Cloud9 survived a nail-biting finish to their series with Natus Vincere (Mirage 16-13, Overpass 16-14) to advance to the ESL One Cologne grand final.

The first semi-final battle between Cloud9 and Natus Vincere began with the latter picking up the pistol round before the North American side took over the gunrounds on the offense. Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin's squad kept saving weapons over and over after they lost one of the bombsites until it was 7-3, when Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács stepped up with a triple up against a quick split towards A.

Cloud9 replied right back and got to double digits, while the last round went the other way for a 10-5 half in favor of Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip and company, who then added a pistol round to their name for 12-5.

A bomb plant in a full eco gave Na`Vi the chance to buy in the third round and start climbing back with a couple of A executes. Surviving a couple of scary anti-ecos, with a big triple from Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev on B turning around the gunround in between, Natus Vincere lowered the deficit to just two rounds.

Cloud9 take Na`Vi by surprise and advance to the grand final

GuardiaN then put up four kills in a slow 2v5 to extend the streak to seven in a row and an even scoreline at 12-12, but Cloud9 stopped it with an eco win on B on the back of Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek's two openers and Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta's three kills.

Natus Vincere went B again and equalized the score at 13 apiece, but yet another half-buy win on the A bombsite allowed Cloud9 to retake the lead and soon afterwards close out the map at 16-13.

shroud kicked off Overpass in style, getting a triple in the pistol round, an ace in the following anti-eco, and a quick 1v3 clutch in the fifth round, powering Cloud9 to a 6-0 lead as CT.

Natus Vincere then got their first round on the board, while the North American team got two more for 8-1. Na`Vi started turning things around, also thanks to GuardiaN's three kills in the 11th round to break Cloud9's economy and secure six rounds in the end, as Stewie2K closed out the half with three of his own on the A site.

The score was even once Natus Vincere came out on top of the next pistol round. The following two rounds were split evenly on the back of autimatic's solo triple on B short and a 1v1 clutch from seized, before another one of shroud's 1v3 clutches tilted the scales. 

Cloud9 picked up a 14-10 lead and soon reached match point at 15-11, but the match wasn't over just yet, as GuardiaN saved a 1v3 attempt from Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham and proceeded to defuse the bomb inside a smoke in a 2v3 situation on A. Na`Vi were unable to take the match to overtime, however, as Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert put his team into the grand final with a smart 1v1 clutch for 16-14, 2-0.

ESL One Cologne 2017Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 0 2 8th July 2017 Cloud9 13Mirage 16 14Overpass 16 News tags:

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	42 - 34	+8	75.1	1.19
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	39 - 39	0	77.2	1.04
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	40 - 41	-1	69.5	1.03
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized	35 - 44	-9	70.0	0.93
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	38 - 42	-4	76.1	0.92

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	45 - 46	-1	92.2	1.24
Mike 'shroud' Grzesiekshroud	40 - 32	+8	68.1	1.18
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	45 - 42	+3	82.2	1.12
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	38 - 36	+2	65.4	1.02
Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbertn0thing	32 - 39	-7	65.4	0.89

ESL One Cologne 2017Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 0 2 8th July 2017 Cloud9 13Mirage 16 14Overpass 16

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	42 - 34	+8	75.1	1.19
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	39 - 39	0	77.2	1.04
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	40 - 41	-1	69.5	1.03
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized	35 - 44	-9	70.0	0.93
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	38 - 42	-4	76.1	0.92

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	45 - 46	-1	92.2	1.24
Mike 'shroud' Grzesiekshroud	40 - 32	+8	68.1	1.18
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	45 - 42	+3	82.2	1.12
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	38 - 36	+2	65.4	1.02
Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbertn0thing	32 - 39	-7	65.4	0.89

Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham Age: 23 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 696 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.58 Denis 'seized' Kostin Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 941 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 25 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 929 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.63 Natus Vincere #10 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsDenis 'seized' KostinEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert Age: 26 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 712 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.67 Cloud9 #6 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamMike 'shroud' GrzesiekTimothy 'autimatic' TaJake 'Stewie2K' Yip Mike 'shroud' Grzesiek Age: 23 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 659 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 19 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 489 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.70 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 19 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 583 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.70 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 528 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.69