Natus Vincere
Natus Vincere, abbreviated Na'Vi, is an esports organization based in Ukraine. Founded in 2009, the organization has teams and players competing in various games, such as , Dota 2, FIFA, World of Tanks, Paladins, League of Legends, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Apex Legends and Rainbow Six Siege.
Na'Vi Counter-Strike team was the first in history to win three premier tournaments—Intel Extreme Masters, Electronic Sports World Cup, and World Cyber Games 2010—in one calendar year. Their Dota 2 squad won The International 2011, becoming the most successful esports organization at the time.
''Counter-Strike''
History
ESWC 2010 and other tournaments
After a poor performance at the Arbalet Cup CIS 2010, Markeloff, the team's top player, decided to skip the next big tournament, ASUS Winter 2010, so that the team could prepare for the Arbalet Cup and the Ukrainian qualifications for the ESWC. In the middle of May 2010, Na'Vi took 2nd place in the prestigious Arbalet Cup Europe 2010 in Stockholm, losing to Fnatic in the finals and earning $10,000 in prize money. Na'Vi finally gained victory at ESWC Ukraine.In the final part of the ESWC, the team hit the highest seeding, along with SK Gaming, Fnatic, and mTw.dk. On July 4, 2010, Natus Vincere achieved the highest accolade in the history of Ukrainian e-Sports, winning the ESWC, defeating SK Gaming in the finals: 16:5 and 16:4. During the tournament Na'Vi passed through the group stage thanks to fortune, but outplayed Fnatic and mTw.dk in the playoffs.
After being victorious in the world championship, Natus Vincere announced their participation in 2 more tournaments—Arbalet Cup Dallas and GameGune 2010. On July 18, 2010, Na'Vi won Arbalet Cup Dallas beating Mousesports in the final match: 19:15, 16:12. After receiving $25,000, Na'Vi took the first place in quantity of prize money earned by European teams that year. Na'Vi took 3rd place in GameGune 2010 and Intel Extreme Masters Shanghai.
Victory at the World Cyber Games 2010
On August 15, Na'Vi won the Ukrainian qualifications for the 2010 World Cyber Games and received a paid voucher to the finals in Los Angeles from September 30 to October 3, 2010.The next tournament for Na'Vi was ASUS Summer 2010, to which the team received a direct invitation. This tournament became first in the ASUS Open series, which was held at Kyiv gaming center "Kyiv CyberSport Arena". In the semi-finals Na'Vi lost to Kazakh team k23 and as a result took the 3rd place.
On October 4, 2010 Natus Vincere became the World Cyber Games world champions by defeating Danish team mTw.dk in the finals. This victory made Na'Vi the first team in the world which had managed to hold the three most prestigious championship titles at once. At the end of October 2010, ESL TV commentator Bakr "KinGSaicx" Fadl proclaimed that SK Gaming was going to invite the Ukrainian team to take place of its Swedish squad, but the manager of Natus Vincere declined this information.
In early November 2010 Natus Vincere took part in the World e-Sports Masters tournament, which annually gathers the best teams from all over the world in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Among the eight participants of the tournament, Na’Vi took 4th place as well as $7,500.
Victory at DreamHack Winter 2010
From the 25th to the 27 November 2010 in the Swedish city of Jönköping the largest LAN party in the world took place—DreamHack Winter 2010. To go to this tournament, Natus Vincere had to skip a major Russian tournament, ASUS Autumn 2010, since it was coinciding with DreamHack's dates. After finishing the group stage Na'Vi consistently outplayed teams puta, Fnatic, Frag Executors, and mTw.dk in the finals, winning the tournament. During the four playoff matches the Ukrainians lost only one time to Fnatic on the new map—de_mirage. "Starix" received the tournament's MVP award.After winning DreamHack Winter 2010, the team established a new record: winning $220,000 in one year. The previous record belonged to Swedish team Fnatic, who earned $189,000 in 2009.
Winning the Intel Extreme Masters 5
On March 5, 2011 Na'Vi defended their position in Hannover as the champions of the Intel Extreme Masters and earned $35,000. They defeated Polish team Frag Executors in the finals: 16:12 and 16:10. $4,550 of the prize money was deducted as a penalty for breaking the rules.Record prize money
The amount of prize money in 2010– $215,573 holds the record for the entire history of professional Counter-Strike. Previous records belonged to Swedish teams SK GamingWorld Top ''Counter-Strike'' players
In 2010, popular website HLTV.org had made rankings for the 20 best Counter-Strike players. Yegor "markeloff" Markelov was 1st place, Sergey "Starix" Ischuk 4th, Ioann "Edward" Sukharev 5th, and the captain of Na'Vi, Daniil "Zeus" Teslenko had 19th place, as well as "The best captain of the year".2015
Na'Vi reached the finals of DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 where they were beat 0-2 by Team EnVyUs. Na'Vi won Intel Extreme Masters Season X - San Jose after beating Team SoloMid in the grand finals 2-0.2016
Na'Vi started off the year by winning DreamHack Leipzig 2016 2-0 over Luminosity Gaming on January 22. Na'Vi placed 3rd-4th at the Intel Extreme Masters Season X – World Championship. On April 3, Na'Vi placed second at MLG Columbus 2016, losing 0-2 to Luminosity in the finals.Shortly after on April 17 the team placed second at DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016. Na'Vi got second at the StarLadder i-League Invitational #1 after losing to Virtus.pro in the finals on May 22.
