Natus Vincere Defeats BIG to Win ESL One Cologne 2018
By Nicholas Barth ·
In a thrilling grand finals match, the talented roster of Natus Vincere was able to defeat the Cinderella story of German hometown heroes BIG to secure the ESL One Cologne 2018 title.
In what is known as the "Cathedral of Counter-Strike", Natus Vincere was able to secure a championship victory over BIG in the grand finals of ESL One Cologne on Sunday, July 8th.
The talented roster of Na'Vi led by superstar Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev had to overcome a momentum filled BIG roster who had made their way to the grand finals of ESL One Cologne 2018 with an impressive tournament run that was fueled by strong play and the energy from the hometown crowd for the German organization.
? CHAMPIONS ?
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2018
Congratulations @natusvincere! #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/27Ur5jxVPt
Na'Vi was able to secure the first lead of the ESL One Cologne 2018 championship match with a 16-10 win on Overpass that saw s1mple lead the way for his team with a 23-14 kill to death ratio, 76.0 average damage per round and an overall rating of 1.37.
However, BIG would not allow Na'Vi to gain a 2-0 lead in front of their home crowd, as the underdogs were able to collect a hard fought 16-11 victory on Dust 2 to tie the grand finals of ESL One Cologne at 1-1. Johannes "nex" Maget was the driving force behind BIG's win on Dust 2 with a 31-19 kill to death ratio, 120.1 average damage per round and an overall rating of 1.78.
Train was the setting for the third map of the grand finals. A 9-2 advantage in the second half on the counter terrorist side was the deciding factor in Na'Vi being able to take a 2-1 lead in the championship match with a 16-10 win on Train. Once again showing the world why many consider him to be the very best player in professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) at the moment, s1mple collected a 29-16 kill to death ratio, 105.2 average damage per round and an overall rating of 1.61.
BIG was looking to once again tie the grand finals of ESL One Cologne at 2-2 with a victory on Inferno. Unfortunately for BIG, the team's impressive and incredible run through the tournament ended on the fourth map of the match. Na'Vi was able to continue their strong play from the second half of Train to take a 16-8 win on Inferno and secure the 3-1 ESL One Cologne 2018 Grand Finals victory. Denis "electronic" Sharipov could not be contained by BIG in the last map of the match, as he finished with a 24-10 kill to death ratio, 104.5 average damage per round and an overall rating of 1.56.
CHAMPIONS ? @natusvincere #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/ebQ8xyo5NU
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2018
This tournament win gives Na'Vi its first Intel Grand Slam Victory and is the team's second premiere CS:GO championship in as many months, as the team also secured the StarSeries Season 5 Championship in June.
(cover photo courtesy of ESL)