Results of the year: NAVI Dota 2

The incredibly difficult year of 2022 is coming to an end. In this series of reports, we will summarize the performance of the NAVI esports club over the past 12 months and tell you about the most important events. Today the NAVI team from one of the most popular disciplines — Dota 2, is on the line.

The year began with the sixth and seventh seasons of the Dota 2 Champions League. Our guys finished second and sixth in the tournaments — the result for NAVI was not as important as their performance in the first round of Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022.

However, the final fifth place, the failure to qualify for the DPC regional finals (the Major tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus), and the not-so-successful performance in the D2CL made it clear: changes were needed.

On February 15, Victor «GeneRaL» Nigrini left the team, and the vacant position was taken a week later by Vladyslav «Laise» Lais — a young and eager-to-win player. It should also be noted that Alexey «Solo» Berezin took over the reins of the team, and Ivan «ArtStyle» Antonov left the position of coach.

On February 24, the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, which resulted in the suspension of the Dota Pro Circuit season for Eastern Europe. Only two months later, on April 27, the second round of the competition took place. However, the organizers of the tournament waived the regular matches and directly distributed the participants in a playoff bracket.

Renewed NAVI roster in general showed a good performance, but the team still lacked the strength to get into the top 3 and get a slot in the Major championship. Note, our team played with a stand-in for the fourth position: Georgii «swedenstrong» Zainalabidov replaced Ilya «ALOHADANCE» Korobkin. Before the start of the third round of Dota Pro Circuit, the player became a regular member of the team.

The changes helped the team: the third round of the DPC resulted in second place and in a good chance to take the final first place. Unfortunately, the guys failed to show their maximum in the replay. However, their main goal to qualify for the Major-tournaments was achieved!

Subsequently, the team suffered a regression. First, they failed to qualify for ESL One Malaysia 2022, followed by a bad performance at PGL Arlington Major 2022. Seventh place in the group and the final thirteenth line — not the performance the fans expected from the NAVI players.

After that, the team faced a very important challenge — to qualify for The International 2022 and make it to the main tournament of the year. The competition was intense, as only the winner advanced to the main part of the tournament, while two other teams moved to the last-chance qualifier.

Unfortunately, despite all the effort, our team first lost in the final of the upper bracket, and then in the lower bracket. AlthoughNAVI earned a ticket to The International 2022, they ended up in the last chance qualifier. The team faced a serious test, as the opponents were very strong.

NAVI's performance in Singapore began great: first place in the group without a single loss! But the playoffs turned out to be terrible. First, the team moved to the lower bracket, losing to T1, and then defeated Tempest, but in the next round suffered a defeat from Xtreme Gaming and finished the tournament.

On December 6, the NAVI esports club announced a new lineup for the upcoming season. Thus, Volodymyr «No[o]ne» Minenko and Alexey «Solo» Berezin were replaced by the two new players in the team — Nikita «Nicky`Cool» Ostakhov and Arman «Malady» Orazbayev. In action, fans will be able to see the renewed roster in the first round of Dota Pro Circuit 2023.

It would be unfair not to mention the new position of Ivan «ArtStyle» Antonov, who didn't leave the club and started to develop the youth team. The academy shows great promise and has the potential to become a serious force in the professional scene in the future.

Summing up, we can call the passing year the most difficult in the history of not only the NAVI esports club but the entire country. We believe that 2023 will bring a lot of positive emotions and NAVI Dota 2 team will please its fans with great victories!

NAVI Dota 2:

Alik «V-Tune» Vorobey
Nikita «Nicky`Cool» Ostakhov
Vladyslav «laise» Lais
Georgii «swedenstrong» Zainalabidov
Arman «Malady» Orazbayev

Mykhailo «m1ke» Palamar (manager)

NAVI Junior Dota 2:

Taras «gotthejuice» Linnikov
Ričards «Ri4man» Kalniņš
Yurii «pma» Prots
Tamir «daze» Tokpanov
Stanyslav «Riddys» Mitroshkyn

Ivan «Artstyle» Antonov (coach)