Let's move on to the semi-finals of the play-offs stage of ESL Pro League Season 18. In one of them will play representatives of two Ukrainian teams, namely Monte and Natus Vincere. The winner will advance to the finals and guarantee $90,000 in prize money, while the loser will take 3-4th place in the standings and earn $50,000. The format of the match is bo3. Will Monte continue to knock out big-name opponents from the championship? We will find out very soon.
In this betting thread you will find out how the participants of this match perform during the current year, how they did in their previous professional tournament, as well as how this match will end.
Monte's form
Monte are having an extremely busy playing year this year, constantly competing in various online events and qualifying for bigger tournaments. In January, third place in the European Pro League Season 5 brought the club $3,000 in prize money. The team did not qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023, winning the Open Qualifier, but finished in 5th-6th place at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023: European Qualifier. The next European Pro League season ended more favourably for Monte. The victory brought the team $11,000. Since the second half of March sdy and his team have been systematically gaining momentum. The Ukrainian club won CCT West Europe Series #2, ESL Challenger League Season 44: Europe and CCT Central Europe Series #5, earning a total of $64,000 in prize money.
April for Monte was marked by a silver medal at CCT Central Europe Series #6. Further successful performances at CCT series tournaments in May pale before the participation of Ukrainians in the only and last Major tournament of this year on CS:GO - BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. The team sensationally reached the Champions stage and lost to GamerLegion in the quarter-finals of the tournament with a score of 0:2. The 5th-8th place at the Major event brought the players $45,000. Before participating in Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023, Monte tried to qualify for the LAN tournament Gamers8 2023. In the Gamers8 2023: Last Chance Qualifier, the Ukrainian team failed to advance far. In the first match of the qualifiers sdy and the team faced Espionage, to whom they lost on the map Nuke with a score of 12-16 and left the qualification. 9th-12th place at IEM Cologne 2023 provided the team with $16,000. Also worth noting is the 3-4th place in the standings of such tournaments as CCT Central Europe Series #7, CCT East Europe Series #1 and Pinnacle Cup V, which in total brought the Ukrainian team $15,000 in prize money. And at the CCT North Europe Series #7 Monte won silver and earned another $15,000.
The previous professional tournament for the Ukrainian team was RES Eastern European Masters: Fall 2023. There Monte got into Group A, where they played with 1-2 statistics. This was not enough to get to the play-offs stage. The 5th-6th place left the players without prize money.
At ESL Pro League Season 18 Monte team went to play in Group B. The start of the group stage was unsuccessful, Ledge players defeated BIG with the score 1:2. In the middle set Monte defeated Rooster with the result 2:1 (Nuke - 8-16, Anubis - 16-10, Mirage - 16-10). But MIBR sent Monte to the losers' net at the end of a full bo3 series. In the semifinals of the lower grid the Ukrainian team defeated Heroic (Mirage - 16-10, Overpass - 20-22, Ancient - 16-10), then won a rematch against MIBR on two maps in a row (Vertigo - 16-6, Anubis - 16-3). Thus Monte qualified for the play-offs. In a tense match the Ukrainian team defeated Fnatic with the result 2:1 (Anubis - 16-9, Overpass - 12-16, Vertigo - 16-6). The match against Complexity Gaming was marked by a long pause due to the release of Counter-Strike 2. But it did not prevent the Ukrainian team from winning the full bo3 series (Ancient - 16-7, Overpass - 9-16, Anubis - 16-12). Their next opponent was Team Vitality. A sensational win on two maps in a row (Anubis - 16-11, Nuke - 16-14) secured Monte place in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Statistics of Monte's latest results:
- Victory over Team Vitality with a score of 2:0
- Victory over Complexity Gaming with a score of 2:1
- 2:1 win over Fnatic
- 2:0 win over MIBR
- 2:1 win over Heroic
Natus Vincere's form
Overall this year Natus Vincere have seen a slight downturn in the quality of their play. Since the beginning of the current season Born to Win have taken 3-4th places at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, ESL Pro League Season 17 and Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023. In Katowice the team earned $80,000. At the Paris Major s1mple and the team qualified thanks to their victory at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A. At BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 NAVI did not show much success, finishing in 9th-11th place and earning $20,000. At BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023, the Ukrainian team took 4-6th place in the standings and received $17,500 in prize money and a trip to BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023. Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 went relatively well for Natus Vincere, but the team failed to qualify for the play-offs. NAVI Ledge defeated Astralis 1:2 in the lower finals. The 7th-8th place at IEM Cologne 2023 provided NAVI with $24,000 in prize money.
The previous professional championship for the Ukrainian team was Gamers8 2023, a LAN-tournament in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, with a prize pool of $1,000,000. Natus Vincere made it to Gamers8 2023 thanks to a direct invitation from the tournament organisers, ESL and Saudi Esports Federation. As a result of the draw, the first opponent of Born to Win was FURIA Esports. Having demonstrated not the most confident game, the Ukrainian club defeated the Brazilians with the score 2:1 (Nuke - 11-16, Mirage - 16-13, Ancient - 16-4). Team Vitality were too tough a test for the current NAVI squad. The 0:2 defeat ended the Ukrainian team's participation at Gamers8 2023. The 5th-8th place in the standings provided Aleksib and his teammates with $35,000 in prize money.
At ESL Pro League Season 18 the Ukrainian club got into Group C. According to the results of the draw their first opponent was the Chinese squad 5yclone, which NAVI defeated 2-0 (Inferno - 16-11, Mirage - 16-12). Born to Win also defeated Apeks (Anubis - 16-7, Inferno - 16-5) with the same score, which allowed them to pass to the final of the upper net. Victory over FaZe Clan on two consecutive maps (Anubis - 16-4, Nuke - 16-13) allowed the Ukrainian team to pass to the quarter-finals of play-offs. There NAVI defeated the Turks from Eternal Fire with the score 2:0 (Anubis - 16-7, Nuke - 16-10).
Statistics of Natus Vincere's latest results:
- Victory over Eternal Fire with a score of 2:0
- Victory over FaZe Clan with the score 2:0
- Victory over Apeks with the score 2:0
- Victory over 5yclone with the score 2:0
- Defeat by Team Vitality with the score 0:2
Match History Monte - Natus Vincere
Ukrainian teams have played against each other only once this year. Within BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Monte defeated NAVI 2-0 (Anubis - 16-12, Nuke - 16-2) in Legends Stage.
Predicted result of the Monte vs Natus Vincere matchup
Monte never cease to amaze at this tournament, the team has significantly gained the game form. Natus Vincere, in turn, also defeated the big-name opponents on their way to the semifinals. Let's bet on the total of cards more than 2.5.