Natus Vincere, August 2016 — March 2017

With each team’s map choice going to their respective sides, Cobblestone would be the decider. Here, the Ukrainian phenom s1mple exhibited a stunning performance, leading his Liquid squad to an improbable upset over Natus Vincere in the quarterfinals of ESL One Cologne 2016. The CIS team had witnessed first hand the nonsensical ability that s1mple possesses; his seemingly inevitable pairing with Na’Vi then appearing firmly on the horizon.

Photo credit: Adela Sznajder, ESL

During the closing stages of 2015 it would emerge that Na’Vi’s coach in starix had taken the mantle as the team’s In Game Leader. In claiming the title in San Jose alongside a heartbreaking second place finish to dennis’ Fnatic at Pro League Finals, Na’Vi established themselves as a championship threat entering the new year. The opening three months of 2016 would bare host to Na’Vi cementing their position amongst the world’s elite. Snatching a quartet of consecutive top fours, the CIS reached the final of three, taking home two international titles. Only one team had stood between Na’Vi and the top spot; their problem child in Fnatic.



Na’Vi had always been renowned for playing slowly, choosing to meticulously secure map control then executing during the dying moments. The CIS team would — alongside Luminosity — pioneer exploitation of the then extended round and bomb timers; their preexisting style paying considerable dividends. Train and Cobblestone stood as fantastic examples of Na’Vi’s strategical prowess, despite having pitfalls at securing Counter-Terrorist rounds, starix’s side consistently ground out double digit Terrorist halves. Na’Vi displayed impeccable mid-round calling, being decisive they capitalised upon GuardiaN’s entries. Close shaves and defeats versus FalleN’s Luminosity had taught Na’Vi how to more efficiently approach the Counter-Terrorist side. Becoming shrewd with utility around a better balance of CT aggression Na’Vi evolved into an extremely well-rounded squad, add in great fundamentals/team-play and it’s no surprise that the CIS team were very adept at closing out advantageous scenarios.



GuardiaN was already in the conversation for the greatest AWPer of all time, but this period saw the Slovakian ascend to a unseen level. Whilst a cohort of his AWPing peers were suffering in this modern age, GuardiaN was a man possessed, taking over games he proved devastating on both sides of the map. With Na’Vi revolving around him, GuardiaN was the instrument that put his team in contention. Coming into MLG Columbus contemplation of whether the Slovakian could seize upon the ultimate accolade was amidst the scene; in anticipation of GuardiaN’s attempt at a major title that had long alluded him. Unbeknownst to us was the severity of his wrist issues, even so, the hamstrung Na’Vi would still reach their second consecutive major final.



Having chosen to skip the group stages in Malmo, the Slovakian would make an movie-esque appearance for the playoffs. Unfortunately, Na’Vi would suffer another finals defeat, this time to the Ninjas in nostalgic form. A third questionable runners-up finish at StarSeries, including a series loss to the second best Polish team called into question Na’Vi’s elite status. Regardless, the CIS team were still amongst the tournament threats coming into Cologne. GuardiaN’s side would underwhelm at the major, exiting in the quarterfinals at the hands of the phenom led Team Liquid.



The alias of s1mple would first become recognised in the latter stages of 2014 by virtue of his impressive offline performances with HellRaisers. The Ukrainian would play out the majority of 2015 with Blad3’s Flipsid3; with a clear disparity to the ability of his teammates, s1mple was the sole component keeping his side in the conversation for a top ten ranking. A combination of s1mple’s ESL ban alongside an abrasive attitude made him a hazardous acquisition for top tier squads, the community postulated if the Ukrainian would ever escape the perpetual cycle of teams not commensurate to his talents.



Liquid’s inability to coax allu out to North America left them with a void on the roster. With s1mple’s ESL ban was set to lift at the very start of February 2016, Liquid would gamble on the Ukrainian. It would take until Columbus before we would see s1mple’s new squad offline, and even then, Liquid would be stricken due to the imposed roster locks. Following a formidable display in taking his side to the major semifinals, transpiration of s1mple’s problematic relocation to North America came to light; the writing was already on the wall for the Ukrainian’s time in Liquid. However, before parting ways s1mple would play out the major in Cologne. Exhibiting an imperious performance, the Ukrainian gave Liquid a truly historic send off, pushing his team past the presumed elites of Na’Vi and Fnatic, reaching the major final.

