Natus Vincere have punched their ticket to the playoff stage of IEM Katowice following another close victory against FaZe in Group A's lower bracket final.

The CIS giants stuttered, then moved into high gear, winning a close elimination series after giving a poor account of themselves on Nuke, where Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev recorded one of the worst performances of his career at Big Events.

Three days after facing each other in the opening round, Natus Vincere and FaZe went at it again. The first two maps were the same and went exactly the same way as they had on Monday, the only difference being that the scorelines had been closer back then.

Natus Vincere woke up after the Nuke disaster and responded with a convincing performance on Dust2, where s1mple and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov wreaked havoc. This time around, the decider map was not Overpass but Inferno, and as always it made for a spectacular game, one that went the full distance before Na`Vi's star players made the difference.

electronic powered Na`Vi to a close win against FaZe

Things initially looked up on Nuke for the Russian team, who responded immediately after losing the pistol round, but it would not take long for FaZe to retain control of proceedings. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's troops, who were on a four-game winning streak on Nuke heading into the series, dominated Na`Vi for the rest of the half despite a few blunders along the way, including a lost anti-eco round, and went into the break up by three rounds after greatly limiting the impact of s1mple, who ended the half with four frags.

FaZe were in no mood to take pity on their stunned opponents and continued racking up rounds, bringing the scoreline to 14-6. Na`Vi responded with a pair of rounds, but their comeback hopes were buried as Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard and NiKo pushed the team through the finish line.

s1mple woke up from his slumber and carried Na`Vi to a dominant T half on Dust2 with 18 kills. Only one round had separated the two teams at half-time in Monday's Dust2 game, but this time around the Russian team cruised to a 10-5 lead after an impressive run that saw them win the last eight rounds of the half.

electroNic went huge in the second half pistol with an all-headshots ace to keep Na`Vi in the driving seat. That was the start of a phenomenal half from the Russian talent, who enjoyed a remarkable CT side after barely having any impact as T, racking up 15 frags in just seven rounds as Na`Vi quickly put the map to bed.

FaZe were two rounds away from the playoffs

FaZe jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the decider map, but the landscape of the game changed dramatically once Natus Vincere had money in the bank. NiKo's side were shut out in nine consecutive rounds as Na`Vi kept their defense tight, before producing a late comeback to win the final three rounds, the last of which following a 1v2 clutch by Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David, who had endured a dreadful start to the half, averaging just four damage per round in the opening ten rounds.

Na`Vi halted FaZe's momentum with a perfect 3v3 post-plant in the pistol round, which they followed up with two rounds. FaZe tightened up and gradually took the upper hand, bringing the scoreline to 12-12, after which the game entered a period where it hung on a knife's edge. Rounds went back and forth as nerves began to take hold, but in the end s1mple and electroNic - who else? - applied the finishing blow to FaZe as they overturned a 3v5 situation.

IEM Katowice 2020Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 1 27th February 2020 FaZe 8Nuke 16 16Dust2 6 16Inferno 14

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	58 - 47	+11	81.9	1.21
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	52 - 49	+3	81.5	1.18
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	49 - 49	0	76.9	1.12
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	48 - 46	+2	61.9	0.98
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	43 - 48	-5	58.2	0.91

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	56 - 55	+1	92.5	1.18
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	51 - 51	0	71.8	1.06
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	50 - 44	+6	72.0	1.06
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	48 - 46	+2	65.5	0.99
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	34 - 54	-20	46.5	0.68

Marcelo 'coldzera' David Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.19 Maps played: 1118 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 Natus Vincere #6 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy FaZe #9 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 21 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 857 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1204 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 23 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1173 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.23 Maps played: 1110 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.65