Eternal Fire and Natus Vincere have won their way through to Sunday’s grand final of ESL Pro League Season 20.
Eternal Fire and Natus Vincere have won their way through to Sunday’s grand final of ESL Pro League Season 20.
Eternal Fire secured a spot in the grand final of ESL Pro League Season 20 after a dominant 2-0 victory over MIBR.
This marks their second consecutive grand final appearance, following a runner-up finish at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade Season 2.
@eternalfiregg DEFEAT @MIBR 2-0 TO GO TO THE GRAND FINALS OF #ESLProLeague S20
13-7 Nuke
13-10 Inferno pic.twitter.com/ymC0shGuhj— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 21, 2024
The Turkish Counter-Strike team’s captain, Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli, emphasised the importance of discipline, noting that despite having beaten Vitality earlier, MIBR posed a more challenging threat.
Eternal Fire’s performance on Nuke and Inferno highlighted their resilience, as they overcame multiple pistol-round losses to win the maps 13-7 and 13-10, respectively.
Natus Vincere (NaVi), meanwhile, continued their strong form by defeating G2 Esports in the other semi-final.
Despite a narrow loss on Nuke (11-13), NaVi secured decisive wins on Inferno (13-8) and Ancient (13-6).
.@natusvincere make quick work of @G2CSGO on the decider to reach the GRAND FINAL of #ESLProLeague Season 20!
13-8 Inferno
11-13 Nuke
13-6 Ancient pic.twitter.com/psNqRUdfzL— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 21, 2024
Justinas “jL” Lekavicius led NaVi and continued with his outstanding playoff performances, recording a 1.78 rating on Inferno and a 1.49 rating on Ancient.
The win extended NaVi’s unbeaten streak against G2 to 8-0 since they transitioned to an international roster.
Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen’s men now face Eternal Fire in the grand final, with NaVi holding a 4-0 series record against the Turkish side since going international.
Though NaVi enters as the favourite, MAJ3R expressed confidence in Eternal Fire’s chances, stating, “If we play good CS, I think we have a chance to lift this trophy for a Turkish team.”
However, Aleksib still faces personal challenges, having a poor track record in best-of-five grand finals, with five losses and a 2-15 map record.
NaVi’s most recent best-of-five series came at IEM Cologne in August, when they clashed with Team Vitality, who defeated them 3-1 in a back-and-forth grand final.
As for Eternal Fire, their last best-of-five series was at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade, where they were convincingly beaten by Team Spirit 3-0 on September 1.