Natus Vincere, GamerLegion advance to IEM Atlanta grand final

Natus Vincere and GamerLegion advanced to the grand final of the Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta event Saturday with semifinal victories.

Natus Vincere swept BetBoom Team 2-0, while GamerLegion survived with a 2-1 triumph over Legacy. They'll play in Sunday's grand final after the semifinal losers face off in a third-place match.

The $300,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 16 teams divided into two groups for the double-elimination opening round. The top six teams reached the single-elimination playoffs.

All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final. The winning side will receive $125,000.

Natus Vincere completed the sweep with a 13-8 victory on Triumph followed by a 13-6 win on Nuke.

Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy of Ukraine led Natus Vincere in kills (33) and had the fewest deaths (19), but all five team members had 28-plus kills. Kirill "Magnojez" Rodnov led the all-Russian BetBoom Team with 26 kills and 11 assists.

GamerLegion opened with a 13-9 win on Ancient before Legacy bounced back with a 13-3 beatdown on Mirage. GamerLegion responded to close out the match with a 13-6 triumph on Inferno.

Sweden's Fredrik "REZ" Sterner led GamerLegion with 40 kills, 19 of which came in the deciding third game. Eduardo "dumau" Wolkmer led the all-Brazilian Legacy squad with a match-high 49 kills.

Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta prize pool

1. $125,000

2. $50,000

3. $30,000

4. $20,000

5-6. $12,500 -- Team Vitality, paiN Gaming

7-8. $7,000 -- B8, Astralis

9-12. $5,000 -- FUT Esports, FaZe Clan, SINNERS Esports, Team Liquid

13-16. $4,000 -- BC.Game Esports, NRG, Passion UA, M80