Wall-smashing S1mple And Proactive Guardian: How NaVi Players Started Their CS:GO Journeys
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  • 11:36, 21.12.2022

Wall-smashing S1mple And Proactive Guardian: How NaVi Players Started Their CS:GO Journeys

Natus Vincere's path to victory was far from always easy. Before winning the Major, the management tried to find all the necessary pieces of the puzzle and put them together. And if you do not count the old-timers from CS 1.6, many players passed through the lineup, each of whom had their ups and downs. We will tell you how each of the composition members of one or another period showed themselves at the beginning of their NAVI career.

Kibaken

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Anton kibaken Kolesnikov (aka tonyblack) joined NAVI together with Denis seized Kostin in mid-2013, replacing Edward and markeloff. They decided to go to Astrana Dragons team due to unsatisfactory results after switching to a new version of Counter-Strike.

His first match was against the USSR, which, remarkably, ended in a draw at 15:15. His statistics were 18-20.

The player's debut turned out to be quite good, but starting with SLTV StarSeries VII, he stopped increasing the kill difference. Such a famous tag as NAVI needed players of a higher level, so kibaken stayed in the team for only a few months.

Seized

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Unlike Kibanen, Denis played better against the USSR (22-19), stayed in the team for four whole years, and even earned the MVP medal at SLTV StarSeries Finals IX. The peak form of seized came in 2015-2016. During this period, the team won several tournaments and twice visited the finals of Majors. But after he became the captain, everything went downhill, and in 2017 NAVI did not win a single tournament, which ended the continuation of his career in the Ukrainian club.

Flamie

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Egor flamie Vasiliev, another veteran of "Born to Win," spent six years in the organization, became the champion of 12 tournaments, and earned two MVP medals. Still, he stayed in optimal form longer than seized. He was invited to the team when starix decided to become a coach.

He had his first match under the NAVI banner in March 2015 as a substitute at the CCS Kick-off Season against TSM. Unfortunately, then the whole team did not show a good game. In the end, it was 26-38 for Vasiliev.

And though he played average in the first few tournaments, from the beginning of May 2015, he became a world-class player, and even in the unfortunate year of 2017, he was almost the most stable member of the team. However, a noticeable decline occurred in 2020, and the need for replacement became evident. So the NAVI Junior project got a chance to prove its usefulness.

GuardiaN

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Ladyslav GuardiaN Kovach can be called a legend without exaggeration and one of the best snipers in history, along with ZywOo, s1mple, kennyS, and others, even though the last five years of his game leaves much to be desired. Joining NAVI in 2013, he immediately proved his usefulness with a stunning individual performance that earned him the title of the second-best player in CS:GO in 2015. And if it weren't for the hand injury, the "yellow and black" would have had a chance to become major champions for the first time, not in 2021, but at the MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016.

Ironically, his first official for NAVI was against Astana Dragons with markeloff. Unfortunately, the Slovak lost that match, but he played better than his Ukrainian counterpart: 22-20 against 18-15.

Kovach was put on a transfer in 2017, but in 2019 he returned to NAVI for a few months. But this was far from the legend, and the organization's fans hated the Slovak for a game that did not correspond to the organization's ambitions.

S1mple

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The initial period of Alexander's Natus Vincere game cannot be called simple. Pure skill was impressive - in the first match for the organization, he beat G2 with a difference of 24-20 (only ScreaM and GuardiaN were better), short-tempered character, Valve's ban on the presence of coaches in teamspeak in 2016, discord in the team almost forced s1mple to move to SK.

However, his decision to stay turned out to be correct - Kostylev managed to become the best eSports player in CS:GO twice, and after a series of requests, he will fulfill his dream of becoming the winner of the Major. The Ukrainian firmly inscribed his nickname in the history of world esports, giving many mind-blowing highlights.

Electronic

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Denys electroNic Sharipov has become one of the best riflers in the world in just a few months since joining the club at the end of 2017. However, they lost the first few matches, although in the second bo1 scored 28-24 against Astralis with Kjaerbye.

He may forever be in the shadow of s1mple, but he became an important component of NAVI's dominance in 2021 and several victories at Major tournaments in 2018. ElectroNic's statistics have deteriorated recently, mainly due to the transition to the role of IGL. If the trend persists, Denys may face the same fate as seized.

Boombl4

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Kirill Boombl4 Mykhaylov popped into NAVI's field of vision during a difficult 2019 with GuardiaN. Zeus used his last months on the pro scene to pass on his experience and knowledge to the future captain. Characteristically, Kirill debuted with statistics almost identical to Zeus – 18-21 against MOUZ on the low tab.

It was difficult to call Kirill's game stable, but his contribution was sufficient to make 2021 almost flawless in terms of team results. He also had to say goodbye to the club during a difficult time, connected with the war in Ukraine and because of his scandalous wife. So far, he has not even come a step closer to returning to the tier-1 stage.

Perfecto

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Ilya Perfecto Zalutsky can be called almost the most underrated player in the lineup because he gets all the dirty work. Ilya's journey to NAVI started at ICE Challenge 2020, where the team took 2nd place. The opening bo3 ended with a satisfactory result for him, 45-44.

Other pro players highly rate him, but even "ordinary people" can verify his skills every time he takes a problematic clutch. To him, the title of clutch minister passed after Astralis and Xyp9x lost their former power.

B1t

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Valery B1t Vakhovsky is the main argument in favor of top organizations starting to develop a youth team. Despite an unremarkable start as the sixth player alternating with flamie (12-15 against Complexity), in a year, he was able not only to enter the top 10 best players in the world but also to lift the cup over his head at the Major in Stockholm. And all this before he becomes 20 years old. In the foreseeable future, he can surpass electroNic as a rifler.

Sdy

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Formally, Viktor sdy Orujev is not a NAVI player, but we could not mention him since he has been leased to MAD Lions for six months. Replacing Boombl4, he managed to win the first tournament - BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022. Only OG could compete with them then, and they spoiled Viktor's debut.

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But after winning the title, everything turned out not so rosy. The team's mediocre performance recently made the question of replacements relevant again, and it is far from certain that sdy will be able to stay in the team, even if s1mple advocates that he be left. The fact that NAVI returned to the idea of a sixth player in the face of npl suggests that Viktor will be replaced first.

Npl

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Andrey npl Kuharsky became the second pupil of NAVI Junior after B1t, but so far, he has played only three maps as a base, all of which were not remembered for anything remarkable from his side. It's hard to say if he will be able to repeat Valery's fate with such a limited selection, so ideally, B1ad3 should think about giving him a chance at one more tournament. Nevertheless, we believe that the reason for their failure at BLAST Premier World Finals 2022 does not lie in him.

The minus in the
The minus in the "Form" column in the npl clearly shows how difficult it is to adapt to tier-1, playing mainly against other academic teams

Legends come and go. Someday they will replace s1mple himself, but until then, he and other players, perhaps those we have not heard of, will also go down in NAVI history either with loud victories or annoying failures. Only the future will show what awaits the Ukrainian organization.

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