Natus Vincere suffered a shocking defeat against M80 in the upper bracket quarterfinal of BLAST Open Porto 2026’s Group A. The American roster came from behind to win the best-of-three series 2-1, eliminating one of the tournament’s top seeds from the upper bracket. This result is notable because NAVI entered the match as the higher-ranked team, yet M80 delivered a dominant performance on two of the three maps.
The upset matters because it reshapes the entire upper bracket path. As a result, M80 now advance to the semifinal, while NAVI must fight through the lower bracket to stay alive in the tournament.
Three Maps, Three Different Stories
On Anubis, NAVI’s pick going into the deciding map pool, the Ukrainian side looked in control from the start and closed out the map 13-4. Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy and Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov led the charge, with b1t finishing 40-33 and a rating of 1.19, while w0nderful posted a 1.14 rating with 38-30. This opening map suggested NAVI were heading toward a routine victory.
However, the momentum flipped entirely on Mirage, M80’s pick. The Americans dismantled NAVI 13-6, with Josh “JBa” Barutt setting the tone through an ADR of 91.2 across the series. Elias “s1n” Stein and Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich also stepped up, each posting a positive rating swing. NAVI, meanwhile, struggled to find answers, and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen recorded the lowest rating of the match at 0.78.
The decider on Inferno followed the same pattern as Mirage. M80 controlled the map from start to finish and closed it out 13-6, sealing the 2-1 series win. NAVI could not recover the form they had shown on Anubis, and M80’s consistency across the final two maps proved decisive.
JBa Named Match MVP
Josh “JBa” Barutt was the standout performer of the series. He finished with a 44-37 kill-death record, a team-leading ADR of 91.2, a KAST of 78.2%, and the highest rating of the match at 1.30. His performance anchored M80’s comeback after dropping the opening map, and it gave the team the firepower needed to close out both Mirage and Inferno. On NAVI’s side, b1t was the top performer with a 1.19 rating, but it was not enough to offset the team’s collapse on the final two maps.
NAVI Fall Out of VRS Top 10 as M80 Climb 10 Spots
The result also caused a significant shift in the VRS rankings for both organizations. NAVI entered the match with 1,667 points and the number 10 ranking. Following the loss, they dropped 23 points, leaving them with 1,644 points and falling one spot to number 11.
M80, in contrast, saw a major jump. They entered the series with 1,218 points at rank 49. The win added 108 points to their total, bringing them to 1,326 points, and they climbed ten spots to rank 39. This is one of the largest single-match rating gains in the current VRS cycle for the American roster.
Conclusion
This defeat carries real consequences for Natus Vincere’s tournament run. As a result of the loss, M80 now advance directly to the semifinal, where they will face the winner of the FURIA versus paiN match. NAVI, on the other hand, are pushed into the lower bracket and will play against the loser of that same FURIA vs paiN encounter, giving them one more chance to fight their way back into contention.
For M80, this win is a statement result against a top-10 side and confirms their run at BLAST Open Porto 2026 is no fluke, especially given their sharp rating climb in the VRS standings. For NAVI, meanwhile, the loss raises questions about consistency, since the team looked dominant on Anubis but could not replicate that form on Mirage or Inferno. Finally, the path forward for both teams is now clear: M80 look ahead to a semifinal against a well-rested opponent, while NAVI face an elimination-style lower bracket match that will decide whether their tournament continues or ends in Porto.