Na'Vi placed 5-8th at ESL One Cologne 2016. On July 29, the team placed 3rd-4th at ELeague Season 1.
On August 4, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev replaced Daniil "Zeus" Teslenko on the active roster.
On September 2, Na'Vi became the champions of, defeating Virtus.pro in the finals.
2017
On March 10, team coach starix stepped down from his role in the team. He is replaced by team analyst Andrey "Andi" Prokhorov.On July 28, Denis "Seized" Kostin and Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács stepped down from Natus Vincere.
On August 9, Mykhailo "Kane" Blagin was brought in and Seized and Zeus returned.
On November 6, Na'Vi brought in Denis "Electronic" Sheripov in place of Seized who stepped down from the roster.
2018
On July 8, Na'Vi ended up winning ESL One Cologne 2018 over BIG 3-1 for its first Intel Grand Slam win.2019
On September 9, Na'Vi announced that Zeus would retire after BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019. He retired on September 14.On September 20, Na'Vi acquires GuardiaN from FaZe Clan and Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy joins as a coach.
2020
On January 24, Na'Vi announced that GuardiaN had been benched citing bad team synergy caused by a language barrier. He would be replaced by Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutsky of Syman Gaming.In July 2020, AVI's original lineup, which dominated the 1.6 scene in 2010, will take on the organisation's current team in a battle of generations, announced on Monday. The showmatch will take place on August 1 at 16:00 and will be broadcast in both Russian and English by Maincast.
NAVI 2010 became one of the most dominant teams in the history of Counter-Strike after an impressive year that saw them win a series of international titles, including the IEM IV World Championship, ESWC, WCG and DreamHack Winter. The Ukrainian team went on to pick up a few more titles in the last two years of 1.6 — most notably the IEM V World Championship and the IEM VI Global Challenge Kiev — before making the transition to CS:GO in late 2012.
Roster
Manager
- Eugene "Ugin" Erofeev
''Dota''
History
In October 2010, the creation of a Defence of the Ancients squad was announced, which included the best Ukrainian players. Initially the team was composed of Aleksandr "XBOCT" Dashkevych, Artur "Goblak" Kostenko, Bogdan "Axypa" Boychuk, Oleksandr "Deff" Stepaniuc, and Andriy "Mag~" Chipenko. However, in December 2010, Mag~ and Deff- left the team. The empty slots on the team were filled by Ukrainian players from DTS.Chatrix—Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, and Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov, who became the captain of this new squad.A roster change on June 17, 2011 resulted in the replacements of Goblak and Axypa with Clement "Puppey" Ivanov and Dmitriy "LighTofHeaveN" Kupriyanov. In August 2011, Na'Vi was invited to the first Dota 2 tournament at GamesCom, Cologne, Germany. The event named "The International" featured 16 of the top teams from all over the world with an impressive amount of prize money—$1,600,000. Na'Vi was the ultimate winner, beating Chinese team EHOME 3–1 in the grand finals and winning a cash prize of $1,000,000.
On October 13, 2011, shortly after their victory, Artstyle left the team. The captain position was taken up by Puppey, and Sergey "ARS-ART" Revin, from Russian team Moscow Five, took the fifth slot on the roster.
2012 was a very successful season for Na'Vi as they won multiple tournaments throughout the year, including four consecutive seasons of Star Ladder's Star Series, the premier tournament for the CIS region.
At The International 2012, Na'Vi attempted to defend their title where they ultimately placed 2nd, losing to the Chinese team Invictus Gaming 1–3 in the grand finals.
At the end of February 2013, ARS-ART was replaced by Gleb "Funn1k" Lipatnikov from Russian squad Team Empire. Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi from Mousesports also joined the team, while LighTofHeaveN went inactive. In April 2013, after his contract expired, LighTofHeaveN officially left for Team Empire. In June 2013, Na'Vi announced an all female squad.
