NAVI edge past MAD Lions in IEM Beijing-Haidian opener

Natus Vincere proceed through the IEM Beijing-Haidian Group A upper bracket after beating MAD Lions in a three-map series that went to overtime on the decider map.

Natus Vincere, who come from qualifying for the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, won their first IEM Beijing-Haidian match against MAD Lions, although the series had to be decided in a third map nail-biter that went into extra rounds after both teams won their picks in dominant fashion. Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy’s men played with fire on Overpass, going down 5-10 and trailing 14-15 ahead of the last round, which they won to secure the series in overtime.

MAD Lions, who are playing their first event against top opposition since adding Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen and Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali, will now have to proceed through the Group A lower bracket after failing to close the decider map out in the last round of regulation, and will now face off against the loser of Complexity vs. fnatic, while NAVI will play the winner in the upper bracket.

A patient retake by Natus Vincere on the A site of Nuke put them ahead early on as they were also able to win the anti-eco, but MAD Lions won the third round with rifles in hand to turn the tides of the first half. The Danes went on an eight round winning streak before NAVI could retaliate winning four of the last five rounds to bring the score to 6-9 at the half.

MAD Lions won the second pistol round to hit double digits and start to head towards winning their map pick. HooXi’s men then won the anti-eco and the all-important first gun round of the half to go up 12-6. Natus Vincere got on the board for the first time in the second half on a pistol buy as the two teams won rounds back-and-forth, but MAD Lions were finally able to get hold on the defense, closing their map pick out 16-8.

Natus Vincere got ahead on their pick, Train, winning the first five rounds on the attacking side until a 1vs3 clutch by Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck put an end to their streak, although Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov and company went right back to winning ways the following round. It wasn’t until the ninth round that the Danes could tally another, when Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand got four kills and a 1vs2 clutch with the AWP, but Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev replied with a 1vs4 clutch of his own as NAVI went on to take the half 11-4.

Three kills by Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov gave NAVI the first round of the second half as the CIS squad inched closer and closer to winning the map. MAD Lions were able to interject three rounds after NAVI reached map point, but the series was pushed in to a fourth map as s1mple and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy won a 2vs4 round to end Train 16-7.

MAD Lions were first out of the gate on the CT side of Overpass, but by the fourth round were all tied up as NAVI took the impetus from winning the first gun rounds. MAD Lions didn’t let go, however, and back-and-forth rounds kept the two teams within a round of each other, but it was finally the Danish team that was able to get ahead winning the last four rounds of the half to make it 10-5.

electroNic took down four players in the second pistol round, after which NAVI started to shorten the distance with MAD Lions, tying the map up uncontested by the twentieth round. Tight rounds ensued as both teams kept the stalemate all the way to the last round, prompting the decider to go into overtime.

Natus Vincere then threw their weight around in the first half of overtime, asserting dominance on the CT side to take a 3-0 lead at the half, going on to close out the map and series neatly in the first round of the second half to proceed through the IEM Beijing-Haidian Group A upper bracket.