Results of the year: NAVI CS:GO
The main NAVI CS:GO roster has had many tournaments this year, and our players have traveled to many parts of the world. In 2022, we`ve seen both victories and defeats, so we propose to recap the difficult path of our team during this period.
At the first tournament of the year, the Born to Win expected to continue their dominance on the scene, but things turned out differently. After a long break, the guys were still regaining their form, so at the first BLAST Spring Groups 2022 the team lost three out of five matches, but still made it to the BLAST Spring Final 2022 thanks to the victory over NIP (2 : 0).
The players approached IEM Katowice 2022 with a completely different mindset: we had 3 wins in the group and confidently advanced to the playoffs. Two days before the semi-final match, the Russian invasion of Ukraine began and this affected the morale of our boys in the game against G2, which, unfortunately, was lost (0 : 2).
At the EPL S15, NAVI CS:GO showed a confident game in the group: after 5 victories we advanced directly to the quarterfinals of the competition. The boys failed to show their best in the playoffs: the match against Faze ended in defeat (0 : 2).
After qualifying for the PGL Major Antwerp, the team went to Belgium as the defending champion and one of the main contenders for a new title. NAVI made it through the group stage with a 3–0 stat, easily defeating Heroic (2 : 1) and Ence (2 : 0) in the playoffs, but again faced the at-that-time superior team Faze in the finals (0 : 2).
After this tournament, Kyrylo "Boombl4" Mikhaylov left the team, Viktor «sdy» Orudzhev took his place, and Denis "electroNic" Sharipov became the new team captain. At the BLAST Spring Final 2022, as often happens, the team felt a positive emotional boost due to the coming of a new player and, despite a small amount of training, was able to win. In the quarterfinals, the Born to Win took revenge on Faze for the defeat in Antwerp (16 : 6 Dust 2, 16 : 1 Inferno), and in the finals Team Vitality also stood no chance (16 : 8 Mirage, 16 : 5 Overpass).
At IEM Cologne 2022, the team had the status of an absolute favorite and proved that it can dominate the matches even with the strongest opponents: the boys lost only two maps until the final. In the decisive best-of-5 match, Born to Win again faced Faze: the initiative passed from one team to another, but the victory on the last Nuke, unfortunately, went to the opponent (2 : 3).
After the summer break, the team showed inconsistent results: first, Natus Vincere played confidently at the BLAST Fall Groups 2022, taking 1st-3rd place, but then gave a lackluster performance at the EPL S16. At that tournament, NAVI struggled through the group stage with a score of 2-3 and stopped in the quarter-final match against G2 (1 : 2).
At the major in Rio, our team was no longer seen as a favorite but remained one of the strongest teams in the scene. Hard-luck seeding and best-of-1 matches did not allow the Born to Win to easily pass the Legends Stage, however, in the best-of-3 format, NAVI easily eliminated Bad News Eagles (2 : 0) and BIG (2 : 0) from the tournament, finishing the stage with statistics of 3 -2. In the quarterfinals, our team faced Brazilian FURIA in Brazil: unfortunately, the boys could not win under such pressure from the arena (16 : 14 Nuke, 10 : 16 Ancient, 10 : 16 Mirage).
At the end of the season, a decline in the team's game awaited us: 5-6th place at the BLAST Fall Final 2022 and BLAST World Final 2022. At the last tournament, Natus Vincere returned to the six-players scheme: on Inferno and Mirage we saw Andrii "npl ” Kukharskyi as part of the main roster, who replaced Viktor «sdy» Orudzhev.
After the end of the season, our players also took part in the BORN TO BE BRAVE charity tournament, which was organized by NAVI and United 24. As a result of this event, we managed to collect $500,000 in support of Ukraine.
At the January tournaments and IEM Katowice 2023, our young talent will become part of NAVI CS:GO. We are sure that such changes will allow us to perform competently on the world stage!
| Placement | Tournament | Prize |
| 4-6 | BLAST Spring Groups 2022 | $ 17 500 |
| 3-4 | IEM Katowice 2022 | $ 80 000 |
| 5-8 | ESL Pro League Season 15 | $ 42 500 |
| 4 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR A | $ 9 500 |
| 2 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 | $ 150 000 |
| 1 | BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022 | $ 200 000 |
| 2 | IEM XVII Cologne | $ 180 000 |
| 1–3 | BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022 | $ 27 500 |
| 5–8 | ESL Pro League Season 16 | $ 27 500 |
| 1 | IEM Road to Rio 2022: European RMR B | |
| 5–8 | IEM Rio Major 2022 | $ 45 000 |
| 5–6 | BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2022 | $ 20 000 |
| 5–6 | BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 | $ 25 000 |
NAVI CS:GO roster for IEM Katowice 2023:
Oleksandr «s1mple» Kostyliev Valerii «b1t» Vakhovskyi
Denis «electroNic» Sharipov Ilya «Perfecto» Zalutskiy Andrii «npl» Kukharskyi
Andrii «B1ad3» Gorodenskyi (coach) Alexander «LK-» Lemeshev (manager)
