Despite amassing great momentum in the playoffs, the Danes were no match to Natus Vincere in the fight for the first grand final spot at ESL Pro League Season 12.

HEROIC had looked like one of the main favorites in the playoffs after turning up in unstoppable form against Astralis and BIG in the opening two rounds of the upper bracket, but the Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov-powered Natus Vincere turned out too tough to crack in the upper final.

The Danes now await their fate in the consolidation final, slated to take place on Saturday at 21:00 , where they will be joined by the winner of the lower final between Astralis and MOUZ, played on the same day at 14:00 .

The rematch from the group stage, where Natus Vincere had won in a three-map nailbiter, saw both teams go a different direction in the veto after trading map picks the first time around. Instead of Overpass, HEROIC picked Inferno, but the choice ended up backfiring as they struggled for breathing room from start to finish.

electronic's 2.38 rating on Inferno was his best against top-20 teams

NAVI put together a massive CT half to start things off, with electroNic leading the way with several big multikills in defense of the A bombsite. Down 1-10, the Danes gave themselves a glimmer of hope with three of the last four rounds as well as a pistol win, but it all came crashing down when Natus Vincere responded with just Deagles in the following forcebuy to take back control and end the opener 16-5.

Mirage promised to be a closer affair when HEROIC's second-round forcebuy victory gave them some momentum in the opening half. However, the match took a nasty turn for Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and company once electroNic stepped up yet again with a 1v3 clutch in the eighth round, and Natus Vincere controlled much of the rest of the half from then on.

Switching over to the defense with eight rounds to their name, NAVI suffered a pistol round loss to cadiaN's three kills, but this time it was they who answered with a second-round forcebuy, courtesy of Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy's triple. That seemed to seal HEROIC's fate as they struggled to find openings around the map, and Natus Vincere rallied to another straightforward victory with eight in a row to clinch the grand final spot at ESL Pro League Season 12.

ESL Pro League Season 12 EuropeBest of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 0 2nd October 2020 HEROIC 16Inferno 5 16Mirage 8

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	54 - 20	+34	115.2	1.85
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	34 - 26	+8	89.1	1.35
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	39 - 31	+8	86.4	1.23
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	23 - 21	+2	61.7	1.06
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	29 - 26	+3	67.6	1.05

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	31 - 36	-5	77.8	1.00
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	27 - 37	-10	76.0	0.82
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	26 - 37	-11	74.6	0.81
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko	26 - 36	-10	55.1	0.69
Johannes 'b0RUP' Borupb0RUP	13 - 35	-22	38.0	0.50

BIG #5 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Natus Vincere #8 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Age: 20 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 373 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.62 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone MOUZ #21 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenChris 'chrisJ' de JongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýRobin 'ropz' KoolAurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 969 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 HEROIC #2 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerJohannes 'b0RUP' BorupNikolaj 'niko' KristensenMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' Madsen Astralis #9 Peter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzPatrick 'es3tag' HansenEmil 'Magisk' Reif Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 25 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1171 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.64