NAVI.GG.BET in the history of DreamLeague

A look back at Natus Vincere's performance at DreamLeague series

In anticipation of the LAN-finals DreamLeague Season 10, we offer you to plunge into the history of this championship and remember what role  NAVI played in its development. Born to win more than once achieved top placements of these competitions and took part in the very first event.

DreamLeague Kick-off Season

It is hard to believe, but the pilot tournament kicked off in the distant November 2013. There were no qualifiers: the organizers of the competition simply invited 6 teams from 3 regions - the CIS, Europe and North America - to participate. The championship included a group stage, which was played online, and a LAN-stage, which included only 4 participants with the best results. Born to Win won 5 of their group stages games and suffered just as many defeats, which allowed the team to get into Jönköping, the city where most of the tournaments of this series were held.

At the debut championship, “yellow-black” met with  Team Liquid — a fairly strong team, which at that time consisted of qojqva, BuLba, and TC. It was challenging, but Natus Vincere managed to win with a score of 2:1 and stated their claims for the first place. However, in the next match,  Fnatic sent our guys to the lower bracket, and they suffered a defeat with an extremely unpleasant score - 0:3.

The loss, oddly enough, played into the hands of  Natus Vincere, encouraging the guys. Besides, it was  Alliance awaiting in the lower bracket - and what could be better than a rematch of the finals of The International 2013! As a result, the Born to Win took revenge with a score of 3:0, which greatly delighted the fans. Subsequently,  NAVI beat their offenders,  Fnatic, mirroring the score of the previous meeting with the European team - 3:0. It should be noted that the future quadruple winners of the Major tournaments, Fly and N0tail, played for  Fnatic, therefore, the strength of the team which opposed us at the time is fairly easy to judge right now. Nevertheless, it was  Natus Vincere players who took the first line, forever inscribing their names in the DreamLeague history.

Natus Vincere tournament roster

Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich
Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov
Kuro “KuroKy” Salekhi Takhasomi

DreamLeague Season 1

Alas, the next tournament, which was officially called the first, passed by  NAVI. By then, 12 teams participated in the qualifying stage, and the competition was much tougher. The Born to Win lacked just one victory to cross the relegation zone and get to the LAN stage of the championship.

DreamLeague Season 3

Having missed the second season, the team decided to test their strength in the third, the LAN-finals of which took place within the DreamHack Summer 2015. The organization of the tournament has undergone some changes: at the first stage of the League, only 8 teams competed, and only 6 of them had the chance to go to the playoffs. Wherein, the teams placing first and second received a slight advantage in the form of seeding in the second stage of the playoffs. The remaining 4 participants determined 2 teams that are supposed to join the two strongest in the next stage.

Born to Win ranked sixth, consequently, they had to play 2 more matches to get to the main stage of the playoffs. Frankly, our team's rivals were not the most formidable - the Swedes from Ninjas in Pajamas, whose main strength was the home turf, and the stack  Basically Unknown, who went to the championship by chance due to visa problems of  Team Empire and Vega Squadron.

As a result, the “yellow-black” achieved quite easy victories and joined the battle for the title of a champion of the tournament. The opponent was the  Alliance: this match from the get-go could be called the most interesting match of the entire tournament, because the confrontation of these two teams always has a fundamental character, and viewers expect to see a real show. The match really turned out to be interesting, but the result was somewhat predictable since, after a rather long first game, the  Natus Vincere players dealt with the enemy in less than 20 minutes in the second game.

In the finals of the upper bracket, the spectators were greeted by the most interesting CIS derby. Natus Vincere against  Virtus.pro — such matches always attract a lot of attention, and the fight promised to be serious, as the unspoken title of the strongest team in the region stood at stake. The teams played all three games, spending about two and a half hours of playing time. The winners of the battle came out the "yellow-black", who won a place in the championship finals. However, the “bears”, angry with defeat, virtually destroyed Ninjas in Pajamas in the finals of the lower bracket with a score of 3:0 and were eager to take revenge.

The final meeting was spectacular, interesting and definitely worthy of being called the grand finals of the tournament. Nevertheless, Natus Vincere, who've done an incredible comeback in a fierce struggle, did not manage to hold out against the enemy and lost in the fifth game. Extremely disappointing defeat hit hard both players and fans, who were watching their idols play the game for more than three hours. The second place is a good result, but you always want more.

