Natus Vincere edges GamerLegion; SINNERS oust Passion UA

Natus Vincere defeated GamerLegion 2-1 at IEM Atlanta to clinch a spot in the tournament playoffs. The teams split the first two maps before NaVi closed the decider on Mirage 13-11 to advance to the Group B upper-bracket final. On the B stream, SINNERS beat Passion UA 2-1 in the lower bracket, eliminating Passion UA from the event.

Natus Vincere opened the series on Inferno, where Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy led NaVi to a 13-4 win. GamerLegion responded on Ancient, taking an 11-round first half and converting the second pistol to win the map convincingly and force a third map. The decider on Mirage was close throughout: NaVi moved to a 6-2 lead, GamerLegion tied the half, and the teams traded rounds late before Natus Vincere reached match point and finished 13-11.

Across the series, b1t finished with 43 kills. Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov also registered 44 kills and posted a 1.01 match rating. For GamerLegion, Oldřich “PR” Nový had 43 kills and a 1.30 rating for the series, and Milan “hypex” Polowiechy added 45 kills with a 1.21 rating.

On the B stream, Passion UA won the opening map on Dust2 13-8 after a 6-6 first half and strong CT-side defense led by Johnny “JT” Theodosiou and Vladyslav “Kvem” Korol. SINNERS won Mirage 13-9 after overcoming an early deficit and forced the decider on Overpass, where they built a 9-3 halftime lead. Kamil “kisserek” Banak recorded a triple in the pistol rounds and helped SINNERS secure a 13-8 victory to close the series.

Vladyslav “Kvem” Korol finished the Passion UA series with 55 kills and the highest average damage per round at 94.7 ADR. SINNERS’ cores-Max “SHOCK” Kvapil, kisserek and Mădălin-Andrei “MoDo” Mirea-each produced positive ratings across the three maps, with MoDo registering 48 kills.

Natus Vincere will play in the Group B upper-bracket final at IEM Atlanta; a win there would send them directly to the semifinals. SINNERS continue in the lower bracket; Passion UA are eliminated from the tournament. The next round of matches will determine which teams advance to the IEM Atlanta knockout stages.