When you win against Spirit, Heroic, Vitality and Gambit, you surely would expect to have a decent chance to take down a T1 title.
After all those are some of the best teams in the world, and if FaZe had faced off against any other team than NaVi in the semifinal of IEM Cologne, they might have had a chance. A slight one, but a chance at least.
When you face off against s1mple in his best form? Not a chance.
The Ukranian ate FaZe for breakfast, helping NaVi take two quick 16-7 wins on Inferno and Mirage, with 52 frags, 106 ADR and a 1.78 rating. In an IEM Cologne semifinal!
In the other semifinal, Astralis nearly pulled the ultimate trick on G2 and was a lost 4v2 away from taking the third map to 15-13 and a possible IEM Cologne final spot.
It was a quintessential moment for both teams. The Astralis of old would've never let the round go, and the G2 of now close those games.
IEM Cologne semi-finals
When Gambit failed to win their group, we already knew we would be cheated out of the NaVi vs Gambit final we had all hoped for, but getting G2 vs NaVi was the second best option.
NiKo vs s1mple should be a classic, right? Right?
There is just one problem - s1mple is just too good. We won't ever have a Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo debate in CS:GO, because we don't believe anyone will ever challenge s1mple.
To be fair to G2 they made a fight out of it, and despite NaVi taking a 3-0 victory in a Grand Final, the scoreline was close.
In fact had it not been because G2 - again - fucked up the B-site of Nuke, we probably would have gone to at least 4 maps. That's something you definitely don't need when the opponents have a player who sets a record for most aces in a T1 LAN.
s1mple, what a player.
With the victory at IEM Cologne NaVi takes home 1800 ESL Pro Tour points, $400,000 and are now one victory away from being the third team to clinch the Intel Grand Slam, after Astralis and Liquid.
Did we forget to mention that s1mple got his 4th MVP of the year? Just give him the 2021 Player of the Year award already.
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