G2 Esports and Natus Vincere emerged with semifinal victories Saturday at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to set up a championship contest between the squads. They'll battle Sunday for the right to claim the first-place $400,000 grand prize and 1,000 club points. G2 swept Virtus.pro 2-0, winning 13-4 on Dust II and 13-7 on Ancient. Nikola "NiKo" Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina got off to a hot start for G2, powered his side to the early win with 26 kills against 6 deaths. He was assisted by teammate Nemanja "huNter-" Kovac, who contributed 21 kills. On Ancient, things were a little more even, though G2 still had four players with positive kills-to-deaths ratios. NiKo again led the way with 17 kills, finishing plus-8. Dzhami "Jame" Ali of Russia paced Virtus.pro at plus-7. NiKo finished plus-28 (43 kills, 15 deaths) across both maps. Meanwhile, Natus Vincere improbably dispatched MOUZ 2-1 after suffering a 13-1 blowout loss on Dust II. They rallied to win 13-8 on Nuke and 13-5 on Mirage. All five MOUZ players finished with positive K-D ratios on the first map, paced by Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo of Finland at plus-13 and Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek of Poland at plus-9. Navi turned it around on Nuke, as two players finished with at least 20 kills in the win. Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov of Ukraine was 21-9, while countryman Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy was 20-12. On the final map Mirage, w0nderful again led the way, finishing plus-15 (23-8) to help Navi secure a championship spot. Esports World Cup CS:GO $1 million prize pool (money, club points) 1. $400,000, 1,000 points 2. $175,000, 600 3-4. $85,000, 275 -- Virtus.pro, MOUZ 5-8. $40,000, 60 -- Team Vitality, Team Spirit, FaZe Clan, FURIA Esports 9. $25,000, no points -- The MongolZ 10-11. $15,000, no points -- Sashi Esport, M80 12-15. $10,000, no points -- JiJieHao, FlyQuest, MIBR, Complexity Gaming --Field Level Media
Nov 5, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Fans react during the League of Legends World Championships between T1 and DRX at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports