Natus Vincere (NAVI)
Ukraine
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esports Team
Based in | Ukraine |
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Disciplines | Chess / Call Of Duty / Dota 2 / Tekken / Counter Strike / PUBG / Apex Legends / Valorant / PUBG Mobile / Mobile Legends: Bang Bang / League of Legends |
The Ukrainian professional esports organisation Natus Vincere is Latin for 'born to win' (often abbreviated to NAVI, and previously Na'Vi). NAVI has many teams in many disciplines, including Call of Duty, Dota 2, Tekken, Counter-Strike and more.
NAVI's CS2 team were the first to win all Counter-Strike Majors in one calendar year, with Intel Extreme Masters IV, ESWC 2010 and WCG 2010, and the first team to win a Global Offensive Major without dropping a map, doing so at PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
The first real success Ukrainian player Valerii 'b1t' Vakhovskyi had was the victory with team NOTBAD at the open qualifiers of the 2019 CIS Minor Championship in Berlin. Then b1t participated in the NAVI’s project Esports Camp, where he showed an outstanding performance and was one of the first to receive an invitation to NAVI’s Junior team. At the end of 2020, b1t became the sixth player of the Natus Vincere CS2 team.
After qualifying for the Legends stage for the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 through the Europe Regional Major Rankings, the team went 3-0 in that stage, beating G2, BIG and NIP.
The team is led by Finland's Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen, who shines with his quick ability to adapt. Aleksib was named Captain of the Year at the HLTV Awards 2024. Romanian Mihai 'iM' Ivan's impressive career includes numerous top-three finishes in major tournaments. Ukrainian Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov is known for his exceptional AWPer skills and strategic gameplay. Kosovo's Drin 'Makazze' Shaqiri has represented six different teams – his longest stint has been with NAVI – gaining many skills along the way. Ukrainian Andrii 'B1ad3' Gorodenskyi is highly respected in the CS2 competitive scene because of his experience and leadership.
NAVI also made history as the first team to win a Counter-Strike 2 Major, claiming victory at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
Under the guidance of Aleksib, with a deliberate international mix led by Aleksib, and with firepower from B1ad3, b1t, iM, w0nderful and makazze, this squad is poised to challenge for top honours.