NAVI defeat Monte in a tense match at ESL Pro League S23 Stage 2

Natus Vincere began their run at ESL Pro League Season 23 Stage 2 with a hard-fought victory over Monte. The Ukrainian squad lost the opening map Dust2 but quickly turned the series around, convincingly winning Inferno and closing out the decisive Mirage. In the end, NAVI secured the series 2–1 and started the second stage of the tournament with a 1–0 record.

Map veto:

1. Monte removed Ancient
2. Natus Vincere removed Overpass
3. Monte picked Dust2
4. Natus Vincere picked Inferno
5. Monte removed Anubis
6. Natus Vincere removed Nuke
7. Mirage was left over

The match did not start well for NAVI. On Dust2, Monte showed an aggressive T-side and finished the first half with an 8–4 lead. Despite that, it was still a recoverable score for NAVI. However, they completely struggled on their T side and eventually lost the map 4–13.

NAVI managed to bounce back on Inferno, where they left no chance for Monte and secured a dominant 13–1 victory.

The deciding Mirage turned out to be tense for both teams. The first half was evenly contested and ended in a 6–6 tie. After the side switch, NAVI managed to take control on the T side and closed the game with a 13–11 win.

Match MVP

The best player of the match was makazze, who finished the series with an ADR of 111 and a 1.71 rating.

With this result, NAVI secure a difficult victory and move to a 1–0 record. Monte, in turn, continue their run in the 0–1 bracket. ESL Pro League S23 Stage 2 takes place from March 6 to March 10, where 16 teams compete for a place in the playoffs. The remaining eight teams will share a prize pool of $185,000.