Natus Vincere have survived their lower bracket showdown with FlipSid3, who have been eliminated from SL i-League Invitational #1 after a three-map series (Train 4-16, Overpass 16-14, Cobblestone 16-9).

The battle for survival between the two domestic teams kicked off on Train, where FlipSid3 got to a superb 9-1 start as Terrorists, with Georgi "⁠WorldEdit⁠" Yaskin often finding opening kills to start off the rounds.

Natus Vincere got back on their feet with a double AWP setup, winning three of the remaining five rounds, still for a measly 4-11 half. When they lost the second pistol round, they ended up forcebuying three times in a row due to the pressure, but none of the attempts worked out and FlipSid3 ran away with map one at 16-4.

With Na`Vi winning the CT pistol and FlipSid3 coming on top of two clutch rounds, the match was even at 3-3 towards the beginning of Overpass. Sergey "⁠starix⁠" Ischuk's team started running away with the match from there on however despite numerous close rounds, including a 1v3 from Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev.

FlipSid3 stopped the streak at six in a row, which was enough to force their opponents on an eco, but sloppy play lost them the favorable round and the half finished with a comfortable 10-5 lead for Na`Vi.

WorldEdit then showcased his pistol handling with an ace in an advanced position, but his play was negated as his team dropped the following round. That resulted in Natus Vincere taking map point with five rounds in a row, but the map wasn't quite over.

FlipSid3 took Na`Vi to their limit on Overpass

Three rounds in a row FlipSid3 delayed the seemingly inevitable with time running out, and kept on defending slow strategies from their opposition with individual plays from WorldEdit, Yegor "⁠markeloff⁠" Markelov and Oleksandr "⁠Shara⁠" Hordieyev. However, in the last round in regulation, Natus Vincere put the final nail in the coffin and evened out the series at 16-14, 1-1.

Cobblestone was left in the pool to decide the series and it was Natus Vincere sending a strong message to their opponents, with most of the first several gunrounds going their way in an easy manner. 

At 8-1, FlipSid3 found a way to another round win, only to find themselves money-less in the round afterwards. Before the end of the half Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy's squad was able to pick up one more round, but Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács closed the half with a 1v2 clutch for 12-3.

With a pistol round going their way, FlipSid3 were still miles away from taking it to a close series, and once Natus Vincere won an eco only two rounds afterwards, the match was nearly over.

Once again, similarly to Overpass, the tournament favourites struggled to finish off their opponents in numerous attempts, but finally the Slovakian sniper eliminated FlipSid3 after a 1v3 on the B bombsite at 16-9.

SL i-League Invitational #1Best of 3 FlipSid3Matchpage 1 2 20th May 2016 Natus Vincere 16Train 4 14Overpass 16 9Cobblestone 16

FlipSid3	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Georgi 'WorldEdit' YaskinWorldEdit	56 - 46	+10	74.4	1.15
Jan 'wayLander' RahkonenwayLander	53 - 55	-2	74.4	1.03
Andrey 'B1ad3' GorodenskiyB1ad3	52 - 57	-5	82.2	1.01
Yegor 'markeloff' Markelovmarkeloff	45 - 49	-4	64.2	0.99
Oleksandr 'Shara' HordieyevShara	45 - 55	-10	71.1	0.98

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	59 - 47	+12	73.9	1.09
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized	53 - 49	+4	88.7	1.09
Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus	52 - 54	-2	83.8	1.07
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	52 - 53	-1	76.6	1.04
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	46 - 48	-2	66.7	0.97

The next match at SL i-League Invitational #1 will be the first upper bracket semi-final between HellRaisers and Virtus.pro.

Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov Age: 28 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 800 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 Natus Vincere #2 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsDenis 'seized' KostinEgor 'flamie' Vasilyev Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Age: 28 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 774 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.67 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 24 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 761 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.62 Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy Age: 29 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 0.85 Maps played: 570 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.72 FlipSid3 #32 Yegor 'markeloff' MarkelovAndrey 'B1ad3' GorodenskiyOleksandr 'Shara' HordieyevGeorgi 'WorldEdit' YaskinJan 'wayLander' Rahkonen Oleksandr 'Shara' Hordieyev Age: 23 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 0.89 Maps played: 155 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.70 HellRaisers #12 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowTomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýVladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukMartin 'STYKO' StykPatrik 'Zero' Žúdel Georgi 'WorldEdit' Yaskin Age: 24 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 561 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67 Virtus.pro #6 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński Sergey 'starix' Ischuk Age: 28 Team: Natus VincereC