First Half of the Season Recap

Summing up the results of the first half of the season

Last weekend was marked by ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 which rounded out the first half of the season and saw most of the teams head back home for a well-deserved break. In this overview, we will be taking a look at  NAVI.GG.BET's performances this season and summing up the results.

2018 began with the ELEAGUE Major: Boston qualifiers, where we played 5 matches and qualified for the main event, winning the decider against  Liquid (16-5). Our main task was to hit top 8, which would guarantee us the Legends status and a spot in the next Valve event.

Fast-forward past the opening games and the group stage decider against  fnatic (16-7), we managed to reach the playoffs but fell 0-2 to  FaZe Clan in the semi-final.

Next was StarSeries S4 in our home arena in Kyiv, where we played a total of 22 maps, beating FaZe Clan (2-1) and  Astralis (2-1) on our way to the grand final.

Although we did not ultimately win the trophy,  Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev was named the tournament's MVP, becoming the first player ever to obtain this award despite his team losing in the final. He also managed to set the world record for winning the biggest number of clutches (19) and smashed the record for the highest K-D differential formerly held by  Snax (+141 K-D).

NAVI then headed for Marseilles, which hosted a DreamHack Masters tournament. Despite showcasing strong performance throughout the entire competition, we were pitted against the Astralis five, possibly at their best shape, in the grand final.

The Danes won their map pick, Nuke, in quite a one-sided fashion and then closed out Inferno, too. On the bright side, s1mple was again proclaimed an MVP, adding another award to his collection and renewing his own record.

Following tough battles of the regular season, NAVI attended the final stage of ESL Pro League S7 in May. Due to flawless performance in group A and a 2-0 victory against FaZe Clan, we advanced straight into the semi-final round.

However, the winners' final was the last game we managed to pick up. The semifinals had us lose to Liquid, as they found a way to break our momentum. Therefore, it was another top 4 finish for us. It was  Denis "electroNic" Sharipov who emerged as NAVI 's best player in Dallas.

After returning from the US, we went straight back to practicing as another home event, StarSeries S5 was coming up close. It was destined to mark a turning point in the results of the team, as the boys finally lifted the champion's trophy.

Interestingly, the outcome of the tournament was decided in the semi-final match between NAVI and  mousesports. This victory was all the more significant since we were able to enact revenge for the loss in the previous season. Meanwhile, s1mple was awarded his third MVP.

With less than two weeks remaining until the trip to China and , we didn't have much time to celebrate the win. Despite being considerably less stacked in comparison to StarSeries S5, winning this event was still a big boost in our motivation and confidence. Moreover, it was a chance to try out some strats and setups before the coming ESL One Cologne 2018.

The Cologne event brought together the best Counter-Strike teams from all around the world. The opening match got us off on the wrong foot, as we lost to  G2 and fell to the lower bracket, where a single mistake would mean the end of the road.

Step by step, we made it to the group decider, where we faced  ENCE. This series turned out to be a pretty intense game, as the first two maps ended in 16-14. The third map, however, went in our favor with quite a convincing score, 16-7.

The most crucial was, no doubt, our matchup against Astralis, as the Danes gathered some considerable momentum. With efficient teamwork, a great understanding of the game in key moments and Zeus's incredible plays on de_inferno, we were able to clinch an impressive 2-1 win.

In the grand final, we took upon  BIG in a bo5, losing only once on Dust 2 but winning three other maps. With three tournament wins in a row, we were one step away from shifting Astralis from the first place of the global ranking.

Unfortunately, the last tournament of the season ended on a sad note for us. We didn't manage to beat Team Liquid, settling for a 3rd-4th place finish. Check out our for more information on ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018.

Summing up

 Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev is the world's best player. He has had a truly stellar season, bringing something into the game that no other player can match and rightfully securing 5 MVP awards for that.

The immense progress of  Denis "electroNic" Sharipov is also something to be proud of, as he managed to find the perfect position in the team and has been delivering amazing plays ever since. He was proclaimed an EVP more than five times and have been succeeding in matching the bar set so high by s1mple. We hope that this duo will be even more exciting to watch in the future!

PLAYER STATS

Player	2.0 rating	K-D differential	Damage / Round	Headshot %	Total aces
S1mple	1.33	+785	87.6	42.3	6
electroNic	1.22	+464	85.1	48.9	3
Flamie	1.11	+175	77.5	50.4	2
Edward	1.02	-59	71.8	50.1	1
Zeus	0.94	-306	67.2	43.2	1

Also, Natus Vincere have demonstrated highly commendable teamwork. Most notable is our progress on two of our formerly problematic maps, Nuke and Mirage. Prior to May 2018, we had a 3L-1W record on Nuke but brought it to an impressive 6W-1L record in recent matches. The results on Mirage improved in a similar fashion: 4W-6L before, 14W-2L now.

In order to solidify ourselves as the best team in the world, however, we'll have to keep improving further, especially on Dust2, where we've been struggling these last months (5W-5L). Hopefully, the second half of the season will be even more prolific in terms of victories! #gonavi

NAVI RESULTS SO FAR IN 2018

ELEAGUE Major Boston — 3-4 place
StarSeries S4 — 2 place
DreamHack Masters Marseille — 2 place
ESL Pro League S7 — 3-4 place
StarSeries S5 — 1 place
CS:GO Asia Championships 2018 — 1 place
ESL One Cologne 2018 — 1 place
ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 — 3-4 place