Passion UA fall to NAVI in IEM Atlanta debut despite strong start
Passion UA have dropped their opening series at IEM Atlanta despite a spirited start against World #2 NAVI. The game served as Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev's debut with the team as the roster has proved to be a revolving door due to visa issues, roster requirements, and Azbayar "Senzu" Munkhbold being poached.
NAVI kicked off Anubis with three rounds on their T-side before an absolutely great showing from Passion UA post a perfect CT-side for the rest of the half, winning it 9-3 to put them into a great place heading into the second half. Unfortunately for them, they completely failed to capitalize on this lead, allowing NAVI to claw their way back into the map and ultimately force overtime. From there, NAVI were able to take the map 16-13 owing to a much-improved T-side.
Mirage had much less positive to write home about as Passion UA were fairly inert, losing their CT-side 3-9 before giving up the map 13-4.
Natus VincerePassion UA| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov |
40 - 25 | +15 | 76.8 | 73.9% | 1.40 |
 Mihai 'iM' Ivan |
32 - 29 | +3 | 79.9 | 76.1% | 1.29 |
| Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy |
40 - 30 | +10 | 88.1 | 82.6% | 1.21 |
 Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri |
30 - 34 | -4 | 80.0 | 71.7% | 1.14 |
 Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen |
24 - 30 | -6 | 61.1 | 71.7% | 0.86 |
| Passion UA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol |
41 - 38 | +3 | 99.4 | 82.6% | 1.34 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
32 - 33 | -1 | 74.7 | 73.9% | 1.05 |
 Santino 'try' Rigal |
25 - 28 | -3 | 58.3 | 65.2% | 0.81 |
 Nick 'nicx' Lee |
24 - 32 | -8 | 60.4 | 60.9% | 0.77 |
| Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev |
21 - 35 | -14 | 66.4 | 73.9% | 0.76 |
Passion UA will look to stay alive when they the face the winner of GamerLegion v. HEROIC tomorrow.
