After FaZe Clan made it through, their year-long rivals were right behind. NaVi managed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major after a dominant victory over their regional rivals, Outsiders. With a superstar performance from s1mple, there was very little Outsiders could do to prevent NaVi from going 3-0.
On their own map pick, NaVi started the proceedings with a converted pistol round that powered them to a 7-3 lead. Once the hardest team to put away, the Outsiders showed some of that resilience as they slowly made their way back into the game. Throughout this, they kept their economy stable thanks to their trademark saves. Finally, FL1T’s 1v1 clutch gave them a slight lead into the next half.
The two teams were inseparable in the second half as well. NaVi started with a strong retake to take the lead, but the Outsiders looked destined to take the game when they secured a 3v5 victory on the B site with just pistols. Unfortunately for them, NaVi rocked back into the game and denied them another T-side round. The Ukrainian side closed the map 16-13.
When it came to the second map, NaVi completely flipped the script. Sometimes you beat NaVi, sometimes you lose to NaVi. And then there are the maps where you could do everything well, but you are facing peak S1mple. This was one of those nightmare maps for Outsiders.
S1mple started the map with a quad kill and never looked back, racking up 21 kills in the half. The game quickly got out of control for the Outsiders ending in a 16-4 scoreline. NaVi managed to take the series 2-0 and qualify for the IEM Rio Major.
