Natus Vincere -- a team whose name has been embedded in the minds of nearly every Dota player who follows the professional league. A team known for their legendary games of the past.





But, it seems, that's all they are known for nowadays. The name Natus Vincere translated from Latin means "born to win." This aptly named brand proved to be true with their victory at the very first The International tournament in their formative years.





Following a string of very high placements in premier tournaments, including back to back second place placements at The Internationals 2012 and 2013, it seemed like Na'Vi would be a rock solid team in the upper echelons of competitive Dota.

And then, in early 2014, you can pretty much pinpoint that the victory train goes off of the rails.





Right before patch 6.81, Na'Vi performed poorly at Season 9 of StarLadder's StarSeries, falling in the second round of the lower bracket. This faulty performance would spark wavering performances in the coming months before a steady fall from grace.





Like a house of cards, the Natus Vincere brand went from being born to win to struggling to survive.





Wilting from a last place finish loss to Cloud9 in The International 2014, Na'Vi would go on to struggle to attain success in larger level tournaments.





As far as first place wins, the end goal that all teams strive for in tournaments, Na'Vi's acquisitions started to wear thin. Within a two and 3/4 year period since The International 2014, Na'Vi would win a grand total of three tournaments.

This is not a condemnation of the team of course. Certainly there are a multitude of factors that prevented the team from harvesting some top placements.





You could speculate that meta and gameplay changes severely impacted Na'Vi's signature drafts and plays (fountain hook Pudge comes to mind). The big flashy plays that Na'Vi was known for was suboptimal in the patch that allowed Newbee to *literally* push their way into a first place finish at TI4.





Some would argue that player changes in the organization led to suboptimal dynamics; going further beyond into hateful territory, critics would call the signature player of Na'Vi, Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, washed up and in need of retirement. However these people are sparse in comparison to the very active fanbase that showers him and the organization with praise and views.





However, I believe Na'Vi's fall from grace is mostly due to the Dota 2 esports scene growing and diversifying over the past few years. For instance, Na'Vi had some close encounters with grand finals wins, losing to the likes of Virtus.pro, OG and Invictus Gaming in these matches.





There's also the subtle fact that in the Dota 2 professional scene, the saying "The bigger they are, the harder they fall" rings especially loud. Team Secret and OG, two powerhouse teams that managed to achieve first place wins at the newly established Majors tournament series, both were grimly defeated in the subsequent TI6, receiving disappointing last place and 9-12th place finishes.





Subsequently at that tournament, the relative unknowns Wings Gaming managed to baffle and amaze with their unpredictable drafts and versatile maneuvers, styling over their opponents to take home the gold.





Perhaps the dragon named Na'Vi had gathered all the gold they could hoard for the time being, and skilled knights like Evil Geniuses and Virtus.pro would rise from mediocrity to take their share.



And so, at this most recent outing at EPICENTER Moscow, the fans of pro Dota clamored and voted to bring Na'Vi to the spotlight and hope to see them slingshot back to the top of their winning-losing wavelength.





Unfortunately, this new team were still working out the kinks in their dynamic, and had a poor showing, to say the least. But, if you're a true Dota player, you must know the cardinal rules that separate us from a certain other MOBA with a surrender button:





Never give up. Comeback is real.







Because the name of the game is Defense of the Ancients. And Natus Vincere is one of the most ancient in the scene.