19	60.5	0.78
Nabil 'Nivera' BenrlitomNivera	31 - 44	-13	59.7	0.76

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	78 - 49	+29	91.8	1.47
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	72 - 63	+9	90.2	1.19
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	57 - 51	+6	72.2	1.08
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	59 - 56	+3	67.8	1.03
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	52 - 56	-4	66.9	0.96

Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 846 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Age: 18 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 214 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.66 Natus Vincere #3 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Age: 21 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 450 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.62 Vitality #2 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 20 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.28 Maps played: 773 KPR: 0.86 DPR: 0.62 Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1046 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 28 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1794 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.66 Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev Age: 23 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1469 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.67 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 27 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1760 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 23 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 1299 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.64