The team that was always at the cusp of greatness but could never emulate it, has finally done it. Always falling short, be it to a Prime Astralis or an unknown like ENCE or getting in their own heads and choking were a story all too familiar. But a new NaVi, a rebuilt NaVi is a force to be reckoned with, a mystery no one can solve. ‘s1mple’ of course, was the MVP for every event that they won, a monster like no other.
What started as the beginning of the NaVi Era at IEM Katowice 2020, was cut short immediately by the Coronavirus pandemic and fans and players alike were left wondering, when will we truly get to see the NaVi era?
Followed a complete transition into online Counter Strike, NaVi had trouble finding their feet and were always second fiddle be it to Astralis or Team Vitality at IEM Beijing 2020.
Come 2021, it all changed. NaVi started the year by winning BLAST Premier Global Final 2020 convincingly and looked dominant. But a dismal performance at IEM Katowice 2021 and at EPL S13 meant they had to make changes. They benched Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilev and added Valerii ‘b1t’ Vakhovskyi to the roster.
With ‘b1t’ they seemed to have found their missing piece as his addition is what gave NaVi their best results. Playing for the first time as a full-time member, they won DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 over Gambit esports. A disappointing RMR event proved they still needed to brush up their skills and that is just what they did.
Runners up of the BLAST Premier Spring final, and then winners of the StarLadder CIS RMR 2021 saw NaVi rise to the World #1 spot.
A week later, the roster played their heart out at the first LAN in 500 days, IEM Cologne. This is where they truly cemented their legacy, with ‘b1t’ playing Lights out at his first LAN and ‘s1mple’ doing ‘s1mple’ things, no one else stood a chance. They annihilated every team they met, be it Vitality, Astralis, FaZe or G2 no one could stop NaVi from what seemed to be rightfully theirs.
And now, finally winning the ESL Pro League for the first time and what a time to do it. To grab the Intel Grand Slam and 1 Million dollars with it. They were made to sweat every step of the way and this win was Deserved more than anything. They write their name in the history books, shutting up any doubters or naysayers and truly establish the NaVi era.
They won’t be looking to slow down any time soon with the PGL Stockholm Major coming up. They will look to add the last jewel to ‘s1mple’ and Natus Vincere’s crown come October, and it will truly be fitting for them to be the winners there.
