SLTV XI: Natus Vincere Victorious
Natus Vincere has grabbed its first international premier title at the SLTV StarSeries finals in Kiev this weekend, beating Titan once, NiP twice and were then crowned the SLTV IX champions. The win is as unlikely as they come, with Na`Vi not only being considered the weakest team of the competitors prior to the event starting, but with Na`Vi not even placing themselves for the offline finals in the first place. Only after Fnatic had to cancel due to the political situation in Ukraine, Natus Vincere were invited and ended up winning the whole tournament.
Their most impressive feats included beating Ninjas in Pyjamas in two different series, with the most convincing score being a 16-3 victory over NiP on dust2 in the first round. Overall, the home team ended up not giving up a single map in the entire tournament.
Despite losing to Na`Vi on two separate occasions, Ninjas in Pyjamas did manage to get themselves yet another second placing, beating both Titan and Virtus.pro in the lower bracket to claw their way back into the Grand Final.
Meanwhile, Virtus.pro couldn't retain their form and slipped down yet another spot after taking second at Copenhagen Games. Although the maps that Virtus.pro played were all 16-10 or closer they ended up only securing one map won in the tournament, while losing 4.
As for Titan, despite their short preparation time in the wake of the unexpected change from Richard 'shox' Papillon to Kenny 'KennyS' Schrub, they secured third place by beating Virtus but having to concede to NiP and Na`Vi.
The final standings for the SLTV StarSeries IX championship:
| 1st | Natus Vincere | $14,000 |
| 2nd | Ninjas in Pyjamas | $7,000 |
| 3rd | Titan | $5,000 |
| 4th | Virtus.pro | $4,000 |
Make sure to follow onGamers as a a statistical analysis of the grand final will be published In the upcoming days, explaining exactly how Na`Vi managed to win their first ever international title in CS:GO.
