NAVI

There is no denying NAVI’s prowess when they are good. When they are good – they might even be the best team in the world. So the question on everyone’s mind coming into the Spring Final is: Which NAVI are we going to see?

They clearly have the best player in the world at the moment in s1mple playing for them, but how do they get the rest of the pieces to fit into something that can come out on the other side with a trophy and a spot at the BLAST Premier World final?

The storied Russian org who have been a Member team of BLAST Premier since the beginning, started the year out great by winning the BLAST Premier Global Final, and becoming the champion of the first BLAST Premier season.

The 2021 season would begin a short while after and the Spring Groups saw NAVI in a group with MIBR, Faze Clan and Team Liquid.

Their first two matches were similar in concept. First matchup was against MIBR who had a new roster and without any real expectations towards them. NAVI looked clean on the first map which they took convincingly, but the Brazilians were able to fire back on the second!

As the third began it was wide open, but Dust II is like a second home to S1mple who ended the map with almost double the amount of kills as the next best NAVI player. First game was in the bag and Faze was up next. It was a nailbiter of a match going all the way to Train as the decider. The now removed map delivered on all accounts when it came to frags, excitement and it of course ended in Overtime.

Twistzz was feeling it on his new squad and managed to gather 44 frags to his name, but in the end it was not enough to take down the NAVI squad. S1mple did not want to go down, and with 35 frags to his name it was enough to get NAVI a 19-17 win and a spot in the Spring Final.

Between groups and now we’ve seen a bit of both worlds with the team getting some disappointing finishes in the EPL season and IEM Championship, and being unable to live up to their previous performances. However just when you think they are in for a longer slump they bring it back again to take home the Dreamhack Masters Spring in a dominating fashion.

Their latest tournament saw them place 5th in the CIS RMR, showing once again some ups and downs throughout.

With Spring Final right around the corner, will NAVI be able to peak again and deliver a trophy-lifting-and-World-Final-Spot-guaranteeing performance?

NAVI starts their campaign against Faze Clan at 3:30 PM CEST on Jun 16. You can watch it live on Twitch.tv/BLASTPremier or Youtube.com/BLASTPremier!