The first half of 2013 was difficult for Na'Vi as they struggled to gain a footing in major tournaments with their new lineup. Their first major tournament win was against RoX.KIS at the first season of the ESL Major Series One in April. In July, Na'Vi competed against 9 of the best Eastern teams at the Alienware Cup. They defeated LGD Gaming.cn 3–2 in the grand finals, and became one of the few Western teams to win a major Chinese tournament.
In August 2013, Na'Vi once again reached the Grand Finals of The International 2013, but they lost 2–3 in a very close fifth game against the Swedish team Alliance.
In July 2014, Na'Vi was knocked out in the lower bracket knockout phase of The International by Cloud9, placing at 7/8th place and earning $519,208. This would be the first time Na'Vi would not make it to the Grand Finals of The International. Many fans attributed this to a lack of adaptation and even went as far to mark it as an end of an era. Soon after this, Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi and Clement "Puppey" Ivanov left the team.
On February 13, 2015, Gleb "Funn1k" Lipatnikov retired from the Na'Vi Dota 2 team.
On March 4, 2015, DkPhobos joined Na'Vi, replacing Funn1k.
On March 9, 2015, DkPhobos left Na'Vi to rejoin ASUS.Polar.
On March 25, 2015, Goblak left Na'Vi with SoNNeikO taking his spot.
On April 5, 2015, Na'Vi announced the return of Funn1k and ArtStyle with VANSKOR moving to reserve after battling a long term illness.
On August 27, 2015, Na'Vi announced the departure of captain Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov following a disappointing finish at The International 2015.
On September 2, 2015, Artstyle returned, but as a substitute. The main roster spot was filled by acquiring M.Batbileg "Ra", and the second substitute spot was filled by Ilnur "Kudes" Khafizov.
On October 16, 2015, Na`Vi announced the disband of their main roster.
On October 19, 2015, Na`Vi posted on their website that Danil "Dendi" Ishutin and Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev will pick out the remaining 3 players for a new Na`Vi roster.
On February 23, 2016, Na'Vi's new team was finalized with the team moving forward in the Dota Pit tournament after a disappointing defeat in the final qualifying round for ESL Manila.
On September 3, 2018, Danil "Dendi" Ishutin noted that he was looking for a new team and players for that team, signaling his departure as team captain of Na'Vi's DOTA 2 team.
Current roster
Tournament result
| Tournament | Location | Date | Placement | Prize money |
| IEM 4 European Finals | Germany, Cologne | 15–17 January 2010 | 1st | $1,250 |
| Arbalet Asia | Kazakhstan, Almaty | 30–31 January 2010 | 1st | $10,000 |
| IEM 4 World Championship Finals | Germany, Hannover | 3 April 2010 | 1st | $50,000 |
| Arbalet Cup Best of Four | Ukraine, Kyiv | 9–11 April 2010 | 1st | $12,000 |
| Arbalet Cup Europe | Sweden, Stockholm | 14–16 May 2010 | 2nd | $10,000 |
| Arbalet Cup Dallas 2010 | USA, Dallas | 16–18 July 2010 | 1st | $25,000 |
| Fragnet Summer Tour 2012 | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo | 25–26 August 2012 | 3rd | $500 |
| Extreme Masters: Shanghai | China, Shanghai | 29 July – 1 August 2010 | 3rd | $5,000 |
| ASUS Summer 2010 | Ukraine, Kyiv | 28–29 August 2010 | 3rd | $3,000 |
| Dreamhack Winter 2010 | Sweden, Jönköping | 25–27 November 2010 | 1st | $28,200 |
| Intel Challenge Super Cup 7 | Ukraine, Kyiv | 19–20 March 2011 | 1st | $5,000 |
| OSPL Spring 2011 | Kazakhstan, Almaty | 3 April 2011 | 1st | $5,500 |
| ASUS Spring 2011 | Ukraine, Kyiv | 28–29 May 2011 | 1st | $4,430 |
| DreamHack Summer 2011 | Sweden, Jönköping | 18–20 June 2011 | 1st | $1,600 |
| Adepto BH Open | Bosnia, Sarajevo | 24–26 June 2011 | 1st | $7,500 |
| GameGune 2011 | Spain, Bilbao | 22–24 July 2011 | 1st | $4,000 |
| ASUS Summer 2011 | Ukraine, Kyiv | 13–14 August 2011 | 1st | $1,000 |
| The International 2011 | Germany, Cologne | 17–21 August 2011 | 1st | $1,000,000 |
| e-STARS Seoul 2011 | South Korea, Seoul | 19–21 August 2011 | 3rd | $9,200 |
| SEC 2011 | Poland, Warsaw | 06–9 October 2011 | 1st | $10,000 |
