Natus Vincere dropped a tight contest on Map 1 but rallied to complete the reverse sweep against G2 Esports Sunday to claim the $1 million CS:GO tournament at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
With the victory, NaVi earned the $400,000 grand prize and 1,000 club points.
The grand final was compelling from the start, as G2 grabbed the early advantage with a 16-14 overtime victory on Ancient.
Nikola “NiKo” Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa of Guatemala teamed to score 50 total kills for G2 with identical plus-6 kills-to-deaths ratios. NaVi was paced by Finland’s Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen’s 22 kills.
Natus Vincere rallied strong with a 13-6 win on Nuke. Four of five gamers finished with positive K-D ratios, led by Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy of Ukraine, who went 17-8. NiKo finished plus-1 for G2.
On the final map, Inferno, NaVi again prevailed 13-6 to wrap up the championship. All five of G2’s players were held to negative K-D ratios, while b1t racked up 19 kills (plus-10) and NaVi teammate Mihai “iM” Ivan of Romania contributed 16 kills (plus-7).
Esports World Cup CS:GO $1 million prize pool (money, club points)
1. $400,000, 1,000 points — Natus Vincere
2. $175,000, 600 — G2 Esports
3-4. $85,000, 275 — Virtus.pro, MOUZ
5-8. $40,000, 60 — Team Vitality, Team Spirit, FaZe Clan, FURIA Esports
9. $25,000, no points — The MongolZ
10-11. $15,000, no points — Sashi Esport, M80
12-15. $10,000, no points — JiJieHao, FlyQuest, MIBR, Complexity Gaming
–Field Level Media
