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Paladins: the story of NAVI.GG.BET

News / 9 December 2019 — 14:39

More than 2 years in the discipline!

As ua NAVI.GG.BET is bidding farewell to Paladins roster, we've prepared an article dedicated to the team's performance. It's been over 2 years!

The Born to Win started their conquest in a shooter MOBA by Hi-Rez Studios in September 2017. Back then eu Natus Vincere signed a contract with eu WASD Sports— one of the best teams at that point, with nl Faenex, fi Mutu, fi spunkki, pl Creativs2 and ee Unbelivable. The first season of Paladins Premier League has started, which covered two regions - North America and Europe. Our guys performed in the European division.


The first roster of Natus Vincere

eu NAVI started out rough: the third place out of five, and then only 5–8th in the LAN finals of the League's fall season. The result is not impressive, but abandoning the hope wasn't the best solution.

World Championship qualifiers began soon after: eu Natus Vincere destroyed the opponents, winning three matches and losing only one map. And that's why the "yellow-blacks" were considered favorites at Hi-Rez Expo 2018: Paladins World Championship — the shape of our guys was that good.

And the group stage immediately showed how strong the “yellow-blacks” were: eu NAVI defeated their rivals without any problems and reached the semifinals of the championship. The team's first rival in the playoffs was South American representative ar Nocturns Gaming. To be honest, few expected this level of play from that team, but the Argentines showed a very good game and were even one step away from defeating the “yellow-blacks”. Our guys still turned out to be stronger (4: 3) and reached the final against eu Fnatic - one of their principal rivals.

Many fans expected an extremely nervous and intense fight, as the rivals were worthy of each other, but in the end, everything turned out to be much simpler. eu Natus Vincere players dealt with eu Fnatic 4:0. The result - the first serious trophy under the yellow-black flag, $ 80,000 in prize money and the title of world champion for eu NAVI!

The victorious World Championship for NAVI

The Born to Win started the spring season with the clear intention of taking exclusively the first places in all tournaments. Nevertheless, the regular season of the League ended in second place for the team: eu Fnatic managed to take revenge after losing at the World Cup, beating eu Natus Vincere twice. However, this was enough for our team to break into the LAN finals.

Our guys also received an invitation to the next two tournaments — Esport Superstars: Paladins and Paladins Masters Spring 2018. May promised to be incredibly eventful: three championships at once, and a title of the best team on the planet at stake!

The first competition was Esport Superstars: Paladins, which took place in Las Vegas, USA. Six teams competed for a prize pool of $ 100,000. One could say that championship, except for us Gankstars, gathered the top pro teams of Paladins: eu Natus Vincere, eu Fnatic, us G2 Esports, us SK Gaming, and us Team Envy.


Spunkki

Alas, our guys didn't approach the tournament in their best shape: while they managed to beat us Gankstars, the games against  us G2 Esports and us Team Envy weren't particularly impressive. The final fourth place was not the result that the fans expected.

The LAN final of Paladins Premier League Spring was also not the most successful: despite a fierce struggle, eu Natus Vincere players lost to eu Fnatic in the semifinals (3: 4). The team ended the first season of the League after the World Cup not in the best way — 3-4th place.

But Paladins Masters Spring 2018 turned out to be a triumph for the Born to Win. First eu NAVI defeated au Kanga Esports and br Spacestation Gaming with the same score (2: 0), and then, in the final of the upper bracket, they faced eu Fnatic. The enemy was stronger at that time, but the defeat made the “yellow-blacks” more fierce. The guys first beat us Team Envy in the lower bracket with a score of 3: 1, and then faced eu Fnatic in the grand final of the championship, beating them 4: 2! The second trophy of our team!

But the lack of stability nevertheless showed itself: eu Natus Vincere made their first replacement. The spot of captain, ee Unbelivable, was taken by the former eu Ninjas in Pyjamas player dk Laizy. The updated Born to Win squad was ready for battle and for the new Paladins Premier League!


Laizy

Despite the final second line in the summer season, it was still a good run: even in the lost matches, our guys showed a good game and were close to victory. In addition, silver in the regular season allowed the Born to Win to reach the LAN finals and receive an invitation to Paladins Summer Finals 2018.

Unfortunately, the LAN finals of Paladins Premier League Summer ended in the semifinals yet again — and it was eu Fnatic yet again, with 4:1 series. True, this victory cost them a success in Paladins Summer Finals 2018, where our guys, being in a good mood, stomped everyone in the bracket, and beat us Team Envy— 4: 2 in the final. Another one for eu NAVI!

2018 ended with the Fall League, where eu Natus Vincere had no equals: 8 wins, 24 maps won and only 3 lost. With such game statistics, the “yellow-blacks” were rightly considered the favorites at the World Cup and received a direct invite thanks to the excellent performance in the League.

Paladins World Championship 2018 saw our team start with a bang: a confident victory over eu Virtus.pro in the quarterfinals, and then defeated the potential rival, eu Fnatic, with a 4:1 score. It seemed that the title of two-time world champions for eu Natus Vincere was in the bag, however, the final match didn't go according to plan at all. us Team Envy, losing with a score of 2: 1, clutched the game to a result of 2:4 in their favor. Unfortunately, the “yellow-blacks” didn't secure the trophy for the second time despite a brilliant game.

The Paladins Premier League 2019 switched to a franchise model and divided into two phases: after the first, teams had to play Mid-Season Invitational 2019, and after the second in the world championship. The championship turned out to be rather drawn-out, but this did not make it less interesting. This time, all the teams have not been divided into two regions, but played against each other: for this reason, it was very interesting to watch the struggle between teams from different regions.


Natus Vincere players

The League lost a very strong participant — eu Fnatic, but acquired a no less strong team — eu Ninjas in Pajamas. It was the “ninja” in the end that became the main competitors of our team: the “yellow-blacks” took second place in the first phase of Paladins Premier League 2019, yielding to them.

Our guys rightly approached the start of Mid-Season Invitational 2019 as one of the favorites, but the championship unexpectedly turned out to be a failure. Losing to eu PENTA (albeit it was to become the future winner of the championship) with a score of 0-3 was not what eu Natus Vincere expected.

The second phase of the Paladins Premier League 2019 ended with the victory of our team, which during the season, as pl Creativs2 decided to leave esports. pt Ninu took his place: the player very quickly adapted to the team and began to show a good game. As a result, the team got invited to World Cup and, again, the team got into favorites at the tournament.

Alas, the last tournament under the yellow-black flag was unsuccessful for eu Natus Vincere, to put it mildly. The first rival of the guys was one of the weaker teams of Paladins Premier League 2019, who the Born to Win have beaten more than once during the season — us Pittsburgh Knights.


World Championship victory — NAVI's main achievement

Unexpectedly for many, the enemy showed a very high level of play and a corresponding zeal for victory. Losing the match with a score of 2: 1, the “knights” managed to bring the score back to 2: 4. The victory for us Pittsburgh Knights, after which eu Natus Vincere took 5–8 place at the World Cup.

Despite the unsatisfactory result at the Paladins World Championship 2019, eu NAVI gave the fans a lot of positive emotions during their time. Throughout their history, the yellow-blacks have become winners of both the Paladins Premier League and other tournaments, with the first victorious world championship under the banners of organization standing out. We wish good luck to the former players of the team: we are sure that they will please their fans with a great game more than once!