Epic final of the CS2 tournament: NAVI wins IEM Rio 2024

Continuing their great streak of six consecutive finals, Natus Vincere outperformed MOUZ at the legendary Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The international roster had already picked up trophies at the Copenhagen Major, Esports World Cup, and ESL Pro League Season 20, adding IEM Rio to their growing list of 2024 accomplishments.

First Trophy in South America for NaVi

Natus Vincere arrived in Brazil after being knocked out 3-1 to G2 in the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 and was slightly tired. However, their consistent performances against lower-tier teams allowed them to overcome Imperial and Team Liquid in the group stage, securing a playoff spot. Their loss to Brazil favorites Furia 2-0 wasn’t critical, as they needed to start their knockout path from the quarterfinal instead of the semifinals if they beat the local side.

Their quarterfinal against Virtus.pro wasn’t too much of a challenge, with NaVi taking down the Russian side 2-0, though they had to dig deep on Ancient, finishing 13-11. However, their semifinal fight was much more complicated against HEROIC. Being down 1-0 after Ancient, NaVi were losing Dust 2 with a crucial 9-3 score after the first CT half. Nonetheless, they staged a huge comeback and turned it into the extra rounds, closing the map 16-14. As Aleksib mentioned after the game, this comeback gave them a big confidence boost, which they carried into Mirage, beating HEROIC 13-6 with ease.

While many were still talking about the comeback from 9-3, NaVi decided to outdo themselves in the final. The Ukraine-based team won the first two maps (Inferno and Dust 2) against MOUZ and put one of the hands already on the trophy. However, their opponents beat NaVi on their best map, Mirage, with a crucial 13-6 score. Things turned to the fourth, and MOUZ destroyed Natus Vincere 10-2 on the CT side. With only three rounds left for the deciding Nuke map, the future champions responded in fashion to the German side and closed the map 13 to 11, creating one of the greatest comebacks in the tier-1 tournaments’ finals.

Pole Position in the Intel Grand Slam Season 5 Race

With a $100,000 paycheck in hand and a direct ticket to the IEM Katowice 2025 in the pocket, NaVi have also jumped ahead in the Grand Slam S5 race. The fifth season of the million-dollar marathon now sees Natus Vincere as the main favorite, who now has eight more chances of winning two more events on the IEM calendar. It won’t be easy, as the team needs to win either Katowice or Cologne trophies as the obligatory condition for grabbing golden bars. However, all their competitors have much worse positions, lacking three trophies or having much fewer opportunities to complete the task.