In the match that took place on Sunday evening, Natus Vincere defeated the European G2, winning the championship title at IEM Cologne 2021. The grand final was held in the best of 5 format, and NAVI players were able to successively win on Dust2, Mirage and Nuke, leaving no chance for their opponents. Based on the results of each map, it is clear that the opponents were close in strength: the fate of each of them was decided in the last rounds, while before the change of sides the difference in points remained minimal. Alexander “s1mple” made a decisive contribution to the success of NAVI. Kostylev, who broke the Dust2 record for the number of aces in major competitions.
The victory can be called especially significant, since IEM Cologne became the first major LAN tournament after IEM Katowice 2020, where NAVI also won an impressive victory. Despite some restrictions that the organizers still had to introduce (for example, during the group tournament, several teams had to play matches while remaining in quarantine), IEM Cologne shows that the professional scene is returning to its usual format.
On the way to the final, Natus Vincere fully lived up to their name, without suffering a single defeat. In the group stage, the team defeated Astralis, Renegades and Astralis, and defeated FaZe in the semi-finals. Now, for defeating G2 in the final match, she will receive the main prize of $400,000.