Na’Vi’s loss in the semifinals of ELEAGUE Season 1 would be the end of the road. Under the leadership of starix the team concluded Zeus’ individual performance was too much of a liability. GuardiaN’s drop in form was a particular predicament for Na’Vi, having been a pivotal component of their Terrorist sides, the team’s strategies became less effective. With s1mple entering the helm as Zeus’ replacement, the squad was granted some crucial play-making ability.



Before s1mple’s Na’Vi could attend an offline event, Valve would enact their ruling, deeming that coaches would only be able to communicate during their four allocated tactical pauses per map. seized would be the player thrust into the position of calling for the team.

This fresh Na’Vi would open up with a disappointing performance, failing to exceed the group-stages of SL i-League S2. Their second event would be ESL One New York 2016. Here, in an incredible reversal the CIS team would claim Na’Vi’s first illustrious Global Offensive title, emerging victorious in the final versus ELEAGUE S1 champions; Virtus.pro. Although an impressive showing, Na’Vi’s map pool appeared extremely suspect, only finding a single map victory outside of Mirage and Train, including two heavy losses on Cobblestone.

Photo credit: HLTV

Off the back of their title in New York, Na’Vi would look to replicate such success in attendance of EPICENTER 2016. Na’Vi would place top four, losing out the the eventual champions in Dignitas following a bizarre decision to send the decider to Nuke as opposed to Mirage. Following the event in Moscow, Na’Vi’s results took a horrendous turn for the worse; having group-stage exits at two events to close out their year and with early 2017 looking scarcely improved.



seized had been a highly touted role player during early 2016; unfortunately, his role swap over to calling had an enormous detrimental effect on his individual performance, appearing as little more than a silhouette of the overqualified role player he’d been earlier in the year. With starix unable to contribute mid-round the quality of Na’Vi’s decision making had sharply declined. A propensity to make poor economic decisions had been present throughout the year, however due to Na’Vi’s fall from grace they would now be harshly punished for this trait. Gone was the timely mid round calling, adaptation throughout the game and decisiveness that had defined Na’Vi’s prior lineup, add on their over-eagerness to brute force double AWP’s during inopportune situations and even the marriage of the region’s two superstars was unable to compensate.



What should have been s1mple’s ticket to the top of the scene quickly became his prison. The trio of GuardiaN, flamie, and s1mple had not borne out as the world beaters we’d expected. flamie’s level had dropped to mediocrity, a contrast to the borderline top five player he’d been during Na’Vi’s ascendancy. GuardiaN was no longer the superstar of before, and Na’Vi’s attempt to employ a similar style — possibly to ease the burden on seized — was proving ineffective as the Slovakian was unable to put up performances the team was relying on. Their slow adaptation to placing s1mple in the spotlight would cost them dearly.



In removing Zeus Na’Vi hitched their entire strategical success onto starix’s shoulders, and less than two weeks after s1mple joined the ranks, their coach would be stripped of his ability to lead. I see it as incredibly unlikely the team would’ve let Zeus go had they known prior about the coaching rule change, and retaining him on the roster could have prevented a multitude of Na’Vi’s later faults. A sizeable proportion of blame may lie with the organisation, with starix appearing to exert limited influence in his restricted position, the team may have benefited from added coaching structure, not to mention Na’Vi made slim attempt to change leadership until their lineup was unrecognisable from the elite side they had been at the start of 2016.

The now dubbed “uncertainty era” — stretching into the beginning of 2017 — would have left an open window for a Na’Vi under the leadership of starix or Zeus to snatch up multiple titles. However, by virtue of forces removed from the server itself, New York would be the only deserving testament to this team’s ability.

The more astute of you may have noticed I set the end date as March 2017, for it was this month that starix ended his seven-year stint with Natus Vincere. This was not designed as a lineup of five but rather a team of six. Yet, at the discretion of Valve, starix was precluded from his role and has since drifted into obscurity.