Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere has reached the quarterfinals of the prestigious IEM Atlanta 2026 tournament. In a tense match, it defeated the Vitality team with a score of 2:1.
Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere has reached the quarterfinals of the prestigious IEM Atlanta 2026 tournament. In a tense match, it defeated the Vitality team with a score of 2:1.
According to Sport.ua, this result was significant, as NAVI managed to break Vitality’s streak of 21 consecutive tournaments with top four finishes.
The start of the match on the Dust2 map was in favor of the Ukrainian club: the team confidently won five of the first six rounds. Despite losing the pistol round, Valeriy «b1t» Vakhovsky kept the pace thanks to an important 1v2 clutch. However, Vitality leader Mathieu «ZywOo» Erbeau seized the initiative in the second half, which allowed his team to close the first map in their favor — 13:11.
On Anubis, the fight intensified. Even after losing both pistol rounds, Vitality led 10:8. Mihai «iM» Ivan saved the day — his timely maneuver allowed NAVI to reach the map point and eventually equalize the score in the series. The victory on this map also stopped another record of the opponent — 28 consecutive map wins in the playoffs.
The decisive Inferno ended in a crushing defeat for the opponent. NAVI completely dominated, giving Vitality only three rounds in the entire game. Confident defense and aggressive offense provided the Ukrainian club with a final score of 13:3 on the map and a ticket to the next stage.
Before this match, the Ukrainian club had a nine-game losing streak against Vitality with a total score of 1:21 across maps.
NAVI will play their next match at IEM Atlanta 2026 against Russian club BB. The match will take place on May 16 at 8:15 PM.
