NAVI secure Pro League playoff berth after besting Complexity

1-4-2022 22:21

Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company narrowly beat the North American team in two maps to secure a 3-0 group record.

Natus Vincere have guaranteed themselves a top three finish in Group D of ESL Pro League Season 15 after taking down Complexity 2-0 to secure themselves their third match win of the tournament. The PGL Major Stockholm champions came out of the gates swinging with commanding 12-3 leads on Ancient and Dust2, but struggled to close out both maps in the second half as Complexity mustered valiant comeback efforts only to fall short at the final hurdle on both occasions.

Despite now holding an 0-3 record of their own, Complexity aren't entirely out of playoff contention, although their odds of finishing in the top three are extremely slim as they now need to win both of their remaining matches, as well as hope that very specific results from other teams end up in their favor. Natus Vincere, meanwhile, will take on Astralis and Heroic in their remaining matches to determine who will top the group, for which they will be back to full force as Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov is set to return to the server after providing a negative COVID-19 test result.

NAVI are through to the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 15

It was utter dominance from NAVI that kicked things off on Ancient, three early rounds from Complexity quickly falling by the wayside as Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy helped his team cruise to a 12-3 lead at halftime, eight double-kill rounds from the 22-year-old shutting down attempts to enter bombsites from Complexity.

The side swap completely turned the tides of the map though, and Complexity went from looking like they would get blasted off of the server to putting up a stalwart defense of their own. Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley and Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery were both key in helping their side mount a comeback effort that saw them win nine of the first ten rounds in the second half, bringing themselves within one of evening the score, but a Deagle double kill from Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy swung momentum in NAVI's favor as they won a crucial eco round, from which the team gained the upper hand and narrowly edged out a 16-13 win to take the first map.

An almost identical scenario unfolded on Dust2 as it seemed like Complexity would capitulate after their comeback effort was halted at the final hurdle on Ancient, another stellar first half from Natus Vincere seeing them go up 12-1 before Complexity snagged two final rounds ahead of the break.

A pistol victory offered Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou's men brief respite before they were immediately dealt what should have been a killing blow by NAVI, who won a force buy to secure a 13-4 lead, but an answer back from Complexity in the subsequent round kept the North American side in the running as they began to claw back rounds. It was almost a complete mirror of what unfolded on Ancient as Complexity won nine rounds in a row, this time evening the score at 13-13, but again it was a last-ditch effort from Natus Vincere that put a halt to the comeback effort, with a tense round 30 coming down to the wire before s1mple's side took things over the line to close out the series.

ESL Pro League Season 15Best of 3

Natus Vincere

Matchpage

1st April 2022

Complexity

Ancient

Dust2

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev s1mple	46 - 38	+8	85.0	1.29
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy b1t	49 - 37	+12	91.2	1.28
Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov electroNic	47 - 38	+9	89.1	1.21
Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Perfecto	44 - 38	+6	77.9	1.10
Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitov headtr1ck	27 - 43	-16	55.0	0.74

Complexity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ricky 'floppy' Kemery floppy	46 - 45	+1	87.1	1.11
Justin 'FaNg' Coakley FaNg	46 - 40	+6	70.1	1.09
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou JT	40 - 46	-6	82.2	1.00
Paytyn 'junior' Johnson junior	28 - 37	-9	54.8	0.82
Michael 'Grim' Wince Grim	33 - 46	-13	67.8	0.79

Group D

TEAM

nice

2022-04-01 22:22

5 replies

NA LUL

2022-04-01 22:27

4 replies

Did you see those grim's spray transfers??Dude is sick af. Idk what's stopping him from taking over the games.

