Natus Vincere booked a direct semi-final slot at BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 1 in Fort Worth with a confident 2-0 over GamerLegion in the Group B seeding match. Mirage finished 13-10, Ancient ended 13-4, and Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov stamped his AWP all over both maps — including a 1v2 clutch and a closing dominant T-side run that decided Mirage.
Mirage was tighter than it looked
The first map flowed deceptively. Score-line said 13-10, but the rhythm of the game suggested closer to a NAVI control performance throughout. GamerLegion levelled 5-5 through individual clutches, but NAVI’s structure tightened before half. The synergy between w0nderful and Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri was the centrepiece — pistol-round into anti-eco conversion, then steady T-side pressure to close the map.
Ancient was a one-sided demolition
Map two left no doubt. NAVI took control from the opening rounds, makazze led on rifles with high-impact entries, and w0nderful kept producing across both AWP and rifle situations. b1t cleaned up where needed, GamerLegion had no economic recovery path, and the 13-4 finish reflected a complete server takeover.
Where it sets up the bracket
Direct semi-final qualification put NAVI on the opposite half of the bracket from Vitality, setting up the final everyone wanted. Aleksib has been open about the gap to Vitality and the work it takes to close it; w0nderful’s individual form heading into a potential Vitality matchup is one of the few levers NAVI can actually pull.
