Unstoppable Natus Vincere Secures Grand Final Spot at ESL Pro League Season 18
Natus Vincere remains unbeaten at ESL Pro League Season 18 as they secure a spot in the grand final after defeating Monte 2-0. Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and his team will face the winner of the ENCE-MOUZ semi-final in the best-of-five title decider scheduled for Sunday at 17:00 in Malta.
NAVI's remarkable run in the tournament remains unblemished, with a string of victories over 5yclone, Apeks, FaZe in the group stage, and Eternal Fire in the quarter-finals. This impressive campaign marks the first time that this Natus Vincere lineup has reached a grand final since their controversial international roster changes during the summer off-season. It's also the organization's first grand final appearance since their loss to FaZe at IEM Cologne in July 2022.
Following their semi-final victory, s1mple expressed his satisfaction, saying, "It's very nice, not only because it's the last grand final in CS:GO, but also because I don't remember the last time when we played the final".
The semi-final against Monte presented perhaps the toughest challenge for Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen's team in this tournament. Monte had a lead of 11-7 on the favored Terrorist side of Anubis and 9-4 on the CT side of Mirage, but the pressure seemed to affect the relatively inexperienced squad. In both maps, Natus Vincere's composure in clutch situations made the difference, particularly on Mirage, where they successfully executed several late retakes despite being at a disadvantage.
Aleksib commented on Monte's performance, saying, "I feel like they were really feeling the pressure because they kept losing these afterplants." He also highlighted a pivotal round where he exploited Monte's passive stance in a 3v2 retake scenario on Mirage, which ultimately led to reaching series point. "After Valerchik "b1t" won that 1v3, I think that was the nail in the coffin. Then you just felt invincible, like, how can we even win this round?"
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