S1mple the CS:GO King. Falls Short to North at GG.Bet

After Norths surprising blunder at IEM Qualifiers, they had a chance to improve overall impression at GG.Bet Ice Challenge. They met NaVi in the final and had to deal with S1mple the CS:GO King, and electronic. North prevailed and clinched their first trophy this year.

Natus Vincere through Lower Bracket to Grand final

Natus Vincere didn’t start the tournament in the greatest manner as they lost to Heroic 2-1. On Overpass, NaVi was convincing (16-8). However, the Heroic crushed the Ukrainian team on Nuke (16-4). Players then moved to Inferno, where we saw two completely different half-times. Actually, we saw pure domination of CTs considering that the Terrorist side won only five rounds. The final score was 16-13 in Heroic’s favor.

• Read more: SPUNJ Gives Thoughts on North at Katowice Qualifier

NaVi then went to Lower Bracket, where they had to face AVANGAR, who also lost the initial match. The first leg went into Overtime and AVANGAR eventually won. Nevertheless, NaVi was a stronger team on Dust 2 and Mirage. So, s1mple and company had to face their nemesis from the first round once again. This time, NaVi played better and didn’t allow Heroic to win a single map. Heroic lost on Train (16-8) and Mirage (19-16). As a result, NaVi advanced to the Grand Final.

Neither AVANGAR nor Heroic could beat North

North faced AVANGAR in the Semi-finals. One of the Top 20 CS:GO players of 2018, valde played very well on Inferno and Mirage and helped his team to advance further in spite of their loss on Cache. North was favorite against Heroic even though Heroic beat NaVi. However, North also was the favorite in IEM Qualifier but didn’t manage to get through. This time, it looked like Heroic could make another upset after beating North on Mirage (16-8).

Teams then moved to Nuke. Heroic had a decent lead on half-time (9-6) and was relatively close to winning the match. Regardless, North caught up the lead and made a complete comeback winning the Nuke 16-11. In the last leg on Train, North just showed they are one class above Heroic. gade played an incredible game with a rating of 1.79. North reached their first final in 2019.

S1mple the CSGO King: Won 1v2 clutches, had a quad and triple kills

Although electronic played a better final overall than s1mple, the young AWPer had a couple of amazing displays. Natus Vincere and North opened the final on Dust 2. There, s1mple first won clutch 1v2 in the seventh round when he managed to beat Kjaerbye and gade on B site alone.

Eight rounds later, s1mple sniped gade down and left with valde alone on the map. The Ukrainian player planted the bomb and threw smoke, and valde was approaching him carefully from mid. The situation was so intense, and it looked like valde was going to win that duel. However, S1mple the CS:GO King demonstrated why he is the best player of 2018, and eliminated valde to win that round and help his team to kick off next half with the decent lead.

Nevertheless, North won six consecutive rounds and went on a 12-6 lead. In the 19th round, North tried to push A long, but after a short combat, they quickly rotated to A short. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t know that s1mple was waiting there with AWP. The result was four players eliminated by s1mple. In that way, the young Ukrainian finished North’s winning streak.

 

NaVi equalized the score, but North then won three rounds in a row and had three map points. NaVi was close to entering the leg in Overtime, as they needed just one round more for that. However, North prevailed in the last round.

Next leg took place on Nuke. It seems like NaVi really has problems with playing on that hard map. Although NaVi had a solid start, North was the team with an advantage on half-time. North also won opening three rounds on T side as well. Then, NaVi got momentum and clinched six rounds in a row to equalize the score once again.

• Related: Highest Earning CS:GO Teams [Top 5]

In the last round of their winning streak, North tried to reach B site from outside. S1mple the CS:GO King, again was in the right place at the right time, waiting with his AWP. This time he killed three opponents. Also, he showed a beautiful understanding of the game and astonishing precision. At the same moment when he noticed Molotov flying towards him, he took a smoke and threw it in order to extinguish the fire. Then he threw a flash in front of him, and in the perfect moment turned the head off the flash. Then he just sniped three opponents. It was just beautiful to watch.

It turned out to be the last round that NaVi won in that final. North got back on track and triumphed in all remaining rounds for GG.Bet Ice Challenge title. MVP of final was valde with +15 K-D difference and 70,7% KAST. North earned $30,000 as a winner, NaVi earned three times less, Heroic took $7,000, and AVANGAR got remaining $3,000 as the worst placed team.

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