NaVi vs B8 Result BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026

Natus Vincere defeated B8 2-1 on March 18, 2026, in the Group A Upper Bracket of BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 at BLAST Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was not the clean sweep many expected — B8 pushed NaVi to overtime on Ancient and nearly forced a dramatic result before NaVi regrouped and closed out the decider on Dust2 13-7.

The all-Ukrainian clash was the most contested series of Group A Day 1. NaVi arrived as ESL Pro League Season 23 champions. B8 arrived on a 4-loss streak needing a result to keep their IEM Cologne 2026 Major VRS hopes alive. For one map, B8 made it a genuine fight — and came within 2 rounds of levelling the series.

Map Results

Mirage — NaVi 13-9 B8 (B8's map pick)

Ancient — B8 19-17 NaVi (NaVi's map pick — overtime)

Dust2 — NaVi 13-7 B8 (decider)

NaVi took Map 1 on Mirage 13-9 in a controlled performance. B8 then responded on Ancient — NaVi's own map pick — taking it to overtime and winning 19-17 in what was the standout map of the entire Day 1 schedule. B8 winning NaVi's map pick in overtime was the biggest upset moment of Group A Day 1. NaVi answered on Dust2, closing out the decider 13-7 to take the series 2-1.

Standout Performances

iM and Aleksib were NaVi's key performers across the series. Aleksib secured a crucial 1v2 clutch on Mirage that helped close out Map 1 — a round that proved decisive in maintaining NaVi's map advantage heading into the overtime drama of Ancient. iM maintained his EPL Season 23 form throughout all 3 maps, providing the consistent individual output that makes NaVi so difficult to beat across a full Bo3.

For B8, esenthial was the standout performer of the series. On Ancient, esenthial posted a 64-52 K-D — the best individual stat line of any player across both teams on that map. His performance drove B8's overtime win and came very close to forcing a Map 3 situation that would have been on B8's terms. s1zzi also bounced back from a poor Map 1 to post a 1.26 rating on Ancient — the combination of esenthial and s1zzi raising their level simultaneously is what took the map to overtime and gave B8 their only map win of the series.

On Dust2, NaVi reasserted their individual quality with a 13-7 scoreline that left no doubt about who was the better team across the full series. B8 could not replicate their Ancient performance across a third consecutive map — and NaVi's discipline in the decider reflected the championship mentality they built during their EPL Season 23 title run.

Context and What Comes Next

NaVi advance to the Upper Bracket Semi-Finals at 19:00 CET on Friday, where they face Falcons — the team that just swept NRG 2-0 with a stand-in. The NaVi vs Falcons upper bracket match is the headline clash of Group A Day 2 and will determine who advances directly to the Upper Bracket Final.

B8 drop to the Lower Bracket where they face NRG at 14:00 CET on Friday in an elimination match. Having taken a map off NaVi — and NaVi's own map pick at that — B8 showed they can compete at this level. But they must now win or go home, with their IEM Cologne VRS standing already under serious pressure heading into the April 6 deadline.

Was EsportScanner AI Correct?

EsportScanner AI gave NaVi a 78% win probability ahead of this match. The prediction was correct — NaVi won the series 2-1. The AI correctly identified NaVi as clear favorites, though the 19-17 overtime loss on Ancient showed that B8's individual players — particularly esenthial and s1zzi — were capable of competing at a higher level than their 4-loss streak suggested. The data called the right winner. The map score told the fuller story.

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