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After a tough 2-0 loss to Natus Vincere, the top-ranked team on the ESL World Rankings, our Main team was sent down to the lower bracket—into the lion's den, where the stakes are unmistakably higher.
Yet another powerful opponent awaits in what promises to be a nerve-wracking lower semi-final on Monday, August 12.
dev1ce and Co. were understandably disappointed after the tough defeat to Justinas "jL" Lekavicius and Mihai "iM" Ivan's nearly unstoppable firepower. The Danes had hoped for more in the Upper Semi-finals, but now they must step up individually and improve to keep their dreams of reaching the grand stage at the Lanxess Arena alive.
dev1ce: "We need to be more competitive, especially on our map pick. NAVI is the best team in the world right now, but we always feel like we can win any match, so it's frustrating to be in this position."
We're ready to face off against G2 in a decisive lower semi-final BO3 clash in Cologne.
Following the match against NAVI, we caught up with our in-game leader, Nicolai 'dev1ce' Reedtz, who was clearly frustrated by the defeat.
Here's what he had to say:
"It was a tough blow. NAVI was incredibly strong today. Several situations on Ancient didn't go our way. Early in the match, we had a good chance to get ahead 4-2 or 5-2 if we had only won a crucial clutch, but one of their players came through instead. We had some solid setups on the CT side of Mirage, where we knew what they were doing and planning, but things just didn't come together. We couldn't close out the rounds. We knew NAVI was a tough contender, but we should have capitalized on our opportunities, and that's not good enough," said the IGL in an interview on Astralis Watch after the match.
"We need to be more competitive, especially on our map pick. Mixed results go back and forth in the Top 5 or Top 8. We still struggle more with NAVI but find it easier with FaZe. NAVI is the best team in the world right now, but we always feel like we can win any match, so it's frustrating to be in this position."
"Now, we must prepare for a lower bracket clash and seize the opportunities when they arise. We knew that to advance from this group, we'd have to beat either Spirit, G2, or NAVI. It's a tough group on paper, and The MongolZ are playing well, too. Hopefully, we can take down G2 and win one more match to reach the playoffs, just like last year. The lower bracket isn't necessarily a bad place to be—we proved that last year," dev1ce stated.
Here's how our map win rate has shaped up over the past three months:
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