NiP beat Heroic to advance to playoffs, Na`Vi see off FURIA

NiP have secured themselves a spot in the playoffs of ESL One Cologne after beating Heroic in Group B's upper bracket semi-final, while Natus Vincere eliminated FURIA from the tournament in Group A's lower bracket.

Another spot in the playoffs was on the line between NiP and Heroic, who had earlier surprised two of Group B's favorites, Vitality and ENCE. They first faced off on Overpass, which the Danes chose to start the series but soon found themselves up against the ropes as they struggled to put up a good offense.

NiP looked dominant on the CT side after a back-and-forth start to the first six rounds, with their individual players putting up key multikills all over the map to go on a 10-1 streak, closing out the half with an 11-4 lead. Heroic clinched the second pistol round to give themselves a chance, but their hopes disappeared when Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner kept up amazing form with a quad-kill in the following forcebuy and NiP rallied to a quick 16-5 victory on the opening map.

The Swedes moved on to their own pick, Inferno, picking up where they left off as they went 4-0 to start things off on the T side after securing a 2v5 victory in the pistol round, in which a mistake from Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen cost him a chance to defuse the bomb in time.

The Danes got on the board with a 1v1 from Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund, which set off a great run as they won all of the remaining rounds in the half except two; a B rush with a halfbuy and a 1v2 clutch from Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg.

NiP closed the gap with a pistol round victory, coming out on top of several close rounds as Heroic kept forcebuying on the back of consecutive bomb plants unsuccessfully. Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund's quad-kill helped the new fresh lineup keep their advantage and close out the map with a fantastic 10-1 run on the defense to make it to Group B's upper final.

Over in Group A on the simultaneous secondary stream, FURIA and Natus Vincere locked horns for survival in the lower bracket. Unlike Renegades earlier in the tournament, Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko's men were able to combat the Brazilians' aggressive T side on Nuke, going on an 8-0 streak before Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's triple gave his team their first round.

The debuting squad remained firmly in control of the half, securing three more rounds for a comfortable 11-4 scoreline, but they still had a hard time completing the task when they switched over to the offense. FURIA were within touching distance from their opponents after they went 7-1 early on in the second half, with arT's AWP doing great work.

However, losing a couple of advantageous scenarios in a row eventually cost them a chance on the opening map. A halfbuy victory and Denis "⁠electronic⁠" Sharipov's quad-kill in a 2v4 pushed Na`Vi to match point and they finished off the job at 16-12 with a 3v5 turnaround.

Na`Vi continued their successful run at the start of Overpass, clinching the first five rounds before FURIA mounted a streak of their own off Rinaldo "⁠ableJ⁠" Moda Junior's defuse in a 1v2, equalizing the score at 5-5 after coming out on top of several close situations. One round win was enough for Aleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's side to break their opponents' economy and force them on an eco, which helped them put together a great offense worthy of nine rounds.

After switching over to the CT side, Natus Vincere extended their lead with a comfortable pistol round victory and quickly claimed match point at 15-7 thanks to great play from Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov and s1mple in retake scenarios on B. It wasn't over just yet, as FURIA held on for seven in a row to take the second map all the way, but overtime was just out of reach due to an all-important triple from electronic in bathrooms, which closed out the map at 16-14.