Stand-in jL helped Vitality beat NAVI 2-0 to reach the PGL Masters Bucharest playoffs, while NAVI now face Spirit in an elimination match. The results land days before the November 2 standings that set the PGL Major Singapore invites.
jL’s first match against NAVI since he left the organization in July ended in a lopsided win. NAVI’s own Inferno pick turned into a rout for Vitality. On Dust2, they came back from 3-9 down. They closed the series with 10 straight rounds and booked their playoff place.
jL went 13-5 with a 1.58 rating across the series. mezii was even sharper at 19-9 with a 1.86 rating. On the other side, NAVI’s Mihai ‘iM’ Ivan died in every round of the first half on Inferno without a kill. He finished that map at 5.1 ADR.
Five-game rule makes jL Vitality’s Major roster player
Vitality named jL in August as a substitute for BLAST Open Porto and PGL Masters Bucharest. He covers mezii and apEX while both take paternity leave. In Bucharest, he is standing in for apEX. Because Vitality must play at least five games at the event, the five-game rule makes jL the player on their invited Major roster, HLTV reported. That should send the Singapore Major stickers to jL rather than apEX.
Vitality’s one defeat so far came against FUT. FUT won that series 2-1, coming back from 4-8 down on the deciding map. That made them the first team into the playoffs.
NAVI’s slide sets up a decider against Spirit
NAVI started 2-0 before losses to BetBoom and Vitality. Spirit now stand between them and elimination. Spirit dropped into that match after a 2-1 loss to MOUZ.
MOUZ lost their own Nuke pick 2-13. They then took Dust2 13-8 and Mirage 16-14. On Mirage, donk posted 12 multi-kills, a 35-20 K-D, 123.6 ADR and a 1.93 rating. Spirit still lost the map after leading 12-10. MOUZ are now 4-1 against Spirit since the summer break.
Aurora took the third playoff spot of the day against Liquid. Liquid led 10-8 on the Cache decider, but Aurora won the map 13-10. Jimpphat finished with a server-high 1.28 rating. It is Aurora’s fourth playoff qualification in a row. That run includes a second-place finish at StarLadder StarSeries Fall and two third-place finishes.
G2 and 9z are already out at 0-3. G2 lost to NAVI, Aurora and DENDELE, with the 2-1 defeat to DENDELE coming on October 26.
The stakes go beyond Bucharest’s $1.25M prize pool. The champion takes $450,000, and teams finishing 5th to 8th each get $50,000. The event runs until October 31. It is the last top-level LAN before the Singapore invites are locked. The results will shape Valve Regional Standings positions and decide which stage teams start the Major in.
Once the invites are locked, teams face admin deadlines on November 6 and 9. The Major itself runs from November 24 to December 13.
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