Na`Vi beat Cloud9 in EL playoffs-cs2 opening

Natus Vincere are through to the semi-finals of ELEAGUE season 1 after seeing off Cloud9 2-1 (19-15 on Overpass, 9-16 on Dust2 and 16-14 on Cobblestone).

Natus Vincere live to fight another day in Atlanta as they fended off the threat of Cloud9 in a three-map thriller that could have gone either way as both maps lost by the North Americans went right down to the wire.

Overpass kicked off the series, and it began with Cloud9 getting out to a quick 3-0 lead after winning the pistol round with a B execute. The North Americans came really close to winning the first full gun round, but they were denied by Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev, who picked up a quad kill inside A.

Na`Vi kept pressing on and eventually took a narrow lead. The rest of the half was highly contested as rounds went back and forth, with Cloud9 eventually getting eight rounds on the board before the end of the half.

The CIS-based team got off to a flying start on the Terrorist side, winning seven of the first eight rounds to get on the brink of map point. But then Cloud9 tightened up their backline and put together a great run of rounds to equalise the score at 15-15 and force overtime.

Edward was on fire on Overpass

The momentum was now fully on Cloud9's side, but it was Na`Vi who controlled proceedings as they played a flawless ofensive game and followed it up with a round on the CT side en route to a 19-15 finish.

Next up was Dust2, Cloud9's map choice. The first half did not go well for the North American side at first as they found themselves trailing their opponents by three or more rounds on two occasions, but they were simply dominant during the final stages of the half, winning five rounds in a row to secure a close 8-7 lead.

The second half, however, was a one-way street: Cloud9, now playing on the CT side, were far too hot for Na`Vi to handle, and they quickly locked down the map as the Europeans never really had a chance to build on the few round wins that went their way.

It all came down to Cobblestone, where Cloud9 came out of the gate looking scary as they stormed to a 6-1 lead. It was only then that Na`Vi put their foot down to hold back the North Americans, who would still walk into the second half with a three-round advantage.

shroud was a nuisance to Na`Vi throughout the series

After switching to the CT side, Na`Vi put together a significant run of rounds to overturn the deficit and take a comfortable lead for the first time on this map. That was when Cloud9's individual talent shone through as they brought the scoreline to a 14-14 stalemate, powered by an impressive display from Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert. However, they would stumble at the final hurdle as Na`Vi won the final two rounds of the half to secure a hard-fought 16-14 victory and an overall 2-1 triumph.

ELEAGUE Season 1Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 1 21st July 2016 Cloud9 Cloud9 19Overpass 15 9Dust2 16 16Cobblestone 14