Top Five Plays from the StarLadder StarSeries Fall Grand Final

Top Five Plays from the StarLadder StarSeries Fall Grand Final 

Natus Vincere (NAVI) clinched the StarLadder StarSeries Fall title on Sunday in Budapest, ending their trophy drought since IEM Rio 2024, and marking their first event win with newcomer Drin “makazze” Shaqiri. They defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) 2–0 in the grand final. 

Below are five of the stand-out plays from the grand final, and some surrounding context:

Key Highlight Plays

iM’s strong opening on Nuke – Mihai “iM” Ivan kicked off the final with an emphatic defensive hold against NiP’s A-execute using Dual Berettas, taking out four players. This gave NAVI an early momentum boost.

ewjerkz’s ramp Deagle spree – In a defensive round on Nuke, Michel “ewjerkz” Pinto produced three headshot kills with a Deagle from the Ramp area. Among NiP’s rare wins in that map second half, this was one of the few bright spots.

Snappi’s quad-kill on Inferno – On NAVI’s opponent map pick, NiP started Inferno very strongly, including a quad-kill by Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer early in the match, helping them take a lead of 8-0 and eventually 9-3.

b1t turns the tide with a 4-kill – Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy answered back towards the end of the first half of Inferno with a quad-kill that gave NAVI some breathing space. After the sides switched, NAVI managed to recover more fully.

iM’s clutch spray through smoke – In another defining moment, iM rescued his team in a 3vs5 situation early in the CT half on Inferno, spraying through smoke to pick up three kills. NAVI’s defense nearly locked down the map, conceding only one round on CT side.

Honorable Mention: b1t’s all-headshot Deagle 4-kill on 10 HP, from their upper-bracket meeting with NiP, was also called out as a “highlight of the year” contender. 

Match and Tournament Context

Map results: NAVI took Nuke 13-7 and Inferno 13-10.

On Inferno, after being behind (NiP started with a strong offense: 3-9), NAVI turned it around, particularly on the defensive half.

In the first map, NiP had some momentum, but NAVI’s CT side held strong, especially after the pistol and force-buy rounds.

Player Quotes & Reactions

Here are verified quotes and reactions surrounding NAVI’s performance and mindset:

“It doesn’t matter if it’s higher opponents or lower opponents, we just need to get some wins.” — Mihai “iM” Ivan on the team’s objectives entering StarLadder StarSeries Fall. 

“We need some confidence back,” iM admitted after their first match of the tournament. “I’m pretty sure that this tournament, if we’re going to win it, will be confidence for the next tournaments.” 

These quotes give insight into NAVI’s frame of mind: they came in needing to restore form and momentum, especially after some underwhelming performances in previous tournaments.