Natus Vincere vs ENCE – BLAST Pro Series Madrid

The Blast Pro Series is all set to take place this on the 10th of May. The competition will host some of the best teams in the world. Let’s have look at one of the most anticipated matches of the competition

We picked this meeting between ENCE and Na’Vi since the two teams have had an incredible history in the past few months. Both teams are well aware of each other’s strategy and that what makes this game quite interesting. Let’s have a comprehensive look into the 2019 performance of one of the best teams in the world, Natus Vincere.

Na’VI

One of the best and most decorated CS: GO teams in the world in Natus Vincere. The CIS side finished at 2nd pace in the world ranking after winning four Premier titles in 2018. Na’Vi had a surprising start to 2018, as they got silver at GG. Bet Ice Challenge. This is a decent result but the team was expected to win it all since only tier 2 teams competed in the competition. Na’Vi was defeated by Norths in the final.

The competition ended on the eve of the Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII – Katowice Major 2019. Despite that fact that they lost in the final, everyone expected Na’Vi to make to the grand finale in Poland.  They could have even won the title. But they were outplayed by their upcoming opponent, ENCE in the semis. This defeat resulted in many problems for the team. We will discuss some of them which will indicate why this encounter means so much for the team.

Disappointing results

This shocking defeat paved the way for roster disband rumors. In late 2018, Daniel “Zeus” Teslenko almost announced his retirement from the sport. Meanwhile, a few days before the Major competition in Poland a video surfaced on social media where Zeus was having an argument with the coach of the team.

After the competition, he even hinted that he was not satisfied with some members of the team. A few weeks after all this controversy, Zeus clarified that he was just having a discussion with the coach regarding the tactics of the roster. While the hint was just his reply to the defeat in the competition and he really did not mean any of it.

Lack of respect for opponents

Coming back to their defeat in the Katowice we can highlight the possible factors of their disappointing result. Firstly, the CIS team didn’t train in a proper boot camp. We know that finishing in the top 4 is an impressive feat. Yet if you want to win it all then you should train and respect your competition. Speaking of respect, we believe that Na’Vi could have defeated ENCE with ease if they made better decisions in the map drafting.

They could have avoided the Mirage pick since they had problems on it in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, on the same map, ENCE completely outplayed Liquid. So the Mirage pick was Na’Vi was their own demise. They could have gotten Cache, Nuke or Dust2, where they had better statistics.  But unfortunately, they played and were brutally dominated. At the start, S1mple did all the dirty work, but even his brilliant skills were not enough to win a 1v3 clutch in the last round. After this poor performance, Na’Vi had a slight fall in the world ranking, meanwhile, the third spot was claimed by their arch-rivals ENCE.

Improving results

The roster finally had some good news a fews day before the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 7. Electronic was blessed with a child and Zeus was also sharing some positive posts for the first time after months of departure rumors. It was expected that the team will perform well in the StarSeries. Since this was the first competition after their fall in Poland and it didn’t have big names apart from MIBR.

Na’Vi had a terrible start since they lost to Vici Gaming in their first game. This result was enough to hint the fall of Na’Vi. Yet they bounced back with successful results. The side then went on to beat NRG, NiP, and BIG.

The start of good results

Fortune’s favored Na’Vi since the first opponent of the playoff was none other than ENCE. NA’Vi had a poor start to the series since they lost their first game, however, they didn’t let the past defeat repeat itself and made an impressive comeback with a 2-1 win. This result exhibited why Na’Vi is amongst the best in the world. Now the team was up against Fnatic. Some expected Na’Vi to loss but they silenced the critics by demolishing Fnatic 3-0 in the best of five series. S1mple was the MVP of the competition after achieving impressive records. Meanwhile, Na’Vi retained its lost the spot.

After their triumph in the StarSeries, the CIS side then traveled to Miami to participate on the BLAST Pro Series. They were expected to finish in the top 3 however, they had an average performance. Na’Vi finished at the 4th place. They won their matches against MIBR and C9. Yet they couldn’t win against Liquid, Astralis and the champions of the competition, FaZe Clan.

After this satisfactory result, the team competed in the ESL Pro League Season 9 – Europe. They fell short on the expectations. They finished at 2nd place, winning against Windigo and Fnatic but lost the deciding game against G2. Now the team will have to take the long road to the finals by competing in the 2nd round.

The team will have to first play in the Blast Pro Series Madrid 2019. They will kick off their campaign against ENCE and looking at retaining their old form.

Final verdict

Natus Vincere victory

Odds on bookmakers

Bookmakers	Natus Vincere Odds		ENCE Odds
	European	American	European	American
GG.bet	1.36	-277.78	3.39	+229.00
1xbet	1.38	-263.16	4.14	+314.00
Buff.bet	1.33	-303.03	3.21	+221.00
Uni Bet	1.29	-344.83	3.85	+285.00