“We tend to play the logical way and they [Na`Vi] tend to gamble” – Zonic, in an interview with VPEsports

The FACEIT Major London is the culmination of the last eight months. In that time, Astralis have proven themselves to be the best team in the world. They have destroyed the competition in the last five months and for them, this Major is a coronation. They did it through their incredible balance of roles, team play, and tactics. This is the team that has put tamed chaos, that is now defining the meta of the entire world and for them, this Major victory will be their crowning achievement for a period of time that we will one day call the Astralis Era. However one team stands in their way. A team that is both similar and entirely different from Astralis. Na`Vi are the challengers and one of the few teams in the world to have beaten Astralis in a best-of-three in this five month time. Where Astralis is a balanced unit, Na`Vi are a team built around the polarizing strength of their star duo: Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Denis “electronic” Sharipov. Where Astralis have brought order to chaos, Na`Vi have put their chaos into order and now their philosophies, their teams, and their players will clash to cement their legacy in CS:GO history.

All of competitive history can be defined as bringing order to chaos. In order to to become the best at a competitive discipline, the steps to do so are generally as follows. You step out into the unknown and gain experience through practice. Through that experience, you come to gain an innate knowledge of the game or sport and eventually come to define and categorize the various ways in how it breaks down. From there you build a structure and push towards the unknown, mastering it further than your rivals and through the expression of yourself and your experiences, become the best in the world.

Both Astralis and Na`Vi have walked down this path. But their paths and answers have differed greatly from each other. Their character, their strengths, their weaknesses, and their experiences have come to define their paths to the top and how they have come to this Major Finals. Make no mistake, while this Major can be confined to this one tournament alone, it is also the culmination of all they have done up to this point.

In the case of Astralis they have tamed the unknown in ways that no one has thought possible. CS:GO is a game that has been defined by individual skill and team play. Think upon the great dynasties of the past. NiP, Fnatic, and SK. All three teams were defined the most by their superstar players and their innate team play that allowed them to ascend above the rest of their peers during their respective primes.

Astralis is different. They certainly have the skill, but what has come to define them is their team play and tactics. This is a team that has changed the approach to Counter-Strike and now the world must follow. They have created an entire strata of tactics both on the CT and T-sides. They have expanded nade usage, developed executes, created force buy strats, mastered their sequence of rounds, have even changed their approach to events as they are willing to skip events to prepare and push the meta forward. This expresses itself in the amount of one way damage they incur onto the enemy whether that is through unanswered picks from Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s AWP, damage from HEs, controlling the map through utility, controlling the time, or reading rotations. Astralis look to have mastered the game to a level that looks to be unprecedented in CS:GO history.

Na`Vi’s answer to Counter-Strike was different. Where Astralis put chaos into order, Na`Vi put order to their chaos. The general behind the system is Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko, one of the most decorated leaders of all time in both CS 1.6 and CS:GO. His style of play is to have his team take map control, run down the clock as his team tries to find picks, and then make a last second read and execute on a site. This style of play has defined Zeus throughout every team he has joined in CS:GO and it still does in this team.

Up to this point, Na`Vi and Astralis are similar. While their solutions are different, both have found a way to solve the chaos of CS:GO. However from this point on the path diverges. Astralis try to define every path, every branch, and every move that is possible. This is a team that goes for the high percentage plays, that only does a negative effective value play if it bolsters the positive effective value plays later on. It is why you see dev1ce sometimes go for uncharacteristically aggressive moves because it forces the opponent to have to think about it and this allows his typical standard moves to be all the more effective.

Where Astralis bring order to chaos, Na`Vi thrive in it. There is a structure there, but it thrives in chaos. This is a team that lives or dies off of the incredible strength of s1mple and electronic. S1mple is an ascendant CS:GO player who looks to be on the path of the greatest ever. Electronic has not been far behind in 2018. Between these two, they can win almost any round regardless of economy. Because of that, Na`Vi refuse to play an ordered game and that is where they diverge from Astralis.

The best way to understand their opposed philosophies is to look at how they deal with the economy game. Astralis are strict and adhere to standard thought of how to use the economy. They force when it makes sense, but otherwise they try to get enough money to get to their equipment and play the game. Na`Vi will forcebuy on at the drop of a hat as they understand that they have the players that can break the opposing team in these chaotic moments. When Astralis is on their A-game, they look cool and composed. They are the geniuses with a master plan that no one can crack. When Na`Vi is on their A-game, they are a barely contained inferno. So long as it is aimed correctly, it can destroy the opponent, but it can also destroy themselves.

These strengths have also come to define their weaknesses. The best example to show this is to contrast dev1ce and Egor “flamie” Vasilyev. Dev1ce has been the most consistent superstar player for years, however in his earlier years he had problems with choking under the pressure. He didn’t consider himself to be the superstar player so when the pressure was on, he sunk back into the system and played passively while the game left him behind. It is only in recent years that he has taken on that burden of what it means to be the star and started to deal with those issues to an extent.

As for Flamie, his defining moment came at MLG Major Columbus Finals. In that finals, Na`Vi were playing against Luminosity Gaming. On the first map of that series, flamie had an incredible superstar performance, but it wasn’t enough as the Brazilians took the first map in overtime. As the game ended, flamie looked tilted as he sat in his chair. Despite the incredible effort in the first game, the team got destroyed in the second as if they were tilted by the loss. This is the inferno I spoke of. Their emotions can run high and we’ve seen it even now in the current lineup where Na`Vi let the map slip away as they argue against each other rather than focusing on their opponent.

In the case of dev1ce, his weakness is that he may not walk into chaos, to take the game by the horns and become the star player at the highest pressure moments. In the case of flamie, he can let the chaos take control of him and his emotions.

