NAVI thrash ENCE in ESL Pro League quarter-finals

The CIS squad were never in trouble against ENCE and await a rival in the semi-finals.

Natus Vincere have gotten themselves just two victories away from an Intel Grand Slam title, the team’s biggest motivation going into the ESL Pro League playoffs, after defeating ENCE 2-0 in the tournament’s quarter-finals.

"To complete this road we just need to play our game," Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev said about chasing the Intel Grand Slam. "Everyone understands the importance of each game right now."

s1mple and company will go on to play the winner of the second quarter-final of the day, which pits Heroic and Liquid, both teams that have shown to be title contenders when taking their results in ESL Pro League into account.

Natus Vincere did not give ENCE any room on the international squad’s map pick of Ancient, starting on the preferred CT side and losing just two rounds as Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov wreaked havoc. Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov and company then took the second pistol round to cleanly close the map out without a hitch, 16-2.

On Nuke the two were even after six rounds, but Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi then won a crucial 1vs2 afterplant on A with a Desert Eagle to defuse the bomb and win the round for his team. Natus Vincere struck right back with a forcebuy to keep things close and s1mple then won a 1vs2 of his own to get his team ahead, 5-4, after which NAVI dominated the half, making it to double digits, 10-5.

Natus Vincere then secured the second pistol round and once again, like on Ancient, took it home without giving up a single round in the second half, ending it 16-5 to secure a spot in the semi-finals.