Na`Vi brush past NRG to win StarLadder i-Series Season 5 in Kiev
On one half of the Grand Final of StarLadder i-League Season 5 was plucky North American team NRG, who reached their first LAN final in their first playoff appearance having started the event with a 0-2 record. The other was home favorites Natus Vincere, who with Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev under their belt were looking frightening, even after a 3-2 group stage record.
The maps the two were set to play were Overpass, Mirage and the potential decider, Nuke.
Overpass began with Na`Vi in control, taking the first seven rounds in a row to take the lead. NRG managed to start a comeback in the remaining rounds of the half, with Ethan "nahtE" Arnold doing his part, managing to see themselves only just behind at 8-7. But the second half was all Na`Vi, with Denis "electronic" Sharipov and s1mple controlling the required bombsites to prevent NRG entry to be able to claim a 16-8 win.
Mirage was next, and s1mple was around to flashily ruin NRG's hopes and dreams. The story was similar to the first map, a close first half, this time at 9-6, followed by a dominant second half performance from their opponents. Egor "flamie" Vasilyev helped lead the line for Na`Vi this time around, eventually numbering 27 kills with a 120.4 ADR. An ace from Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov helped stave off the inevitable, a fate which was delivered by P250s and a Zeus... from Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko.
NRGNatus Vincere| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
35 - 38 | -3 | 80.0 | 74.5% | 1.05 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
28 - 39 | -11 | 77.7 | 70.2% | 0.89 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
28 - 37 | -9 | 69.2 | 70.2% | 0.83 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
25 - 35 | -10 | 55.1 | 59.6% | 0.76 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
24 - 34 | -10 | 65.8 | 55.3% | 0.72 |
| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev |
43 - 32 | +11 | 98.1 | 85.1% | 1.47 |
 Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev |
42 - 26 | +16 | 93.6 | 80.9% | 1.45 |
| Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
40 - 27 | +13 | 86.6 | 80.9% | 1.44 |
| Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko |
30 - 23 | +7 | 64.4 | 80.9% | 1.15 |
| Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev |
28 - 33 | -5 | 66.2 | 61.7% | 0.96 |
This sees Na`Vi pick up their first trophy since DreamHack Open Winter 2017, having narrowly missed out at DreamHack Masters Marseille and the previous StarLadder i-League season. NRG claimed the second place prize of $50,000 and can hold their heads high, having proved there is more talent on those North American shores.
