Victory at IEM: then and now.

Let's look back at the events of 2010 and 2020.

Natus Vincere recently the IEM Katowice 2020, repeating the events of a decade ago, when the newly formed NAVI shocked the whole world and won the world championship. Let's recall how events developed in 2010 and 2020.

IEM Season IV (2010)

At that time, it was one of the largest and most prestigious tournaments in the world. All teams approached it with great hope and expectations, as there was an unprecedented amount of prize money at stake at that time — $100,000. For example, the WCG 2010 had the prize pool of $ 40,000.

For the newly formed Ukrainian five,  Natus Vincere IEM was the first championship of this magnitude. If individually the players have already participated in such competitions, how did they first face such a challenge as a team?

IEM IV was attended by the best of the best:  fnatic, SK Gaming, mTw, Frag eXecutors, mousesports and other famous teams. The venue for the tournament was in Hanover (Germany). Twelve teams were divided into two groups of six participants, where they were to play each other in a round-robin system (best of 1).

At the group stage,  NAVI showed the class, losing only one map to the  SK Gaming, which at the time consisted of  GuX, RobbaN,  face, walle,  allen (12 : 18 — Dust2). Prior to this , NAVI defeated Complexity (26 : 4) and FOX (22 : 8). The goal to get to the playoffs, the Born To Win almost achieved in the fourth round, defeating MYM (19 : 11).

Theoretically, only a loss a substantial loss against  Ravens could have prevented from advancing to the playoffs, while also FOX and Complexity had to win their matches. It should be noted that on the last round the American team met with SK Gaming. FOX players managed with their task, Complexity lost to SK (3 : 16), and NAVI won their fourth victory (16 : 9).

In another group, there were many surprises. The two main contenders left the tournament at once — mTw and FX. In addition, the first line in the group was occupied by EG, which provided the American organization with a place in the semifinals.

Thus, the playoffs the Born to Win had to start with the quarterfinals, but with the highest seeding. The first rival was the five of  mousesports. The match was difficult, emotions went through the roof, but NAVI came out victorious from this battle (2 : 1). The semi-finals, in turn, ended much faster — our team required two maps only (Inferno and Train) to reach the grand final.

Even reaching the final of such a prestigious championship was a huge achievement for the CIS region, but the Born to Win were not planning to stop there. The last “boss” on the way to the championship title was the formidable team  fnatic, led by young  GeT_RiGhT and f0rest.

The map pick was almost identical to what we saw in the semifinals with EG, only the order changed (first Train, then Inferno). However, the fight against the Swedes was not for life, but for death, and it ended in victory with a score of 16 : 13 and 16 : 14, respectively. Natus Vincere won the first world championship and loudly claimed its place on the professional stage of Counter-Strike.

IEM Season XIV (2020)

Many were looking forward to the performance of the updated NAVI roster at IEM Katowice 2020. A few weeks earlier, the team had already demonstrated its potential by completing ICE Challenge 2020 in second place and winning their group at the BLAST Premier Spring Series.

After returning from London, our players took a four—day break and started practicing. The preparation for the tournament in Katowice took about two weeks, and during this time our boys in "yellow-black" managed to seriously work on their map pool. In Katowice,  NAVI played on six maps and on five of them showed a win rate of at least 75.0%. The result on Nuke (two wins and two losses) — 50%.

It is worth noting that in the playoffs the guys didn't give a single map. The only defeat was in the match against fnatic in the upper bracket semi-final. And in each encounter between  NAVI and  FaZe, Europeans took one map from our team — and each time it was Nuke. As you can see, these defeats were not in vain and the team worked on the mistakes.

Natus Vincere managed to get into the playoffs through the lower bracket. Such a result of the group stage gave our team not the easiest way to the title. So, in the quarterfinals, Team Liquid was awaiting us. For almost two years, the Born to Win could not beat the Americans in best of 3, but in Katowice they finally managed to do so.

The next rival of  NAVI was the five of Astralis. The team paths crossed recently at the BLAST Premier Spring Series. Then the victory went to Natus Vincere — after an incredible comeback on Inferno, the third and decisive map. This time, the Danes could not oppose anything to our team, losing two maps with the same crushing score (5 : 16).

After overcoming such titled rivals, the Born To Win approached the Grand Final in their utmost focus and confidence. The battle had to be fought with G2, a team that also surprised many with their game in the tournament and made it to the finals. However, the battle was one sided — 3 : 0 in favor of NAVI. An interesting fact: the first half of the game on Mirage Perfecto managed to finish the half with the perfect zero deaths count.

In addition to the champion title,  Natus Vincere's main "striker" another MVP award. For Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, this medal was the tenth in his career and caught up with kennyS and  GeT_RiGhT in the amount of earned MVPs. With these players,  s1mple shares the second line in the overall MVP standings, second only to  device (15 medals).

Victory in Katowice not only brought individual awards to our players, but also influenced the balance of power in the world ranking according to HLTV. Thanks to the success at IEM Katowice 2020, NAVI has and is behind  Astralis by four points. Upcoming tournaments will be key in determining the best team in the world! We hope that the guys will continue to delight us with their game and conquer the world ranking! #navination