2022-04-01 22:29

3 replies

Junior

2022-04-01 23:22

That one onto electronic I think it was at T spawn to B was filthy

2022-04-01 23:26

1 reply

Ikr he has potential

2022-04-02 18:21

EZ 2-0 for Complexity

2022-04-01 22:23

Free FaNg and floppy

13 replies

Where would they go?:/ Id be down for floppy to eg

2022-04-01 22:26

12 replies

I sadly have no idea. NA has one solid AWP (oSee) and no amazing IGLs. Still, I think FaNg has a lot of promise, and obviously floppy is ready for tier 1. Daps, obo, floppy, FaNg, AWP (maybe Cooper???). With a good AWP Daps could do what he did with NRG and really develop the other players. I don't know, all our upcoming prospects left, it sucks.

2022-04-01 22:40

11 replies

no daps and no obo, this team is looking improved

2022-04-01 23:04

They looked improved because JT was fragging. They still have some very glaring issues with cohesion at times (and with setups on CT). But the only 2 players who are really showing their worth are FaNg and floppy. I do have faith they'll improve but I just don't find Grim or junior compelling at tier 1.

2022-04-01 23:09

2 replies

+1 Grim look clueless and play not with others on ct side. JT is fine for me. They need a second voice, a guy like bntet would be nice .

2022-04-02 02:07

I can't even watch their games its that bad. Junior needs cut asap and they need to start brining in young talent. When things don't work it looks like their past 3 matches this week and none of them were even fun to watch. They need an awper that has impact before they can make any other changes.

2022-04-02 02:43

Daps is absolutely gone by now, he keeps on jumping between coach, Valo and player, he wouldnt be better than JT by any means.

2022-04-01 23:08

I think Daps is still a better all around IGL than JT, and honestly their skill level is about the same. Really coL's largest issue is cohesion and firepower, but that's a whole other thing.

2022-04-01 23:12

I think stratwise they are ok. Its more about the individual gamesense and awareness. Their aim is pretty good (except junior), but they sometimes push or move through smokes absent minded. It gets predictable. Daps is in firepower much worse than JT and I dont think his strats would do much better. In his last stint in GenG they acomplished nothing.

2022-04-01 23:18

GenG actually won an event, but the team itself was kind of a mess. I don't fully blame Daps there. S0m wasn't great and neither was koosta. BnTeT was decent, but Autimatic went back to rifles after a year awping. I just think it was a bad composition of players, not specifically an issue with leading. Daps and JT are practically equal in firepower. Recency bias on this match makes you think JT is good but he's at -44, 0.88 rating for this event. coL has an issue with setups on CT, over rotation when they lack information, turtling when they should be aggressive and being aggressive when they shouldn't. They also have issues with being too static in their locations or playing where trading is nearly impossible. Grim's aim isn't that amazing. He has moments but he's not star level like everyone thinks. Junior could actually be good if he thought about how to clear efficienctly or setup placement. He relies far too heavily on flick reactions and that will never lead to consistent play.

2022-04-01 23:31

I am not saying JT is good - he wouldn't be enough for Tier 2 EU competition, but at least he is much younger than Daps and thus there could be at least a glimpso of potential to the future. Am pretty sure Daps in numbers would be down around the 2nd NA IGL of this group, Stewie. I agree with the rest. However Junior looked after that interview so arrogant about his skill..he really has much to learn, be more humble and hopefully that's happening right now.

2022-04-01 23:41

I think he's hiding his insecurity. Even Na boys are booing for him and are asking him out. I don't think he is living under a rock, Junior probably knows that his days are outnumbered.

2022-04-02 02:13

fifty nifty?

2022-04-01 23:34

boomich is back pog

nt col. maybe next time.

2022-04-01 22:24

well, it wasn't the rape i was expecting, so... ggwp?

"Despite now holding an 0-3 record of their own, Complexity aren't entirely out of playoff contention, although their odds of finishing in the top three are extremely slim as they now need to win both of their remaining matches, as well as hope that very specific results from other teams end up in their favor." NOHTE WITH THE NA HOPIUM LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Got nothing to do with NA hopium, we clarify stuff like that for every team when situations like this arise. You can find similar paragraphs in previous match recaps.

2022-04-01 23:02

Yes but I presume your heart fluttered just a bit more writing up that paragraph

Not sure why you felt you had to respond here.

