Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).
Update (October 7th): The 2024 GG.BET Match of LeGGends: Double Down showmatch between Navi and Team Vitality was won by Vitality.
It drew in more than 300,000 views on the official broadcast channels.
The first legendary map, Tuscan, was played in an MR12 format. Team Vitality dominated the first half, but Navi, in typical style, managed to make a comeback and secure victory with a 13:11 score.
In the second stage, the players faced off in Arms Race on the maps Shoots, Pool Day, and Baggage, where each kill leveled up the player and granted them a new weapon. The final item was a golden knife, with a frag scored using it guaranteeing victory for the team.
The crowd especially enjoyed the duels between the tournament’s S-Tier MVPs Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut and Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavičius. Their battle was the highlight of the match, as jL snatched a win on the first map, Shoots, but ZywOo came out on top on the next two, Pool Day and Baggage, securing victory for Team Vitality.
The showmatch concluded with Hostage Rescue on the Italy map, where the Counter-Terrorists attempted to rescue the hostages, while the Terrorists tried to stop them. The teams fought so fiercely that they played three rounds of overtime, with Team Vitality finally winning 22:20.
Highlights can be found here:
Original article (October 3rd):
Top Counter-Strike 2 teams Navi and Team Vitality will go head-to-head again in a showmatch this weekend, dubbed ‘Match of LeGGends: Double Down’.
Organised by betting brand GG.BET, the official betting partner of esports team Navi and Team Vitality’s CS2 roster, viewers can expect unique showdown formats and a special bonus with promo code NAVITALITY.
The first Match of LeGGends showmatch took place in July 2023 and racked up over 1 million views.
Match of LeGGends: Double Down will see Team Vitality, who were IEM Cologne 2024 champions (with UK player William ‘Mezii’ Merriman becoming the first UK CS2 player to win an IEM trophy), and Navi, who won gold this year at the PGL Major Copenhagen, EWC and ESL Pro League S20, go head-to-head.
Viewers can also expect an encounter between two rival MVPs — Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut and Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavičius.
The showmatch will begin in a classic Standard format: the teams will play МR12 on the de_tuscan map. The second random map will be played in Arms Race Mode: gameplay will switch to Deathmatch mode, where it’s every man for himself. The main objective here is to achieve kills using various types of weapons and finish the game with a knife kill.
The third randomly selected map will be played in MR12 format in Hostage Rescue mode: Counter Terrorists will be tasked with rescuing hostages, and Terrorists will try to stop them.
To celebrate Match of LeGGends: Double Down, GG.BET is also offering an exclusive sportsbook and gifting users a bonus: a free bet worth up to $100 with promo code NAVITALITY.
Match of LeGGends: Double Down will be streamed in two languages. Watch the English-language stream on NAVI and Team Vitality’s official Twitch channels, and watch in Ukrainian on the Maincast Twitch channel.
Related article: Navi, FaZe Clan and Team Vitality players star in a new Blast Premier video series in collaboration with GG.BET
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
