PARIVISION make EPL playoffs over NAVI

PARIVISION have made playoffs in their first event since they permanently added HObbit.

PARIVISION are through to the playoffs of ESL Pro League at the expense of Natus Vincere , taking a hard-fought 2-1 series with wins on Cache (13-10) and Mirage (13-11) after an opening loss on Inferno (8-13).

The news comes as a minor blow to Natus Vincere 's chances at the Singapore Major qualification, as a playoff berth would have all but guaranteed their passage to the next Major. However, the work they did earlier in the event was enough to leave them with an 89% chance of qualification 's Major simulations.

As for PARIVISION this result sees them beat Natus Vincere for the first time with the current core, and serves as vindication of the recent permanent addition of Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov . In HObbit 's first event as a full-time member of the squad, PARIVISION are through to the playoffs and have a chance at securing their best result at an event of this calibre for some time.

Natus Vincere grabbed the opener of Inferno with ease, coming out ahead of an early force-buy war on their CT side and never looking back. PARIVISION managed to keep their economy ticking over and put together a lot of buy rounds, but Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan was regularly there with a vital multi-kill to scupper their efforts, giving Natus Vincere a 1-0 series lead.

w0nderful turns on a dime to find crucial entry 2K

On Cache it was PARIVISION who racked up the early lead on their CT side. Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev found great success in Middle whilst Vladislav "⁠xiELO⁠" Lysov did the heavy lifting at A, and although PARIVISION 's B site was much weaker, Natus Vincere did not exploit that fact enough.

Natus Vincere grabbed a force-buy win as they switched over to defense and seemed set to run the map back in their favor, expertly reading PARIVISION 's attack, but some fumbles against bad buys gave PARIVISION a way back in and they duly converted upon the opportunity.

PARIVISION force through last-second retake for series point

Early on decider of Mirage Natus Vincere struggled with the unconventionally up-tempo offense of PARIVISION , falling to an 0-5 deficit. Just as an iM 4K gave them a way back into the game Natus Vincere fell to yet another bad buy, giving PARIVISION the runway to claim a dominant 8-4 halftime lead.

Natus Vincere on their offense as they ran with the momentum of a pistol win all the way to a tied score, before the teams started to battle back and forth. An Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov 4K round was answered in the next by successful A stack by PARIVISION , but ultimately it was a last-second defuse by Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali that decided the series.