Natus Vincere, the sole European team not to play in Week 1 of the ESL Pro League, continued its strong second-week showing Friday as Season 8 of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament rolled on.
Entering the day in second place, Na'Vi defeated Fnatic in overtime before adding a regulation win, their ninth in 12 matches this week. Na'Vi were leapfrogged in the standings by BIG, who have as many regulation wins in 18 matches.
Fourteen teams are taking part in round-robin online group play in the CS:GO league that began Oct. 2 and runs through Nov. 14. Teams in the top seven places advance to the $750,000 offline finals, which will take place Dec. 4-9 at Odense, Denmark.
The top 11 teams are guaranteed spots in the league next season. The 12th and 13th teams are sent to a relegation tournament, while the last-place team is directly relegated to ESEA Premier.
All teams play each other in consecutive one-game matches. Regulation wins provide three points, overtime wins two and overtime losses one. Regulation losses result in no points.
Na'Vi's overtime win came 22-20 on Overpass before they beat Fnatic 16-11 on Inferno.
BIG took advantage of a four-match slate to move into second. They swept mousesports, winning 19-16 in overtime on Dust2 and 16-9 on Inferno, before splitting with Fnatic. BIG won the first match 16-5 on Train but fell 22-19 in overtime on Overpass.
Astralis, which is No. 1 in the standings, remained well ahead of the rest of the pack with a sweep of Heroic. Astralis won 16-5 on Dust2 and 16-9 on Nuke.
G2 Esports and FaZe Clan, who each entered the day tied for third with BIG, had lackluster showings. G2 split with North, losing 16-8 on Inferno and winning 16-13 on Nuke, while FaZe lost twice to HellRaisers. FaZe gained a point in a 19-17 overtime loss on Overpass before falling 16-9 on Inferno.
Saturday's 12-match slate will see Na'Vi play series against G2 and Astralis before the two face each other. BIG will also pull double duty, taking on Windigo Gaming and Heroic. FaZe and North face off to round out the schedule.
-- Field Level Media