Natus Vincere kicked off their BLAST Open Lisbon campaign with a convincing 2-0 triumph over FURIA, starting with a tightly contested win on Anubis that went into overtime and wrapping things up more comfortably on Mirage with a 13-8 finish.
The first map, Anubis, initially leaned in NAVI’s favor thanks to a solid showing on the T side, where they racked up eight rounds and seemed poised to close things out quickly. FURIA, however, responded with a gritty second-half comeback. Though the Brazilians managed to drag the game into overtime, their disorganized approach began to unravel once the match reached extra rounds. Natus Vincere capitalized on that and efficiently secured the map.
Once on Mirage—NAVI’s strongest playground—the momentum fully shifted in the European squad’s direction. FURIA continued to struggle on their CT side despite scattered moments of individual brilliance from Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato, who pulled off a few round-saving plays. However, NAVI’s firepower and structure overwhelmed the defense, and even as KSCERATO continued to fight on the T side, Natus Vincere had already gained too much ground and shut the door on the comeback.
With this win, Natus Vincere advance to face The MongolZ next, giving them an early opportunity to settle the score from their earlier ESL Pro League playoff loss. On the other side of the bracket, FURIA now drop to the lower bracket, where they will take on M80 and attempt to keep their tournament hopes alive.
The loss further exposes FURIA’s ongoing difficulties holding CT sides. Despite a relatively decent record when playing on offense, their defensive problems persist. So far in 2025, the team has only won 43.6% of their CT rounds in LAN events—an unsustainable figure for any team aiming to contend at the highest level.
Efforts have been made to patch up these shortcomings, such as repositioning KSCERATO to Catwalk on Mirage, but these minor tweaks have yet to yield meaningful improvement. Unless more significant changes are made, FURIA’s defense will likely continue to be their Achilles’ heel in upcoming competitions.
