NAVI’s Copenhagen Major defense ended by HEROIC

HEROIC ran the gauntlet to make playoffs against the world No. 1.

HEROIC have ousted reigning Major champions Natus Vincere from Shanghai in a statement victory for Damjan “⁠kyxsan⁠” Stoilkovski and company.

The series went the full distance with HEROIC rallying at 9-9 on the decider to win four straight to send the world No. 1 home early.

2-0 after day one, HEROIC had to beat one of The MongolZ, Spirit, or Natus Vincere in a best-of-three to make playoffs and they have done so at the last attempt, against the toughest on-paper opponent.

For Natus Vincere, the defeat caps an end to a disastrous group stage.

A last-placed finish at BLAST World Final could have been an anomaly that would be consigned to the history books in Shanghai; instead, it has become the canary in the coal mine proving that Natus Vincere’s potential era was becoming unstuck.

Day one of the Major ended with a 13-11 loss to MIBR and Mihai “⁠iM⁠” Ivan and Aleksi “⁠Aleksib⁠” Virolainen misplaying a 2v1 clutch in a fashion more akin to a matchmaking PUG than the strategic powerhouse that had, up to this point, been the best team of 2024 by far.

More pain was in store for Aleksib’s troops, with Copenhagen Major MVP Justinas “⁠jL⁠” Lekavicius slumping to a 0.90 event rating as Natus Vincere’s floor disappeared in a 13-2 loss to Spirit and the same here against HEROIC.

Mirage is the map where Natus Vincere’s dynasty collapsed, their usual pick for their run at No. 1, but they won just five rounds in two maps in the Elimination stage against Spirit and HEROIC.

For so long their bastion, the map where Andrey “⁠B1ad3⁠” Gorodenskiy’s system facilitated the best A splits in the game, Natus Vincere were repeatedly stunned by HEROIC’s executes on both A and B.

Aleksib struggled on B but the A executes onto Valeriy “⁠b1t⁠” Vakhovskiy — who usually overperforms so much in tough spots — were the damning ones and even after good site holds HEROIC were winning the crucial clutches to keep their momentum rolling and win 13-3.

Natus Vincere’s Nuke pick surprised the desk, a middle-of-the-road map for them in 2024 but one that has become a rare bright spot in China with a 3-0, now 4-0, record across the RMR and Major.

There was also the fact that HEROIC hadn’t played it during their entire stay in Shanghai, and the surprise pick ended up a straightforward 13-5 for Aleksib’s men.

So quiet for Mirage, NAVI’s all-star rifling trio had a combined 15-1 K-D in the first five rounds as their aim finally returned to them.

Ihor “⁠w0nderful⁠” Zhdanov ended up top of the board on Nuke and he was the key man as Ancient began, finding a quad-kill in the second round anti-force and spearheading a miraculous no-kit 4v5 retake that ended in a defuse just 0.1 seconds before the bomb was set to explode.

But that play was a mirage, clutch scenarios that kept NAVI’s lead without them ever convincing in the early round as Guy “⁠NertZ⁠” Iluz outdid iM in Middle and the half ended 6-6.

As the sides swapped, NertZ’s triple secured the pistol and they won the first gun too. An iM hero AK-47 then threatened to turn the tide, finding a 4k 1v3 in what could have been the moment that woke NAVI up but, like w0nderful’s late round work in the first half, it was not a sustainable route to round wins.

HEROIC, mentally strong enough to reset no matter what happened the round before, rallied to win four straight from 9-9 to win Ancient and eliminate the reigning Major champions.