Order into chaos and bringing chaos into order. That is what these two teams have done. We’ve seen how it psychologically plays out, but it also plays out in the game and through their players and histories. Both s1mple and Peter “Dupreeh” Rothmann are players that their teams rely on to get opening entry frags. Dupreeh is an entry fragger with the versatility to play any other role. S1mple is the most talented player in the world who has honed himself on being the world’s most dangerous AWPer. How that manifests is different. Dupreeh uses his knowledge he has gained from the fact he has played every role to help himself create openings and break open the enemy. S1mple had no such luxury because the path he is walking is one no one has ever seen before. He is putting himself into difficult situations that only make sense if you are s1mple. His level of aggression, decision making, and creativity only work if you are him. As dev1ce describes it in an HLTV interview,

“I can study a lot of players and learn from them, like FalleN, GuardiaN, and so on, and take something from their game and implement it in my own. But when I look at s1mple demos, it’s really hard because sometimes, he can be in the worst situations and still get like a 4k.”

In terms of player history, the two sides of Astralis and Na`Vi contrast. In the case of electronic and Emil “Magisk” Reif, their rise in their most recent squads have differed tremendously. Electronic shocked the world with how incredible he had played on Flipsid3 so when Na`Vi needed a new player, he was one of the first they got onto the team. When he did though, there was confusion as to how he should be used. At first he was used as a support player to fill in the roles as the team still wanted to build around s1mple and flamie. It is only later on that Na`Vi realized what an incredible talent electronic could be and have since built him to be their secondary star, someone that can be the best player in the server on his day.

Magisk’s start with Astralis was far less auspicious, but was arguably just as successful for his team. There was no confusion as to what roles Magisk was going to play The only question was how they were going into integrate him into the roster. Rather than slotting him in and trying to figure it out along the way, the team decided to rebuild from the bottom. As Magisk described it in an HLTV interview,

“We just wanted to make sure I was implemented into the roles and the strats, slowly building it up, and I think that worked really well for us because we took it slowly.”

As we can see here, the integration of Magisk was putting order to chaos. Astralis slowly built it up over time. In contrast to that, It was putting chaos in order from Na`Vi’s end. They had to shuffle the positions and roles before finding the right places to put electronic before the ascended as a team.

The veteran support players follow similar lines as well. Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev and Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth couldn’t be any more different in terms of how the community perceive then. Edward has been the brunt of criticism since the new Na`Vi has formed while Xyp9x has been rightly hailed as the best support player in the world. While a lot of that has to do with their own individual forms, part of it also has to do with their team structures as well. Xyp9x is part of the reason that Astralis are such a well organized unit, but as a support player he benefits from that structure. He understands how the entire round unfolds and that in turn allows him to be one of the best clutch players in CS:GO history.

In contrast to that, Na`Vi have been on the verge of breaking up multiple times. There were the constant changes to the team. The moments when s1mple and flamie were about to leave the team. Even before this Major, there were rumors of the team not bootcamping. However in the moments when the team is coming together, as is the case in this Major playoffs run, Edward has shown that he can have an impact and do his role well. Both Xyp9x and Edward form mirrors their team’s personalities. Xyp9x is a solid rock you can depend on. Edward is mercurial and you never know exactly what you’re going to get out of him on any single day.

Perhaps the best way to contrast these opposing ideologies is through their coaches and in-game leaders. In the case of Danny “zonic” Sorensen, he acts as both taskmaster and father to the team. He is stern and forces the idea of constant thought and practice.

“In practice with the boys I kept practically whipping them “Why did you throw that flash? Was there purpose in it? Why did you throw that molotov, the opponent can just step away from it…” There has to be solid reasoning behind throwing these.” – Zonic in an interview with unikrn

In comparison, Na`Vi have Mykhailo “Kane” Blagin. He has been credited with how Na`Vi have played their economic game and Zeus in an interview with cybersports described him as,

“If you remember the movie Rush that I mentioned, there was one racer in it who was a kind of nerd; he calculated everything, knew every angle and radius, and kept coming up with improvements to the racecar. The other one was simply crazy, he kept taking risks and getting ahead because of it, and as a person, he was a total slacker who drank, smoked, and partied with girls. But they were both world champions. Perhaps Misha is at times like that other racer. You can say a lot about him, but the fact remains that he’s the only coach in the CIS whose team won a Major.”

They couldn’t be any more different in terms, but both get the job done. The comparisons between Zeus and Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander aren’t quite as profound, but they are still meaningful. Zeus is a hardened veteran who Richard Lewis describes as a drill sergeant. Someone who will get the players in the line and in a team full of explosive personalities, he may be the biggest of them all. That is how he gets his troops in line and that is what has made him such an effective leader through Counter-Strike history. In contrast to that, gla1ve is a tactical mastermind. A player who has proven in the last two years that he is arguably the greatest tactical mind that CS:GO has ever seen. In terms of raw Xs and Os, there is no one who has consistently outplayed his opponents through the power of their mind and it is through his system that his players find their comfort and confidence.

On every level, from playstyles, to coaches, to players, these two teams have shown a differing viewpoint of how they solve the puzzle that is Counter-Strike. Their psychologies, cultures, experiences, and beliefs shine through. Tomorrow these two teams will clash. All of it comes down to this moment. On one side you have Astralis, who are the balanced five pointed star. A beautiful shining light in the darkness that looks perfect from all angles. Na`Vi is the two horse chariot. The leader forced to guide both talent and personalities and drive it across the finish line. Astralis have put chaos in order. Na`Vi have forced order to chaos. Tomorrow, everything they are comes to a head and only one will leave the victor.

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