2022-04-01 23:27

Not sure why you care whether I respond to a comment or not.

2022-04-01 23:56

Hahahaha alrightey mate

2022-04-02 00:47

Junior needs to work on his in-game confidence. Ggwp

2022-04-01 22:31

He needs to be more aware of his angles and not reusing the same spots too often. That'd be the biggest critique I could give him.

2022-04-01 22:45

that was fun game to watch, JT was good today

2022-04-01 22:36

Nt collers

2022-04-01 22:37

That got way too close...

2022-04-01 22:47

nt coL, drop junior for a eu awper and u can do well

2022-04-01 22:55

“Best NA team”

2022-04-01 23:37

It was a close match that shows their potential They could still advance to the playoffs with the right combination of results: coL > EG Heroic > AGO Navi > Astralis (all expected results for tomorrow) coL > Astralis EG > AGO 1. Heroic/Navi 2. Navi/Heroic 3. coL 2-3 4. Astralis 2-3 5. EG 1-4 6. AGO 1-4 If AGO > EG then it would go to tiebreakers

2022-04-02 00:30

6 replies

AGO - EG match doesnt matter. Even if AGO win, COL are through.

2022-04-02 08:30

If AGO win there would be a 3-way tie at 2-3

2022-04-02 18:25

Yeah, but Col wins that tie breaker against Astralis and AGO. 1- H2H would be considered, but this wouldnt seperate them 2- H2H Map difference would be considered. AGO [ 2W - 2 L = 0 ] COL [ 3W - 2L = +1 ] ASTRALIS [ If they lose 1-2 to COL - (3W - 2L = +1). If they lose 0-2 to COL - ( 2W - 2L = 0 ) ] In the 1st case, AGO is relegated down from the tiebraker because COL and Astralis have +1 map diff, and then COL wins against Astralis due to H2H BO3 win. In the 2nd case, COL have +1 map diff which is better than both Astralis and AGO who have 0. So COL get 3rd place and qualify.

2022-04-02 19:57

If coL wins 2-1 vs Astralis the map differential would be: Astralis: 3-3 (2-0 vs AGO, 1-2 vs coL) coL: 3-3 (2-1 vs Astralis, 1-2 vs AGO) AGO: 2-3 (2-1 vs coL, 0-2 vs Astralis) Since there is a tie, it would go down the list of tiebreakers. There is no "relegation" here, this is not tennis. The next thing would be maps won between tied teams (still tied at 3), so it would go to overall map difference next

2022-04-02 20:07

I made mistakes counting wins and losses, and funnily enough you did too :P "Astralis: 3-3 (2-0 vs AGO, 1-2 vs coL)" No, it would be Astralis: 3-2

2022-04-02 22:15

Yup, you're right. coL's gonna 2-0 Astralis and it's all going to be good

2022-04-02 23:48

Junior truly displaying them 50/50 qualities

2022-04-02 01:18

haha n1

Lets go! Nr 1 team and player showing up once again! Gg's col

2022-04-02 02:15

imagine claim the best NA team but still losing to a team without IGL ....

2022-04-02 03:05

Not too bad without the IGL for Na'vi :)

2022-04-02 04:07

NA CS omegalul

2022-04-02 04:15

Time to throw

2022-04-02 04:57

+Shakezullah time bring back old Triumph kek

2022-04-02 05:53

2022-04-02 07:49

can we stop use the word "berth" its so fucking cringe

2022-04-02 13:08

Really lucky for Na'Vi that they played 3 weakest opponents first, now Boombl4 is back and they're already in playoffs, really happy for them, GG. Complexity is a decent team but firepower is just nowhere near Tier-1, like really, it looks bad, it seems like they can't even take much space on the map, they seem stuck without map control a lot of the times, really sad to watch, but overall they ain't that bad, they've some decent defaults atleast, some strats also.

2022-04-02 14:06

EZ4NAVI

2022-04-02 17:34