It took three overtimes, but Natus Vincere have overcome SK Gaming and have advanced into the semifinals.

In the first match of the playoffs, Natus Vincere had a great first half against SK Gaming on de_dust2, displaying outstanding performance to overcome the Swedes with a 12-3 scoreline.

Into the second half, Natus Vincere continued to excel, securing three rounds to SK Gaming's one. While the latter were able to get another two rounds, Na´Vi shut the first map down at 16-6.

Now on de_train, both teams fought ferociously for the rounds, starting out by taking points one after each other. However, SK Gaming some speed and were able to close the half at 10-5.

Although opening up with a two-round win, Natus Vincere could not withstand SK Gaming's force in the following rounds to come as they overpowered the Ukrainians and surpassed their lead. 

Natus Vincere did, however, strike back, and with skillsful play they managed to storm past SK Gaming, securing 10 rounds in total to take the match in for an exciting overtime.

And exciting is just what the overtime turned out to be. The two teams were not able to settle it in only overtime, taking the match in for a second round after tying up here as well. 

As it turns out, two overtimes was not enough either. The two powerhouses tied up for the third time, going into another overtime in order to try and settle the spectacular one-to-watch match.

The third overtime of the match ended in Natus Vincere's favor. After tying up at 2-2, the Ukrainians managed to seal the following two rounds needed to secure them further advancement.

DreamHack Winter 2011Best of 0 SK GamingMatchpage 0 2 26th November 2011 Natus Vincere 6Dust2 16 23Train 25

Match statistics:

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