On March 1, 2020, Natus Vincere won IEM Katowice 2020.
On this day, three years ago, IEM Katowice 2020 ended. The Natus Vincere team became the event's champion, and this championship became one of the most important for the team. So what made IEM Katowice 2020 so memorable?
Last LAN in 2020
It is worth starting with the sad part because, in addition to the victory of Natus Vincere, 2020 was remembered for the fact that it became a "quarantine" year. At the beginning of the year, nothing foreshadowed trouble, and all the organizers announced that all tournaments would be held as scheduled. Unfortunately, however, problems have already started in Katowice.
At first, it seemed that the event would pass without any problems, but right before the playoffs, the organizers announced that the tournament would be held at the Spodek Arena but without spectators. This, of course, hit those who had already reached Katowice to watch the event very hard.
But the situation was even direr: IEM Katowice 2020 became the last LAN tournament in 2020. For this reason, NAVI held the title of the best LAN team for a very long time.
The first victory without NAVI 2010 players
For Natus Vincere, this victory was important not only because it was the last LAN of the year. This was the organization's first championship without players from NAVI 2010. The last player of the "golden" roster: Danylo Zeus Teslenko, left the team at the end of 2019. The team had difficulties finding a new player. The club even tried Ladislav GuardiaN Kovac. However, at the beginning of 2020, the organization finally found a suitable rifler: Ilya Perfecto Zalutskyi.
Perfecto is still in the lineup, and that choice turned out to be very important, given Natus Vincere's performance in Katowice back then.
The total dominance of Natus Vincere in the playoffs
At IEM Katowice 2020, NAVI performed so well in the group that they didn't lose a single map in the playoffs. At the same time, there were almost no close matches: the Ukrainian team beat Astralis twice in the semi-finals with a score of 16-5. And in the final against G2, two maps ended 16-4 and 16-2. With such a performance, it would be possible to start the era, but the absence of LANs that year didn't allow it.
2020 was one of the most important years for Natus Vincere. It was this year that it became clear that the team was capable of winning even without veterans. The championship at IEM Katowice was a precursor to the victory at PGL Major Stockholm 2021, which became the largest in the organization's history.
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