In his latest interview, the captain of the Natus Vincere team, Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, praised the team's new sniper, Igor "w0nderful" Zhdanov.
The Ukrainian, who replaced the former sniper of the team, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, on October 31, has already integrated quite well into the team's lineup. And recently, the team took first place at a quite important championship.
w0nderful joined the team in the fall of 2023, and here's what his rating looks like for all the time spent in NAVI. At first, it may seem nothing special, but it's worth considering that Igor came to the Ukrainian organization from a tier-2 level. This means he needs time to adapt.
Additionally, last week, the Natus Vincere team took 1-4th place at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, thus securing a spot at BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024. They were able to earn $22,500 in prize money, as well as 2,400 BLAST Premier points.
Aleksib:
It might still be early to say, but I think w0nderful has done a great job. He has integrated into the team. He's not as shy as he was at the beginning. And the fact that he's coping with all this pressure, doing a lot on the server. I think that over the months, he will gain more and more experience. He will need to start a new chapter where he takes on even more responsibility and just continues to play as he does.
The next championship where we will see Natus Vincere will be IEM Katowice 2024. Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024 will be the first major tier-1 LAN championship after the New Year holidays. And it will start on February 3. The prize pool of the championship is $1,000,000.
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