BETBOOM have advanced to the playoffs of PGL Masters Bucharest after a 2-0 victory over Natus Vincere (13-10 Dust2, 13-9 Nuke).
Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov‘s men have carried on their fine form from Thunderpick World Championship, where they beat Falcons and finished as the runner-up to FURIA, by taking down Spirit, Nemiga, and now Natus Vincere en route to a playoff berth.
Natus Vincere went racing out of the gates on Dust2, making up for a lost pistol with some quick tempo on the attack. Drin “makazze” Shaqiri and Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov found success with entries and late-round recoveries, respectively, which put their side up 6-3 before BETBOOM closed the gap to two rounds at the break off the back of a 1v2 by Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko.
w0nderful continued to shine for Natus Vincere in the second half, but his efforts — including a quad-kill and multis in all of NAVI’s wins — was only enough for three CT rounds. Great calling and conditioning by Boombl4, paired with offensive fragging from Pavel “S1ren” Ogloblin, let BETBOOM take control in the second half, and S1ren ensured a win wouldn’t slip away with a 1v3 to reach map point that BETBOOM immediately converted upon.
Natus Vincere put up a masterclass CT side on Nuke after starting down 1-4, converting an eco round by pushing into Lobby and never letting control slip from there. w0nderful and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen led a flawless defensive spree to end the half up 8-4, but the wheels fell off the bus on the attack.
BETBOOM‘s defense was impregnable, with Kirill “Magnojez” Rodnov constantly disrupting NAVI’s defaults and dominating them in openers. That, combined with excellence in the late-round from S1ren, left Natus Vincere with just one round to their name as BETBOOM romped to a 13-9 victory.
