Valve forces Na`Vi and Entropiq rematch at EPIC League

After an unprecedented mutual agreement to not play out the fifth-place decider, Na`Vi and Entropiq will be forced to compete by Valve.

The situation was revealed in an official statement from the Russian Esports Federation, which partnered with Epic Esports Entertainment to host EPIC CIS League Spring. The decision comes two days after the teams had agreed to split points evenly without playing. The decision was likely spurred by EPIC League’s loose security measures.

The call to cancel the match was made by Natus Viincere and Entropiq’s players just seven minutes before its scheduled start time. EPIC League staff did not authorize the cancellation. Instead, they spoke with Valve to determine what would happen. Valve threatened to invalidate both team’s earned RMR points if the match was not played, which motivated Entropiq to reverse course. But according to the official RESF translation, Na`Vi was still “unable to play the match.”

Epic Esports returned to Valve to determine how to proceed. Valve declared that since Entropiq was willing to play and Na`Vi was not, Entropiq would automatically win the match while Natus Vincere’s CSGO team would lose all accumulated RMR points from EPIC CIS League Spring. 

That threat pushed Natus Vincere to agree to a decider bout. Both squads have earned a total of 1,100 Regional Major Rankings points at the event, with the fifth-place winner earning an additional 100. Na`Vi currently sit at fourth in the CIS regional rankings. If they had forfeited their RMR points from EPIC League, they’d sit at eighth place between K23 and Nemiga Gaming. This is the only RMR event Entropiq has attended in 2021.

The rematch will take place at 11 am CDT on June 1. Entropiq previously defeated Natus Vincere in the group stage 16-8 on Nuke and 19-17 on Overpass.