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We continue to follow the action at Perfect World: Shanghai Major 2024, where the last slots in the play-offs are being played. NaVi and Heroic are among the contenders.
We are trying to find out who will be stronger in the decisive match and will qualify for the championship play-offs, and who will have to say goodbye to the prospects of becoming a champion.
Let's go.
NaVi uniforms
Let's open the analysis of NaVi vs Heroic match with the analysis of NaVi's form. In this match they play as favourites with odds of 1.8.
NaVi played a series of good tournaments during the season while still in the previous squad. In almost every one, they have placed high.
They started with a top 6 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023. Then top-3 at IEM Katowice 2023 and a similar result at ESL Pro League Season 17.
NaVi took BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A without any problems and qualified for the Major in Paris. Before the only Major of the season, Natus Vincere took the top 4 at the IEM Masters Rio 2023.
The Paris tournament turned out to be a failure for NaVi. Top-11 is hardly a decent result for a team of Natus Vincere's status.
- NaVi roster: w0nderful, b1t, Aleksib, jL, iM.
Before the Long Conner IEM Cologne NaVi made a global Reshuffle, translating the roster into English. In addition to electroNic, Perfecto and npl who left, jL with Apeks, iM with GamerLegion and Aleksib, who previously played for Ninjas in Pyjamas, joined the team.
With the new lineup, NaVi made their debut at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023. "Born to Win" managed to earn a place in the autumn finals by finishing in the top 4-6.
At IEM Cologne 2023 Natus Vincere played two matches. First, they lost to MOUZ with a score of 0-2, and then defeated OG in Bo3. At the end of the top championship NaVi reached the top 8, which can be called a good result for the then renewed roster.
Then there were a number of appearances at major events with very good results. NaVi entered the top 8 at Gamers8 and took the top 2 at ESL Pro Legue Season 18.
The key tournament of the season for "yellow-black" can be called IEM Sydney 2023. There NaVi for the first time in a long time played without their main headliner S1mple, whose place was temporarily taken by coach B1ad3. Andrew tried, but NaVi could not jump above the top-12.
After S1mple left the active roster, NaVi started the game with w0nderful. He made his debut for the Yellow-Blacks at BLAST Premier: World Final 2023. Natus Vincere played him very well, reaching the top 4. In the match for the Grand Final Ledgeili future champions of the tournament and the best team in the world Vitality.
The year 2024 started with high notes - they became the best at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier A. However, further on, the performance slipped a bit and NaVi took the top-12 at ESL Pro League Season 19 and IEM Dallas 2024, as well as the top-2 at BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024.
Esports World Cup 2024 NaVi Long Competed with a solid 2-0 win over FURIA. Entering the play-offs, "born to win" fell to FaZe Clan in the first round. NaVi were again stronger than FaZe, but this time they won with the score 2-0. Then there was a rather difficult match against MOUZ, where NaVi lost on the first map with the score 1-13, but then they got together and made it to the grand final. In the final match they played against G2 Esports, where they won 2-1, thus winning their second prestigious tournament of the year.
At the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 NaVi Long Competed with a confident victory over BIG. But against Liquid "born to win" did not fare well, losing in a dramatic situation without defuse kits on the 3rd map. In the re-match with BIG they were stronger again, confidently shutting down the German club with a score of 2-0. However, they failed to move further into the top 6 at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024.
At the ESL Pro League Season 20 NAVI became the winners of Group A, passing Lynn Vision, NiP and Eternal Fire without any problems. NaVi started the ESL Pro League Season 20 playoffs with a victory over their principal rival - Team Spirit - and a confident 2-0 win. Next, they defeated G2 Esports (2-1) and defeated Eternal Fire in the EPL S20 final with a score of 3-2.
At IEM Rio 2024 NaVi qualified from Group A in second place, Ledgeiv Furia. In the play-offs, they beat Vp (2-0) and Heroic (2-1) in turn. And in the grand finals NaVi defeated MOUZ (3-1), thus becoming the champion of a major tournament for the 4th time in a season.
However, NaVi did not manage to be the best everywhere and everywhere. For example, at BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, where "Born to Win" did not make it to the play-offs.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A, NaVi won two matches, beating Fnatic and Sinners, but then lost to MOUZ in the match to qualify for the Major. However, they managed to reach the Elimination Stage at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 at the second attempt, beating sAw 2-0.
