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Natus Vincere are through to IEM Katowice's New Champions Stage after defeating AVANGAR on two maps (16-6 on Dust2, 16-11 on Train).

The second series of the day kicked off on AVANGAR's map pick, Dust2, where the Kazakhstani side secured a 3-0 lead after winning a chaotic T pistol on the back of a 1v3 clutch from Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali. With their economy back on track, however, Natus Vincere kept shutting down AVANGAR, stringing seven rounds together to take control of proceedings.

AVANGAR looked set to win their fourth round, but Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev denied them with a great quad-kill in a 2v5 situation. Alexey "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev and co. then finally pulled off another round, but they were immediately reset by Natus Vincere, who saw flamie add an ace to his name, and, from there, went on to take an 11-4 half-time lead.

Even though Jame's men began the second half on the right foot, winning their CT pistol with a clean triple-kill from Bektiyar "⁠fitch⁠" Bahytov, they could not stop Natus Vincere's force-buy in the subsequent round. Qikert and Aidyn "⁠KrizzeN⁠" Turlybekov still found a lifeline for their team with a double and a triple-kill, respectively, but that was in vain, though, as the Ukrainians quickly closed out the map at 16-6.

s1mple and co. have booked their spot in the New Champions Stage

Natus Vincere started well on their map pick, Train, bagging the first pistol and the following anti-eco while playing as Terrorists. Still, AVANGAR responded in convincing fashion, winning six rounds in a row thanks to a very tight defense.

That was when Natus Vincere came back to life, eventually reducing the deficit to 5-7 after breaking their opponents' economy in the process. Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko's men looked a livelier side from that moment, calmly turning the score around before switching sides, 8-7.

In the second half, AVANGAR picked up their third pistol of the series with a successful B execution, but could not follow that up as Natus Vincere responded with a powerful force-buy, in which Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev found a double and a triple-kill, respectively, with the Ukrainians then increasing their lead to 12-8.

In part thanks to Qikert opening up the B bombsite with two beautiful frags, AVANGAR got back on the board with nothing but pistols, which inspired them to win two of the next three rounds, 11-13. Natus Vincere did not back down, however, and, with Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev adding three multi-kills to his name, they finished things off without losing any more rounds.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 0 22nd February 2019 AVANGAR 16Dust2 6 16Train 11

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	40 - 25	+15	84.2	1.34
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	43 - 31	+12	89.1	1.29
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	38 - 27	+11	78.1	1.17
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	34 - 29	+5	82.0	1.15
Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus	30 - 24	+6	67.4	1.14

AVANGAR	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	32 - 32	0	69.0	0.99
Aidyn 'KrizzeN' TurlybekovKrizzeN	28 - 37	-9	74.0	0.86
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	28 - 36	-8	55.5	0.82
Alexey 'Qikert' GolubevQikert	24 - 42	-18	63.2	0.68
Bektiyar 'fitch' Bahytovfitch	24 - 38	-14	61.0	0.67

The New Legends stage 3W - 0L Astralis Liquid 3W - 1L Natus Vincere Renegades 2W - 1L Ninjas in Pyjamas MIBR 2W - 2L Vitality AVANGAR 1W - 2L FaZe Cloud9 ENCE G2 Complexity HellRaisers 0W - 3L BIG NRG Dzhami 'Jame' Ali Age: 20 Team: AVANGAR Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 441 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.57 Aidyn 'KrizzeN' Turlybekov Age: 19 Team: AVANGAR Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 512 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Age: 31 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1307 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 AVANGAR #16 Bektiyar 'fitch' BahytovTimur 'buster' TulepovAidyn 'KrizzeN' TurlybekovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' Ali Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Age: 31 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 1321 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.69 Bektiyar 'fitch' Bahytov Age: 26 Team: AVANGAR Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 472 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.71 Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 20 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 703 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.67 Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev Age: 20 Team: AVANGAR Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 522 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev Age: 21 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1135 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 21 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.23 Maps played: 954 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.66 Natus Vincere #3 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov