Na`Vi defeat HellRaisers; G2 crush Renegades

Natus Vincere and G2 have picked up their first victories at StarSeries i-League Season 4 after beating HellRaisers and Renegades, respectively, both by 2-0 scorelines.

The series between Natus Vincere and HellRaisers kicked off on Cobblestone, the latter team's map pick, with Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev opening up the action with a triple-kill to help his team grab the CT pistol. Despite losing the first gun round, the Ukrainian side instantly responded to break their opponents' economy.

Then, a successful eco round marked the beginning of a five-round streak from Kirill "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow's squad, who continuously ran all over the Na`Vi defence, losing only two more rounds before the end of the half as they took a 9-6 lead.

In the second half, Natus Vincere seemed to have the pistol round in control, but then Kevin "⁠HS⁠" Tarn almost clutched a 1v3 situation. After following that up with both anti-ecos, Na`Vi got back in the lead after overturning a 3v5 situation.

After Natus Vincere hit the 11-round mark, HellRaisers tightened up their defense and retook the lead, forcing Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko to call a tactical pause. That short break did wonders for the Ukrainians, who would lock down the map shortly afterwards.

Natus Vincere start off their campaign in Kiev on the right foot

Next up was Inferno, and, just like on the previous map, flamie opened things up with a triple-kill to secure the CT pistol for Natus Vincere. This time around, however, the Ukrainian team would not prevail in the subsequent anti-eco.

Still, Natus Vincere remained in control of the map by winning four of the following five rounds. In the next round, Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker gave his team some breathing room after finding two opponents with a Deagle and then clutching a heroic 1v3 situation.

Na`Vi shut down any chances of HellRaisers building up an economy or stringing rounds together, closing out the half with a 9-6 lead, to which they added after taking the second half pistol and the following anti-ecos. 

Zeus came up huge with a quad-kill in the first full gun round, setting Na`Vi up for a 14-6 lead. HellRaisers still tried to get back in it, but there was nothing they could do to prevent Na`Vi from running away with the lead. 

StarSeries i-League Season 4Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 0 17th February 2018 HellRaisers 16Cobblestone 13 16Inferno 6

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	40 - 24	+16	81.6	1.39
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	44 - 36	+8	101.9	1.33
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	35 - 27	+8	70.1	1.09
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	36 - 35	+1	79.4	1.07
Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus	34 - 31	+3	63.4	1.04

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Vladyslav 'bondik' Nechyporchukbondik	41 - 35	+6	86.8	1.19
Özgür 'woxic' Ekerwoxic	42 - 34	+8	77.4	1.18
Kevin 'HS' TarnHS	27 - 41	-14	60.5	0.79
Bence 'DeadFox' BöröczDeadFox	23 - 38	-15	59.7	0.74
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	20 - 41	-21	59.6	0.69

In their LAN debut with Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad, Renegades began their opponents' map pick, Cobblestone, with a successful T-side pistol, but could not follow that up. After grabbing a quick 3-1 lead, G2 still lost the first full gun round before stringing five rounds together to secure a dominant 8-2 lead.

That was when Renegades finally managed to get a footing in the game, winning three of the next five rounds to reduce the deficit to 5-10. Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis' men carried that momentum into the second half, picking up the initial three rounds to get within touching distance of their opponents.

G2 were unwilling to let the game slip from their fingers, however, and finally picked up the pace, bagging six rounds in a row to close out the map, 16-8.

apEX topped the scoreboard with a 1.72 rating

Starting out on the CT-side on Mirage, Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub found two kills while holding B, but Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage came up huge with a quad-kill to help Renegades secure their third pistol of the series. Just like on Cobblestone, though, G2 responded immediately and took control of proceedings after that.

It was only in the 11th round that Renegades were able to pick up their second round of the map, but G2 were far too hot for the Australians to handle and closed out the half with a 13-2 lead before winning three rounds straight as Terrorists.

StarSeries i-League Season 4Best of 3 G2Matchpage 2 0 17th February 2018 Renegades 16Cobblestone 8 16Mirage 2

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	41 - 26	+15	124.6	1.72
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	44 - 16	+28	82.7	1.51
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	34 - 22	+12	86.5	1.38
Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianarobodyy	32 - 23	+9	68.7	1.22
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	30 - 23	+7	79.0	1.20

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	26 - 37	-11	87.6	0.91
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	27 - 38	-11	61.6	0.78
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	23 - 36	-13	51.7	0.64
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	17 - 36	-19	57.8	0.63
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	17 - 35	-18	51.9	0.60

Kevin 'HS' Tarn Age: 21 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 417 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.69 Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Age: 30 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 1094 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.69 Natus Vincere #10 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov Justin 'jks' Savage Age: 22 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 489 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 G2 #4 Richard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubNathan 'NBK-' SchmittDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro HellRaisers #19 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowVladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev Age: 20 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 891 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.68 Noah 'Nifty' Francis Age: 20 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 476 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Renegades #18 Joakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadJustin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis Kirill 'ANGE1' Karasiow Age: 28 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1301 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Age: 23 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 528 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.70 Özgür 'woxic' Eker Age: 19 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 378 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 22 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1186 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.62