Natus Vincere tournament roster

Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich
Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev
Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov

DreamLeague Season 5

After taking a break, the "yellow-black" returned to the championship in the fifth season.  Natus Vincere lineup then gradually gained strength, and the fans did not expect an impeccable victory from them but hoped to see a good performance. Even more, so that the Born to Win passed the qualifiers with flying colors, taking first place with a score of 11:3. In addition, NAVI did not lose a single match: the guys had 4 wins and 3 draws based on the results of the games against fairly strong teams.

Our team claimed a slot in the final stage of the competition, which included only 4 participants and the Double Elimination bracket. Fair enough, the list of participants was quite decent: aside from NAVI, there was another CIS representative — Virtus.pro, as well as European teams — No Diggity and OG.

The “yellow-blacks” kicked off the tournament with the game against “bears”: the fight went on an equal footing, and each map lasted about 40 minutes. Natus Vincere representatives turned out to be stronger. After going into the next round, the guys faced  OG, one of the most uncomfortable opponents. Somewhat unexpectedly, the game was rather even: both teams took 1 game off of each other, so the fate of the match was decided on the third map. Alas, our team simply did not have enough experience to cope with the Miracle- and co.

Having fallen into the lower grid, the guys fought with Virtus.pro yet again. The bears only managed to establish their own game pace on the second map, while on the other two, Natus Vincere played their own aggressive push strategy. The victory with a score of 2: 1 - and a place in the grand final, with OG as the final opponent. Alas, the opponents were too tough: despite the good game of our team, which tried to the best of their abilities on each map, they didn't manage to take a single game - 0:3. However, the second place at that time was really an excellent result, but, as you know, the more victories, the merrier.

Natus Vincere tournament roster

Dmitry “Ditya Ra” Minenkov
Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev
Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov

DreamLeague Season 7

Having missed a season again, the team decided to play the qualifiers for DreamLeague Season 7 after updating the roster. Unfortunately, the amount of draws led to the “yellow-blacks” taking only sixth place out of eight. It was not enough to reach the final stage of the championship.

DreamLeague Season 8

Born to Win tested their strength in the qualifying stage of the eighth season - this time the tournament was among the Dota Pro Circuit events and received the Major status. The guys managed to get through the open qualifiers without any problems and finished the first match in the League with the score 2:0, defeating Vega Squadron. Taking a great start, the team did not slow down and eventually settled on the second line of the tournament table, guaranteeing itself a slot in the main stage of the competition.

Only eight teams went to the LAN, but the list of competitors looked as respectable as ever. Among the contenders for the victory were the prominent Europe and CIS representatives, like Team Secret, Team Liquid and Virtus.pro, as well as those coming from other regions: Newbee, Fnatic, Evil Geniuses and Infamous. The championship did not have a group stage, so the battles began immediately in double elimination playoffs. The Born to Win first met "bears", and in a very tough struggle, the opponents claimed the victory.

Our guys still had a chance, though, as they dropped into the lower bracket, where they successfully held the next two matches against teams from the East and fought against “evil geniuses”. Alas NAVI didn't make it to the third line of the standing, however, the team received $ 70 000 and 75 qualification points.

Natus Vincere tournament roster

Vladislav “Crystallize” Krystanek
Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini
Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev

DreamLeague Season 10

The DreamLeague's ninth season passed without the participation of Natus Vincere, but the upcoming DreamLeague LAN final will surely see the Born to Win ready. The team, updated before the 2018-2019 season, has overcome a thorny path in order to go to the Major in Sweden. NAVI had to show the strength in the open qualifiers, and after those, closed qualifiers were waiting.

The guys beat Espada twice, bypassing opponents like Winstrike Team and Team Empire. The main stage of the championship starts on October 29, with $ 300,000 and 500 qualifying points at stake, and among the rivals are compLexity Gaming, The Final Tribe, Team Lithium and other teams that can surprise anyone with their plays. In addition, the winner of the competition will go to The Kuala Lumpur Major. We are sure that NAVI will make every effort to seize this opportunity!

Natus Vincere tournament roster

Vladyslav "Crystallize" Krystanek
Idan "MagicaL" Vardanian
Evgenii "Blizzy" Ri
Evgenii "Chuvash" Makarov
Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev

At the moment, the guys are preparing for the fights on the bootcamp. Details of the tournament format and the seeding will be known soon. Stay with us and cheer for the Born to Win! #NAVINATION