Natus Vincere beat G2 2-0 to open ESL Pro League S24

Natus Vincere defeated G2 2-0 in their opening match of ESL Pro League Season 24, winning Cache 13-7 and Inferno 13-4. The result was NaVi’s fourth match win of the season and their first victory in 35 days.

NaVi chose Cache to start after a month-long break. They fell behind 1-5 early on Cache before winning 12 of the remaining 14 rounds to secure the map 13-7. On G2’s Inferno pick, NaVi limited G2 to four rounds.

Individual match stats showed Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov at 33-11, Mihai “iM” Ivan 30-21 and Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy 34-20. Drin “makazze” Shaqiri finished 27-21 and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen 20-15. Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač recorded 1-15 on Inferno, posting a 0.19 rating and going 0-11 on the T side.

NaVi had dropped to No. 32 on the VRS after a 9-16 exit at EWC, a 9-12 finish at BLAST Open Porto and a last-place showing at StarSeries Fall. Those results left the team outside the automatic invite cutoff for PGL Major Singapore. Points available in ESL Pro League Season 24 and at PGL Masters Bucharest will factor into Major qualification.

Coaches and players used the break to work on the map pool and strategies; Cache was the opening map chosen after that preparation. NaVi will play additional matches in EPL S24 and in PGL Masters Bucharest where further match wins and LAN results can add qualification points.

After the match, iM commented on the broadcast that the team had handled difficult starts before and remained focused on collecting points for Major qualification. He added: “I do not have any pressure because of that, only because if we are good, or decent enough, we for sure will make the Major no matter what.”

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