Natus Vincere are the first known DreamHack Masters Marseille semi-finalist as they beat mousesports in the opening match of the playoffs 2-0 (16-9 Mirage, 19-16 Inferno).

Natus Vincere got a footing on MOUZ' map pick early on, taking the first three rounds on the defensive side of the map before Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's elegant 4K in the first gun round gave them their fourth. MOUZ were able to get on the board thanks to Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný's force-bought AWP, but after a few rounds were traded, Natus Vincere once again came out on top with an 8-2 lead and an economic advantage.

Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong's side was consistently trying to find openings towards B, but they were getting locked out as Natus Vincere adapted, while their approaches towards mid were stopped by Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev who was having another classic game with the AWP. His team managed to reset MOUZ once more before the end of the half, which was crucial in them cruising to a 12-3 lead.

The first few rounds of the second half were frenetic, Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi almost pulled off a retake on the pistol single-handily, Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool stole away the followup with the Deagle 3K and then Natus Vincere struck back with their own force as electroNic, Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko and s1mple found an entry each. The Ukrainian-based team ran up a 15-4 lead of the back off that, eventually closing the map out 16-9

Na`Vi were in the driving seat for the majority of the series

chrisJ's phenomenal USP-S quad-kill, all being headshots, started off Inferno and gave MOUZ the lead. Natus Vincere contested it with a force buy, and after the first one came to the wire, doubled down with another one, which ended up going their way as they caught MOUZ players out.

The force buys continued on after that, and in the end, MOUZ ended up on top, with chrisJ's MP7 playing a crucial part. As the score was 5-3, oskar got a triple entry with the AWP, but s1mple would end up stealing away that round with an ace, assisted by Zeus in the 2v5. The European mixture still recovered to take an 8-5 lead, but Zeus and co. put on the pressure towards the end to make it an 8-7 half.

Once again, force buys marked the start of the half. Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev's Deagle rang true on B to get his team in control after losing the pistol, MOUZ nearly replied but were stopped by s1mple who locked down A from graveyard (9-9).

ropz, who was having a great match overall, grabbed four kills in round 21 to get MOUZ their first T-side rifle round, but Natus Vincere replies instantly, s1mple clutching a round on A, to reset their opponents' economy (12-10). Natus Vincere ran up to match point, with s1mple adding another ace to his name along the way. The game was all but done, but chrisJ stepped up in the crucial rounds, getting openings which MOUZ converted and made it to overtime.

That was all she wrote, however, as Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev and co. were the better team in the added rounds, going 3-0 on the CT side and then shortly closing it out as T to make it 19-16 on Inferno.

DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 0 21st April 2018 MOUZ 16Mirage 9 19Inferno 16

DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 0 21st April 2018 MOUZ 16Mirage 9 19Inferno 16

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	69 - 37	+32	114.5	1.69
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	52 - 33	+19	78.8	1.35
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	51 - 36	+15	93.1	1.33
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	29 - 40	-11	58.7	0.88
Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus	31 - 42	-11	64.5	0.87

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastnýoskar	45 - 46	-1	72.9	1.07
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	48 - 49	-1	91.1	1.04
Chris 'chrisJ' de JongchrisJ	37 - 51	-14	71.4	0.86
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	33 - 42	-9	63.3	0.81
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	24 - 44	-20	51.2	0.65

Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Age: 30 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1132 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Age: 30 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 1146 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.69 MOUZ #2 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýChris 'chrisJ' de JongMiikka 'suNny' KemppiMartin 'STYKO' StykRobin 'ropz' Kool Natus Vincere #6 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 19 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 530 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.68 Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi Age: 23 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 828 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.69 Robin 'ropz' Kool Age: 18 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 321 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev Age: 21 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 958 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.68 Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong Age: 27 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1135 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.65 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 20 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.21 Maps played: 778 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.68 Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný Age: 26 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 728 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.66