AGAiN will join GamePub in the upper final after defeating Natus Vincere 2-1 (16-4 on de_cache, 7-16 on de_dust2 and 16-9 on de_inferno).

The first map, de_cache, went down exactly as expected: Na´Vi are known for not practicing this map, so they were relying only on skill here, hoping to get as many rounds as they could against a team who were without a doubt much better prepared for this.

AGAiN took the match by storm and won the first round after gaining control over the middle area, forcing Na´Vi’s players to go back and forth between the two bombsites, which cost them the round.

The first gun round did go Na´Vi’s way, as the Ukrainian team showed some good defensive work, but then they kept losing every important round, falling victim to AGAiN’s strategies over and over again. Since Na´Vi did not seem to have any sort of plan or strategy, the rounds they were winning came from situations in which they were able to outaim their opponents, so it was with little surprise that AGAiN were up 11-4 at the break.

The second half’s pistol round is a sheer example of how poor Na´Vi's de_cache is: the Ukrainian team rushed the A bombsite, planted the bomb and had the situation under control but still lost the round, with Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas picking up four kills.

Almost the same thing happened in the first gun round, when were in a 4-versus-3 situation but still managed to throw it away as Paweł "byali" Bieliński land three kills to power AGAiN to a 16-4 victory.

AGAiN were far too hot to handle on cache

On de_dust2, Na´Vi looked like a whole different team: in the pistol round they pushed catwalk and immediately got two entry kills before planting the bomb and winning the round.

When it came down to gun play, Na´Vi also looked dominant in the early stages, as Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács kept leading the way to the bombsites by picking up the entry frags before his team-mates could rush in and gun down the rest of the opposition.

With the score now 5-0 in favour of Na´Vi, AGAiN then finally managed to pick up two rounds in a row to reduce the deficit, and on both occasions they lost just two men, which allowed the cash-strapped team to save some money.

Na´Vi, however, regained control of the match and strung several rounds in a row to further enlarge their lead, but in the latter stages of the first half AGAiN were able to pick themselves up as the scoreboard showed 9-6 in favour of the Ukrainian team.

In the second half, AGAiN got off to a disastrous start, losing two players early in pistol play, which ultimately cost them the round as Na´Vi were left with four men alive.

Things went from bad to worse in the first gun round, when AGAiN went for a mid-B split: the Poles planted the bomb but fell short against a well-timed retake strategy from Na´Vi, who remained in the driving seat for the rest of the half, losing just one round as they picked up a 16-7 win to take the decision to the final map, de_inferno.

GuardiaN's LAN debut for Na`Vi ended with a loss

Jarosław "pasha" Jarząbkowski kicked off the action in the T pistol with three kills, and that kickstarted AGAiN's momentum which they hung on to until 10-1. The CIS-based squad finally reacted by winning an eco, and later thanks to 4 kills by Sergey "starix" Ischuk and a 1-on-3 by Denis "seized" Kostin, they salvaged the half at 10-5.

Another individual effort by the Poles, this time Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski, helped secure the other pistol round as well, and after denying a second round buy, AGAiN were up 13-5.

Lifeline for Na`Vi came in form of Ischuk and Kovacs' 2-on-5 for 13-6, but short of adding three more rounds after that, the home-based team were unable to turn the score around and AGAiN won the map and the match 16-9.

SLTV StarSeries VIII FinalsBest of 3 AGAiNMatchpage 2 1 20th December 2013 Natus Vincere 16Cache 4 7Dust2 16 16Inferno 9

AGAiN	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	53 - 45	+8	-	1.14
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	51 - 42	+9	-	1.12
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	46 - 47	-1	-	0.99
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	48 - 49	-1	-	0.95
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	37 - 42	-5	-	0.88

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	54 - 42	+12	-	1.15
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	49 - 47	+2	-	1.06
Sergey 'starix' Ischukstarix	39 - 48	-9	-	0.89
Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus	42 - 49	-7	-	0.87
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized	41 - 49	-8	-	0.83

AGAiN will move on to the upper bracket final to meet the surprise of the tournament, GamePub, while Natus Vincere will fight to stay in the tournament versus Astana Dragons.