| ESWC 2011 | France, Paris | 21–23 October 2011 | 1st | $6,000 |
| DreamHack Winter 2011 | Sweden, Jönköping | 24–27 November 2011 | 1st | $4,275 |
| IEM 6 Global Challenge Kyiv | Ukraine, Kyiv | 19–22 January 2012 | 1st | $16,000 |
| IEM 6 World Championship Finals | Germany, Hanover | 06–10 March 2012 | 1st | $20,000 |
| TECHLABS Cup 2012 | Russia, Moscow | 17–18 March 2012 | 1st | $10,000 |
| Copenhagen Games 2012 | Denmark, Copenhagen | 04–8 April 2012 | 1st | $6,200 |
| DreamHack Summer 2012 | Sweden, Jönköping | 16–19 June 2012 | 1st | $3,600 |
| The International 2012 | USA, Seattle | 31 August – 2 September 2012 | 2nd | $250,000 |
| Pro Gamer Series Exponor 2012 | Portugal, Porto | 10–14 October 2012 | 1st | €4,000 |
| Alienware Cup | China, online | 16 June – 7 July 2013 | 1st | $25,000 |
| RaidCall Dota 2 League Season 3 | Spain, Valencia | 20 May – 21 July 2013 | 1st | $5,000 |
| The International 2013 | USA, Seattle | 7–11 August 2013 | 2nd | $632,370 |
| DreamHack Winter 2013 | Sweden, Jönköping | 28 Nov – 1 Dec 2013 | 1st | $25,000 |
| SLTV Star Series Season 8 | Ukraine, Kyiv | 25 Nov 2013 – 19 Jan 2014 | 1st | $62,000 |
| The International 2014 | USA, Seattle | 8 Jul 2014 – 21 Jul 2014 | 8th | $516,131 |
| The International 2015 | USA, Seattle | 3 Aug 2015 – 8 Aug 2015 | 15th | $55,289 |
| IEM Season X - San Jose | USA, San Jose | 21 Nov 2015 – 22 Nov 2015 | 1st | $115,000 |
''League of Legends''
Na'Vi previously had a League of Legends team in 2012.Their new roster played at LCL during spring and summer in 2016. Roster has been disbanded after summer split.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
On April 11, 2018, the organization announced the acquisition of a PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds team. It includes four Russian players: Vadim "POKAMOLODOY" Ulshin, Ivan "Ubah" Kapustin, Dmitry "Shade1" Roshchin and Svyatoslav "Drainys" Komissarov.On November 19, 2018, a new PUBG team was announced.
In April 2019, after unsuccessful performance at the LAN-tournament of the PUBG Europe League, which was held in Berlin, the management of the organization decided to renew the team. From the previous squad only Vadim «POKAMOLODOY» Ulshin remained, who, however, lost the status of team captain. Alexander "BatulinS" Batulin, Dmitry "Recrent" Osintsev and Artem "Sadovnik" Danilyuk were sent to "inactive".
For the entire period, the team earned $19,249 in prize money.
Current Roster
''World of Tanks''
In July 2013 Russian–Ukrainian team Red Rush began competing under the Natus Vincere banner in World of Tanks.Na'Vi won the first Wargaming.net League of World of Tanks in Warsaw, Poland in April 2014 and won it again in April 2016.
Final roster
- Maxim "Inspirer" Mazein
- Dmitry "SL1DE" Frishman
- Kirill "Kirilloid" Ponomarev
- Oleg "Straik" Romanenkov
- Dmitry "LeBwa" Palaschenko
- Anatoliy "TheAnatolich" Barakov
- Andrei "Rhino" Les
- Dmitry "Deluxe" Repin
''Rainbow Six Siege''
On June 1, 2019, Na'Vi announced that they had signed on the British roster of MnM Gaming shortly after it had qualified for Pro League Season 10. The roster consisted of Ben "CTZN" MacMillan, Jack "Doki" Robertson, Luke "Kendrew" Kendrew, Leon "neLo" Pesić, Szymon "Saves" Kamieniak, and Ellis "GiG" Hindle as coach. On October 11, Doki was banned by Ubisoft, the developers of the game, for severe toxicity and the ESL, the organizers of Pro League, chose to honor the ban and required NaVi to sign a stand-in for the duration of Doki's ban which lasts until April 11, 2020. Ellis "Pie" Pyart was announced as the stand-in for Doki four days later. With Pie, Na'Vi qualified for the Pro League Season 11 Finals, where they placed first and won $100,000. About a month after on December 18, GiG left the roster and analyst Cyril "jahk" Renoud would be the team's acting coach. This roster would remain until after the Six Invitational 2020 in February 2020, when Pie and CTZN both left Na'Vi. On March 13, 2020, Byron "Blurr" Murray was announced as the stand-in for the remainder of Doki's ban. On March 21, Dimitri "Panix" de Longeaux joined the team as a permanent player.