Ukrainian esports team NAVI reaches semifinals of prestigious Counter-Strike 2 tournament

The Ukrainian esports team Natus Vincere (3), or NAVI, has played a quarterfinal match in BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1, the prestigious Counter-Strike 2 tournament, against Pain Gaming, a Brazilian team (12).

Source: Champion, a sports news platform within Ukrainska Pravda’s holding company

Details: NAVI defeated Pain with a score of 2-1 and qualified for the semifinals of the competition.

On the first map, Dust 2, which the Brazilians chose, NAVI made a heroic comeback from 8-11 down. After taking the game into overtime, the Ukrainian team lost only one round and took the map for themselves.

NAVI’s peak was Nuke, which was unexpectedly easily won by the Pain players, and NAVI managed to take only seven rounds. The decisive map, Mirage, also had a difficult start for the Ukrainian team.

NAVI lost the first six rounds and seemed close to elimination, but they managed to gather their strength and snatch the victory again in the extra rounds.

Three more teams continue to compete for the US$500,000 prize pool. In addition to NAVI, G2 (Germany), Eternal Fire (Türkiye), and Team Spirit (Serbia), the winners of the last tournament, have reached the semifinals.

The semifinal matches will take place today, 25 January. G2 will meet Eternal Fire at 17:00, and Natus Vincere will play Spirit at 20:00 Kyiv time.

BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1

Copenhagen, Denmark

Prize pool: US$500,000

Quarterfinals, 24 January

Natus Vincere - Pain 2-1 (16-13 Dust 2, 7-13 Nuke, 16-13 Mirage)

Background: Natus Vincere was recently recognised as the best Counter-Strike 2 team of 2024.

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