As Gambit vetoed Natus Vincere's go-to map, Inferno, the latter team picked Nuke, where the first semi-final of DreamHack Masters Marseille began. The pick seemed to be paying off from the get-go, as Na`Vi quickly racked up an early lead on the CT side thanks to a couple of mop-ups on the upper bombsite. It wasn't until 7-0 when Abay "HObbit" Khassenov's calm triple on the lower bombsite gave his team their first round, but Na`Vi immediately regained control and went on to lock down a dominant 13-2 half. Denis "seized" Kostin helped Gambit stay in contention for the map with a quad-kill in the pistol round, which led to a streak of five rounds, as Na`Vi forcebought twice. That was all the Kazakh-Russian team could do, though, as Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev's triple in a 2v3 situation forced Gambit on two low buys in a row and Natus Vincere finished off map one at 16-7. Na`Vi are through to the grand final
With a pistol round going their way, Gambit got off on the right foot on Train as Terrorists. Once the weaponry was on Na`Vi's side, they were able to equalize the scoreline 3-3 on the back of a simple B retake and a quick A defense, courtesy of Egor "flamie" Vasilyev's triple with the AWP. Gambit replied with three in a row to claim a three-round lead, but it turned out to be their last breath in the first half. Na`Vi took over thanks to early opening kills from s1mple, while Denis "electroNic" Sharipov chimed in with a key triple to secure a 9-6 half. Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev's three headshots in the second pistol round closed the gap to 9-8, but their rivals controlled the gunrounds with ease, starting with a clean attack towards the A bombsite. It was 12-9 when Gambit fought back with three close rounds in a row to level the score. Unable to rack up some economy, they soon found themselves against the ropes, however, as Na`Vi only needed one round to send their opponents on an eco and soon ended the series at 16-12, 2-0. DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018Best of 3 Natus Vincere Matchpage 2 0 22nd April 2018  Gambit 16Nuke 7 16Train 12 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple | 54 - 26 | +28 | 102.2 | 1.69 | Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic | 47 - 29 | +18 | 101.2 | 1.50 | Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus | 39 - 30 | +9 | 91.9 | 1.35 | Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie | 38 - 30 | +8 | 73.3 | 1.12 | Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward | 32 - 26 | +6 | 62.7 | 1.12 |
Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevAdreN | 33 - 44 | -11 | 72.7 | 0.80 | Mihail 'Dosia' StolyarovDosia | 29 - 41 | -12 | 70.0 | 0.76 | Denis 'seized' Kostinseized | 29 - 41 | -12 | 58.9 | 0.76 | Rustem 'mou' Telepovmou | 25 - 41 | -16 | 55.9 | 0.70 | Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit | 25 - 43 | -18 | 55.8 | 0.65 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 23 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 430 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.66  Gambit #17  Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov Rustem 'mou' Telepov Denis 'seized' Kostin Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov  Denis 'seized' Kostin Age: 23 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1126 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67  Natus Vincere #6  Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov  Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 19 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 534 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.68  Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev Age: 21 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 962 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.68  Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev Age: 28 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1125 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68  Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 20 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.21 Maps played: 782 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.68 |