NAVI outlast Eternal Fire to become the CS2 ESL Pro League Season 20 champions

Image: ESL

NAVI bagged their third title of the year and broke a couple of curses on the way.

Natus Vincere (NAVI) claimed the championship of the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) ESL Pro League Season 20 after they outlasted Turkey's Eternal Fire, 3-2, in the tournament's best-of-five grand finals on Monday (September 23). 

With their victory, NAVI claimed the ESL Pro League Season 20 grand prize of $170,000 and bounced back from their demoralising loss to Team Vitality at IEM Cologne 2024 last month. This also marks NAVI's third trophy this year to add to the ones they won from PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 in March and the CS2 event at the Esports World Cup 2024 in July.

NAVI also broke a couple of their more notorious ‘curses’ with this victory. Not only did they finally win a match against Team Spirit in this tournament after losing four-straight times in their previous encounters this year, team captain Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen also broke a haunting, years-long streak of seven consecutive losses in best-of-five series.

Meanwhile, Eternal Fire bow out with their best performance in a top-tier event yet with $80,000 as consolation. While they fell short of grabbing their first big trophy, they can hang their hats on the fact that they were able to go blow-for-blow with the best teams in the world, having defeated Vitality and forcing NAVI to five maps.

Both NAVI and Eternal Fire were placed in Group A for the ESL Pro League Season 20 Group Stage. Both squads swept through the first two rounds before having their first meeting of the tournament in the group's upper bracket final, where NAVI won in two maps to advance directly to the quarterfinals of the Playoffs. Meanwhile, Eternal Fire also qualified for the Playoffs but had to start in the Round of 12.

NAVI soundly swept Spirit in the quarterfinals then defeated G2 Esports in three maps to become the first team in the grand finals. 

Meanwhile, Eternal Fire started their Playoff campaign by taking down The MongolZ in three maps. The Turkish squad next pulled off a massive 2-1 upset over IEM Cologne champions Vitality in the quarterfinals, which notably featured an insane 42-round slugfest in the decider at Inferno. Eternal Fire then earned a rematch with NAVI in the championship match by sweeping MIBR in the semifinals.

NAVI were the heavy favourites heading into the grand finals, having lost just one map prior to reaching this point. However, Eternal Fire had momentum on their side after taking down Vitality in the quarterfinals, and with the entire Turkish CS2 community clamouring to see one of their own complete an incredible Cinderella run.

Eternal FirevsNatus Vincere

Eternal Fire were the first to strike in NAVI's map pick at Nuke, where they built up a 7-5 lead after the first half as the CT side. They extended their advantage to 11-5 before NAVI struck back with three-straight rounds, but Eternal Fire still closed out the with a 13-8 score to claim the first map of the grand finals.

The second map at Anubis saw NAVI be the ones leading 7-5 as the T side after the first half. While NAVI extended their lead to 9-5 after the first two rounds of the second half, a 6-1 run by Eternal Fire saw them take control at 11-10 and get in position for a commanding 2-0 series lead. However, three-straight rounds for NAVI allowed them to take the 13-11 victory in Anubis and tie up the grand finals at 1-1.

Map three at Ancient started out much like Anubis with NAVI taking another 7-5 first half lead as the T side, then extending their advantage to 10-5 early into the second half. Eternal Fire scored a couple of rounds to keep nipping at their opponents' heels, but NAVI got within map point at 12-7 after round 19. The Turkish squad then won four-straight rounds in the hopes of forcing overtime, but a surgical round 24 by NAVI gave them the 13-11 victory in Ancient and a 2-1 series lead.

After narrowly losing the last two maps, Eternal Fire went into map four at Inferno hungry to force the grand finals to a decider. After winning the first four rounds of the first half as the T side, the Turkish squad entered halftime in full control with a 8-4 lead. Eternal Fire then dismantled NAVI in five-straight rounds after the side switch to claim victory at Inferno, 13-4, and set Dust2 as the final map of the tournament.

Both teams entered the deciding map with guns blazing, but it was NAVI who emerged with the 7-5 first half lead as the T side. Just like in Anubis and Ancient, NAVI once again extended their lead to 10-5 before Eternal Fire roared their way back into contention with a 5-1 run that saw them steal the lead at 11-10. However, NAVI managed to clutch out the next two rounds to claim the 13-11 victory in Dust2 and the ESL Pro League Season 20 championship.

Mihai “iM” Ivan and Ihor “w0nderful" Zhdanov topped the scoreboard for NAVI with 75 kills apiece throughout the entire series, with iM adding 30 assists on 72 deaths while w0nderful had 19 assists on a series-best 60 deaths. However, it was Justinas “jL” Lekavičius who bagged the MVP honours for his clutch performances in the series' decisive rounds to go with 64 kills and 24 assists on 68 deaths.