Na'Vi, mousesports reach Gamers Without Borders final

Natus Vincere and mousesports each seesawed past their opponents on Saturday to reach the grand final of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive portion of the Gamers Without Borders esports charity event. Na'Vi outlasted FaZe Clan 2-1, and mousesports got by OG by the same margin in the best-of-three format. Both victors had been given byes into the semifinals of the six-team, single-elimination event, which features all teams from Europe.

To cap the day, 100 Thieves and Team Liquid faced off in a North American showmatch, with 100 Thieves sweeping to a 2-0 victory. Gamers Without Borders already completed charity competitions using PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2 and Fortnite. Teams' prize money and donations from viewers are going to COVID-19 relief efforts through UNICEF, DirectRelief and the International Medical Corps, among other charities.

The European CS:GO event features a $1.75 million prize pool, with $750,000 donated to charity in the name of the winning team and $500,000 being donated on behalf of the runner-up. The North American showdown featured a $250,000 prize pool, with $150,000 for the winning team to donate to charity. All matches are best-of-three except for the best-of-five final on Sunday, and all utilize CS:GO's MR12 (Max Rounds 12) format. Competitive CS:GO matches typically use the MR15 (Max Round 15) format.

Na'Vi needed a huge rally to take the opening map, Inferno, from FaZe, overcoming an 8-1 deficit to take it 13-11. After FaZe dominated Vertigo 13-2 to level the match, Na'Vi again came from behind, rallying from 7-5 down on Nuke to force overtime and winning all three rounds in overtime to take the map 15-12. Star player Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev carried Na'Vi, posting an eye-popping plus-24 kill-death differential while none of his teammates posted better than minus-5.

mousesports needed some dramatics in their victory as well. They fell behind 9-3 on Mirage in the opening map but rallied to force overtime, then won the map 15-13. OG used their own rally to take Nuke 13-11, but mousesports finished off the victory with a 13-10 win on Inferno. Ozgur "woxic" Eker led the way with a plus-24 K-D differential for the match. In the North America showmatch, 100 Thieves made quick work of Liquid with victories of 13-7 on Tuscan and 13-3 on Cache. Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad paced them with a plus-20 K-D differential.

100 Thieves pledged their $150,000 prize to UNICEF, and Liquid are giving their $100,000 to DirectRelief. Na'Vi and mousesports will face off in Sunday's final.

--Field Level Media