- The team’s plans were dashed when the war broke out
- NaVi dropped out early of many major events
- S1mple seems more optimistic for next year
NaVi’s performance this year has been a far cry from the times they dominated everyone in 2021.
S1mples’s Toughs on NaVi’s Performance this Season
At the end of the year, people often take a good look at what they have done throughout the past months, and this is also true for esports organizations and pro players. But for some people taking stock of the situation, things don’t seem all too bright. Such is the case with Natus Vincere’s star sniper Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev.
According to the 25-year-old player, the team’s performance during 2022 was very negatively impacted by the war in Ukraine. “I still believe that because of the war our team just crashed. It was only because of the war,” s1mple said in a press conference ahead of the BLAST Premier World Final.”
“We lost our first LAN event at Katowice where the war started two days before. It’s pretty sad, that when you are trying to create an era and winning a lot. And then it is not because we kicked a player or something happened in the team, but because war happened in this world. And when you think about this you say, why? Why did this happen to us?”
Last year, NaVi was at the top of the world, winning everything at the end of the year including last season's BLAST World Finals. Excluding IEM: Fall CIS, NAVI won eight tournaments in a row at the end of 2021, with the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 included.
This year definitely marked a significant diminish in NaVi’s achievements. Although the team dominated its opponents at the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022, NaVi couldn’t perform the same at performance throughout the rest of the year. The Ukrainian organization dropped out early of the IEM Rio Major, both seasons of ESL Pro League this year, and BLAST Premier: Fall Finals.
Despite the player’s negative assessment of NaVi’s performance this year, s1mple seems a lot more optimistic for the next competitive season. When asked about how his team would do next year, he said that all NaVi needs to succeed is more training. “I just think we need to practice as much as possible. The last year we only had two bootcamps for 10 days. In 2021 we had five or six bootcamps with two weeks. It’s a totally different preparation for all tournaments.”
