B1ad3: a year as NAVI coach

Congratulations!

Today marks exactly one year since Andrii "B1ad3" Gorodenskyi became a coach of  NAVI CS: GO. What results did the team achieve during this period? Let's take a look.

Yevhen Zolotarov

Natus Vincere CEO

"Andrii, it's just been a year, and it's still very EARLY to relax :) I'm glad you're with us, coach!"

Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev

Natus Vincere player

“Andrii is a very talented person. I was lucky enough to work with him both during the Flipsid3 Tactics days and now. Even if I did not really appreciate what he does not only for me but for the whole team, the entire esports earlier, now I can safely call this person a genius of thought. He constantly works and never stops: he knows what needs to be improved, what needs attention. Andrii works a lot - it's impossible to miss that."

B1ad3 as sports director

Andrii the Born to Win on March 30, 2019, and took the position of sports director. His responsibilities included maintaining the personnel and transfer policy of the club, building a training system for the rosters, forming a scouting structure, and creating a player reserve for the key titles. NAVI Esports Camp Academy was introduced to the fans, where B1ad3, as a mentor, together with Amiran “ami” Rekhviashvili, shared their knowledge with the younger generation of CS players. By the way, NAVI Junior roster has recently celebrated its birthday: you can read more .

Moving to a coach position

In September 2019, after an unsuccessful performance at BLAST Pro Series: Moscow, NAVI CS: GO roster underwent changes: Danylo " Zeus" Teslenko, and his place was taken by    Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs. The team also parted ways with Mykhailo "Kane" Blagin, and the position of the mentor was given to B1ad3. There were no questions about Andrii's candidacy: before joining NAVI he has been a coach of CS: GO teams, in addition, when on FlipSid3 Tactics B1ad3 had a chance to get to know s1mple and electronic, so he knew them well.

The first tournament with B1ad3 as a coach was DreamHack Masters Malmö. The Born to Win advanced through the group stage with no issues but then lost 1:2 to Team Vitality in the playoffs. The result - 3-4th place and $22.000 in prize money.

In early November, the roster took third place at BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019, and a month later it took part in the final stage of ESL Pro League 10, stopping at the semifinals — a loss to Fnatic with a score of 1: 2.

Reshuffle after EPICENTER: roster with Perfecto

The final tournament of 2019 for Natus Vincere was EPICENTER 2019: losing to Evil Geniuses in the playoffs, and finishing the run on 5-6th place, the team realized something had to change. Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs was benched, and his place was taken by the young talent Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutsky, who at that time did not have extensive experience in performing on the stage.

Two days after acquiring Perfecto NAVI were already fighting in ICE Challenge 2020 in London, taking 2nd place. A few days later, they advanced to the spring finals of BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 from the group stage.

The team had an excellent run at IEM Katowice 2020 LAN: although there were some troubles, they managed to advance from the group from the lower bracket, and then showed their power in the playoffs and became the champions.

NAVI after the triumph at IEM Katowice 2020

After the victory in Poland, the guys were on the edge, and it seemed that the next six months would be dictated by the Born to Win, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the competition moved online, where NAVI was doing much worse. At BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe and in the eleventh season of the ESL Pro League, the Born to Win took fourth place, and in the RMR tournament from ESL they finished at a 7-8th place.

But there were also offline victories: first place at the Gamers Without Borders charity tournament and champion title at RMR tournament WePlay! Clutch Island.

The first tournament after the summer vacation for the Born to Win was ESL One Cologne 2020: Europe, where the guys stopped at 9-12th places. Due to an unsuccessful performance, it was decided to extend the bootcamp in Kyiv for the next month. Thanks to this, the team fought confidently in ESL Pro League Season 12, where they reached the playoffs from the first place in the group with the 6-1 stat.

What tournaments are next?

Now the squad has a week break between official matches, but then the players will have a long marathon: EPL playoffs, IEM XV - New York Online: CIS, BLAST Premier: Fall 2020, and DreamHack Masters Winter 2020.

We believe that B1ad3 will properly prepare the roster for the next challenges, and at the beginning of next year, the championships will, hopefully, again return to the LAN format, which will allow Natus Vincere to use its full potential.