Year in Review: NAVI in Wild Rift, Brawl Stars, Free Fire, and Mobile Legends
How was 2021 for mobile disciplines?
In 2021 our team started to take steady steps towards mobile esports. Today we have a summary of our Wild Rift, Brawl Stars, Free Fire and Mobile Legends roster's accomplishments of the season!
Wild Rift
On March 12th, NAVI brought its attention to a new mobile discipline. The club for Wild Rift, the mobile version of League of Legends.
The Born to Win was represented by five Chinese players. The guys had some results at small tournaments, but the squad did not last long because of the instability of the emerging Wild Rift esports scene.
After recruiting new players, this time from the CIS, the Born to Win again rushed into the Summoner's Rift. The squad was renewed several times during the season, but that didn't stop it from earning a place at the by Riot Games. At this championship, NAVI's journey was over before it had even begun: the team dropped out after losing the group stage.
All in all, it was a difficult year for the discipline. Let's hope the situation improves in 2022!
Brawl Stars
In May, NAVI a division for the mobile game Brawl Stars. The squad included ZERØZONE players Peter "MMA" Pomortsev, Artem "Jason" Yashchanin and Bogdan "BBgs" Berg. The team immediately began to confidently pass qualifying stages and conquer smaller tournaments (e.g. first place at the Trovo Titans Birthday Bash: Europe Finals and second place at BrawlMSTRS 2021 Spring: Europe).
Under the auspices of NAVI, the squad continued to participate in the Brawl Stars Championship, a monthly qualifier for the World Championship. Thus, at the Brawl Stars Championship 2021: June EECA Finals the team finished second, and after the arrival of Marcelino "Cube" Brincoveanu became the champion of July EECA Finals, August EECA Finals and September EECA Finals, guaranteeing a place in the World Finals 2021!
However, right after the September EECA Finals, the team parted ways with BBgs, and after NAVI won the October EECA Finals, Alexey "alekzz" Andrushin joined the Born to Win. With this lineup, they took third place at ESL Mobile Challenge 2021 Fall: EU-MENA, and then went to defend the honor of the CIS at World Finals 2021.
Team captain Petr "MMA" Pomortsev
The Brawl Stars World Championship brought together the 16 best teams from different regions, and the prize fund of the competition was a significant amount for a mobile game — $ 1,000,000. NAVI had reason to be concerned: the Born to Win dominated in the CIS, but often had problems with European teams.
Nevertheless, NAVI's preparation for the main tournament of the year exceeded many expectations. They confidently defeated not only the European Tribe Gaming team but also left no chance for Queen Nai from Japan and INTZ from Brazil. In the grand final, the team had to face the leader of East Asia — ZETA Division. NAVI struggled under the pressure of the formidable opponent and lost the finals 1 : 4 and second place at the world championship.
Petr "MMA" PomortsevIncredibly cool season! We had a very hard road, there were a lot of internal problems and setbacks, but we overcame everything with the support of our beloved organization and our awesome fanbase, who helped and supported us in everything. Special thanks to everyone at NAVI who worked with us this year and helped with everything. I and all the guys are definitely happy with the way things turned out and that we are a part of NAVI.
Petr «MMA» PomortsevWhen playing against ZETA, we took the first set, it was very hard (we managed to make the right decisions on picks and execution). All subsequent sets were very close, but at times lacked the right picks at the right time and in the right place, some teamplay. It was a shame to lose every set 1 : 2, with the exception of the last one, but nevertheless, ZETA was a very formidable opponent, that breezed through its previous opponents. In addition, they are from Asia, therefore not very explored. It is almost impossible to play against them because of the delay. Every player on this team is incredibly high skilled. All in all, a cool team with whom it was a pleasure to share the World Cup finals!
Petr «MMA» PomortsevYes, of course, next year promises to be even hotter. First, the new format of tournaments, draft mode (we won't see mirror picks anymore). Secondly (perhaps some people have missed this information), a total of 7 million unique users watched the Brawl Stars World Championship 2021 and a total of 54 million views combined with China, and 28% of these crazy numbers were the guys from the CIS. There is no announcement yet with the full rules, but they have already announced two slots for our region and promised to increase the prize money. So next year promises to be even better!
So, the Born to Win ends the year on a major note. We want to believe that next season the team will continue to inscribe their name in the history of Brawl Stars esports!
Free Fire
In the midst of summer, NAVI the Free Fire discipline. It included former Silence players Kheibar "VaJniy" Imanov, Alexander "DD" Bozhkov, Amir "Skyrix" Kanatov, Ruslan "Dandy" Omorov, but a month later the latter was replaced by Alexei "Twister" Mukhin and Ruslan "Svitogor" Mamatsuev.
NAVI took part in two tournaments and got on the podium twice! The first feat was a victory in . NAVI scored 84 points on six Grand Final maps, 16 points ahead of the nearest competitor. The Born to Win earned $25,000 and a ticket to the EMEA Invitational 2021, which later became NAVI's second event.
At the , NAVI competed head-to-head against the best teams from the CIS, Europe, and the Middle East. The tournament resulted in third place and $25,000. What a great end to the year!
Mobile Legends
Towards the end of the year, the club another team in the mobile discipline — Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The players of Deus Vult, Stanislav "SAWO" Reshniak, Kemiran "Sunset Lover" Kochkarov, Ruslan "Lil" Degtev, Andrey "Defender" Martynenko, Maxim "Nagib" Dudich, and coach Alexander "WarBarbie" Korystin joined the team.
The chance to prove themselves came in December at the . At the championship, NAVI was the only team from the CIS. It should be noted that previously at major Mobile Legends tournaments, teams from the CIS did not show strong results and did not even make it to the crucial stage. But NAVI was able to defend the honor of the region: Although the squad started the M3 World Championship playoffs from the bottom bracket, it knocked two teams out of the battle on its way.
NAVI at M3 World Championship
At the end of the M3 World Championship, our team took 7th-8th place and earned $ 30,000. We hope that for NAVI Mobile Legends this result will be a good impetus for further growth and in the new year, the guys will continue to please the fans with their achievements! #ObsessedWe
