NAVI knock out Bad News Eagles in IEM Rio’s Legends Stage

The road to qualification continued for Natus Vincere as they easily dispatched of Bad News Eagles 2-0 to eliminate the Kosovar side from the IEM Rio Major.

Oleksandr “⁠s1mple⁠” Kostyliev was at his arrogant and stylish best with the AWP, audacious peeks and ridiculous no-scopes abounded as he dismantled the Eagles. The series wasn’t much of a workout for Natus Vincere, and they are likely to have their mettle tested more rigorously in their upcoming qualification bout.

Bad News Eagles need not be disheartened by their Major campaign coming to an end in the Legends Stage; their no holds barred, aggressive style will have won them additional admirers to the ones they impressed in Antwerp. History will not quickly forget their intense victory to eliminate the reigning Major champions, FaZe, here in Rio.

Natus Vincere decided not to take a leaf from the FaZe playbook as the CIS squad banned Vertigo in the veto, thus inviting Bad News Eagles to pick Ancient instead.

Bad News Eagles obliged, opening Ancient on the T side and struggling badly to find any traction on their offense, s1mple‘s superlative form with the AWP batting the Kosovars away time and time again. Even when the Eagles did find advantages they often couldn’t convert, for example they squandered a 5v3 in round 13, so they inevitably fell to a heavy 3-12 half defeat.

There was no resistance to be found on the Bad News Eagles CT side and Natus Vincere duly swept the half, securing a convincing 16-3 victory.

The one-sided nature of the match continued onto Nuke, with Natus Vincere winning the heavily unfavoured offensive half 8-7. Bad News Eagles did manage to grab a couple of rounds on their offense to make the score a tad closer than the first map, but they ultimately still succumbed 16-9, ending their Major run in the Legends Stage with a 1-3 record.