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: Elimination Stage Natus Vincere Long They started with a victory over Liquid, and then lost to MIBR and Spirit. They then knocked GamerLegion out of the tournament.
NaVi Mappool
NaVi's best map in 3 months is Inferno. The team played there 5 times with a winrate of 60 per cent.
On Mirage, Ancient. Nuker, Overpass and Anubis NaVi has 50% wins. On Ancient and Nuke the team played 4 matches each, on the others - 2.
Vertigo is not playing.
Heroic Form
We continue the analysis of Heroic - NaVi match with the analysis of Heroic's form. In this match they play as an outsider with odds to win around 2.1.
Heroic have looked very good in the 2023 season. They played consistently in TIR-S tournaments and were a significant force.
Heroic had a streak of great tournaments. It was top 2 at IEM Rio 2023, top 4 BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023. Heroic went on to win the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 and also finished in the top 3 of the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023
- Heroic roster: TeSeS, sjuush, NertZ, kyxsan, degster.
Before their performance at Gamers8 Heroic attended another prestigious tournament - IEM Cologne. Being one of the main contenders to win the German tournament, the Danes made it to the play-offs of the competition, but there they couldn't move further than the first round. Heroic lost to Astralis in the first round of the IEM Cologne play-offs with a score of 0-2.
At Gamers8 they debuted with a match against Falcons. In general, the game ended predictably, but the French gave a fight, especially on the first map (Mirage 22-18 in favour of Heroic). The second one went to Heroic with the score 16-10.
In the previous match Heroic met GamerLegion. Despite GL's seemingly idle position in that match, they were able to grind the nerves of the Danes and take the map, but still lost in the end.
Heroic finished off Gamers8 with a match against ENCE. The Danish club again failed to beat the Finns and left the major championship at the top-4 stage.
In the first match at ESL Pro League Season 18, the team played against Rooster. The Australians offered no resistance and took 6 rounds in two games.
Next was BIG - another passable opponent for Heroic, but it was not to be. The Danes lost 0-2, losing on Ancient with a score of 23-25 and on Inferno with a score of 13-16.
Heroic got into the last chance net after a 0-2 loss at MOUZ. So from the "achievements" so far, a win over the raw Roosters and that's it. It looks very deplorable. And it ended no better: Heroic Ledge and Monte crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 18.
Next up was Roobet Cup 2023, where Heroic finished in the top 12. After unsatisfactory performance at EPL and Roobet Cup Heroic played not better at Thunderpick World Championship 2023 and BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023. There, it was top-8 and top-6 respectively.
Heroic face many challenges in the 2024 season. They still attend top tournaments, but the performance is much worse: Top-16 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, Top-8 at IEM Chengdu 2024, Top-28 at ESL Pro League Season 9, Top-6 at IEM Dallas 2024 and Top-8 at YaLLa Compass 2024.
Later, the series of appearances at various championships continued, with Heroic playing at both BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 (Top 12) and IEM Cologne 2024 (Top 20) and BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024 (Top 16). In October 2024 Heroic were close to finally taking the championship title, reaching the final of Elisa Masters Espoo 2024, but Ledgeili ENCE in the grand final.
Before appearing at European RMR B, Heroic played at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, where they finished top 2, losing to MongolZ in the grand final.
At European RMR B, Heroic Long Sogpeg started with a win against PARIVISION. Next was a loss to BIG, followed by a win against NiP. At PW Shanghai Major 2024 they qualified thanks to a win over Passion UA.
Going straight into the Elimination Stage, Heroic beat BIG and FaZe on their way to the basket 2-0. In the match to advance to the play-offs Heroic Ledge or MongolZ. In the match to advance to the play-offs Ledgeili Spirit.
Heroic Mappool
The best Heroic map is Nuke. There the Danes have 5 wins and 0 losses.
They like to play Overpass, where they lost only once. In three months on Overpass - 5-1.
One of the most frequently played and yet successful maps is Inferno. Heroic has a 9-3 statistic here. It also goes well on Ancient, where Heroic is 3-1 in matches.
History of head-to-head meetings between Natus Vincere and Heroic
In the season 2024 NaVi and Heroic played each other twice, both teams won once.
Predicted result of NaVi vs Heroic at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024
In this match I expect a roughly even game. Both teams look very evenly matched on this Elimination Stage. I expect a full bo3, but a NaVi win.
Bottom line: NaVi win.
