- The Ukrainian team defeated Team Vitality with a clean 2-0 score
- NaVi players b1t, sdy, and electroNic performed spectacularly, securing the team’s victory
- This marks the team’s first major victory of 2022, after coming close to titles several times
The BLAST Premier Spring Final in Lisbon, Portugal, concluded with Natus Vincere obliterating their opponents from Team Vitality in the final match of the event.
NaVi Emerges Victorious
Natus Vincere, or just NaVi for short, is one of Europe’s best CS:GO teams, and recently the organization's players defended their reputation by winning the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022, which was held in Lisbon, Portugal. The team went on for some time without any large successes, but this changed when NaVi dominated Team Vitality with a final score of 2:0 and brought home the cup and the grand prize of $200 000.
NaVi’s path towards the top was a bumpy one, to say the least. The team started the series on Mirage and quickly gained the initiative during their T-side play. Although NaVi lost the half’s pistol round to Vitality, the latter was still not able to close the gap, until Magisk and ZywOo helped put some rounds on the scoreboard, which reduced the Ukrainian team’s lead to “just” 10-5.
This, however, was not enough, as a Perfecto 4K in the pistol round again tilted the initiative in favor of NaVi, leading to a 16-8 victory on Mirage.
The Match Continues
As Team Vitality lost the first map, it was their turn to pick the second. They chose Overpass and for the first few rounds, it seemed that they chose well, taking the first four rounds of their T-side. However, NaVi quickly decimated their opponent’s hopes by winning 11 straight CT rounds.
The Ukrainian team could not have done such a feat without the help of last year’s most impactful rookie in b1t. The score was also tilted in favor of NaVi thanks to some impressive plays from Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev and Denis “electroNic” Sharipov. In the end, Vitality’s choice of Overpass did not aid them, as NaVi obliterated them with a staggering map score of 16-5, and an overall score of 2-0.
NaVi Is Back on Top
With this victory, NaVi’s redemption is complete. The team had a strong 2021, but this year had not been so kind to the team. They fell short of a title a few times, including a grand finals loss at the PGL Antwerp Major to FaZe Clan. Soon after IGL Boombl4 left the team, which raised questions about the roster’s future, a future even more uncertain when NaVi sacked all of its Russian players earlier in spring.
However, opting to bring on former MAD Lions starter sdy as a stand-in/trial player, the organization went into the BLAST Spring Finals in Lisbon. And although the team initially suffered an opening loss to OG, it looks the roster’s changes were eventually worth it, as NaVi reached the playoffs.
With their eventual victory over Team Vitality, it looks like NaVi is finally back on its feet and ready to face any future challenge.
