Life after NAVI – seized’s return to the major after 6 years
Denis seized Kostin’s professional career began back in 2013. His journey on the big CS:GO stage began immediately with Natus Vincere, where he was one of the most promising and talented players. He managed to win many trophies with the club, but as time goes on, the esports player’s individual form tends to decline. Kostin also became a victim of such circumstances. Due to unsatisfactory results, the player was excluded from the roster and then a long and thorny road awaited him to return to the tier-1 stage. In this article we will discuss the career of seized and his return to the major, after six years of unsuccessful attempts to get to the main championship in Counter-Strike.
Career at NAVI
Denis seized Kostin joined Natus Vincere in August 2013, a year after the release of CS:GO. He became one of the club’s first players and would remain there for four years. During this time, he will play with many NAVI stars and take part in dozens of different tournaments, and will also become one of the reasons for the success of the CIS organization.
Together with Kostin, Natus Vincere became the champion of many tournaments, for example, SLTV StarSeries IX Finals, ESL Pro League Winter 2014/15, SLTV StarSeries XIII Finals, ESWC 2015, IEM San Jose 2015 and ESL One New York 2016. Also together with the seized club took part in 11 majors, but the player failed to win. Denis Kostin twice stopped one step away from the championship at the main tournament of his career: at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 and MLG Columbus 2016. There, NAVI lost to Envy and Luminosity, respectively.
However, a successful performance is always followed by a decline. After success at ESL One New York 2016, Natus Vincere began to have difficult times, followed by changes in the lineup. In August 2016, young Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev joined the team, who at that time was famous for his toxic behavior towards teammates. The results of NAVI, as well as Denis seized Kostin himself, were depressing, despite the addition of one of the most star players in the world. The club was no longer even able to take the usual second places, and they entered the top 4 only twice. Natus Vincere was facing further changes and in October 2017 the organization said goodbye to seized. After this, NAVI will expect new heights and the title of one of the best teams, but the player’s career will take a wrong turn.
Hard times after being kicked by NAVI
The future of Denis seized Kostin after his exclusion from Natus Vincere was vague. He was still one of the best players in the region, but his individual form had dropped significantly in recent tournaments. However, he was able to get into FlipSid3 Tactics and take part with them at ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018. But this performance did not benefit the esportsman, he joined a dying roster, and participation in a major with such a team only did harm. At the championship, FlipSid3 took 22-23rd place and showed a terrible performance.
Seized’s next attempt to return to the top was Gambit Esports. Denis Kostin spent four months in it and also did not achieve significant results. The roster managed to take 3-4 place at DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 and DreamHack Open Tours 2018, but failed at other tournaments, most often without even leaving the group stage. As part of the club, the player did not even have time to take part in the qualifiers for the major and he had to move on.
After Gambit, truly troubled times awaited the esports player. From January 2019 to July 2022, he played in many CIS squads that did not qualify for participation in major tournaments. During this period of time, Denis seized Kostin tried to find himself in Vega Squadron, Singularity and many other small clubs, but everything was unsuccessful. Until he became a member of a new CS:GO project – 9 Pandas.
9 Pandas: from dreams to reality
Denis seized Kostin joined 9 Pandas in July 2022 at the time of the birth of the esports organization from the advertising agency of the same name. Then the project was launched as the first esports reality show, which tells the story of the path from creating a team from scratch to reaching the top of the pro scene. Kostin had to assemble a lineup that would suit not only him, but also the organization. At that time, it all didn’t look entirely serious and seized’s stated goal of getting into the top 30 teams in the world and qualifying for the major seemed more like a joke.
The first team of esportsmen included d1Ledez, TruNiQ, Porya and p1ty. As the community expected, the team did absolutely nothing: it failed in all the qualifications in which it took part. And couldn’t believe in Denis seized Kostin’s return to the top of the eSports scene. But after a while, the lineup underwent drastic changes, and only Daniil d1Ledez Kustov remained from the starting roster along with Kostin.
9 Pandas achieved success only after the addition of Timur clax Sabirov, Artem iDISBALANCE Egorov and Aleksandr glowiing Matsievich. The team’s first success came at the PARI Please 2023 LAN tournament. In the playoffs, Denis seized Kostin’s team sensationally beat FURIA Esports and defeated Eternal Fire in the grand final with a score of 3:0. After that, the community seriously believed in the seized’s Last Dance, but they were still waiting for the most important step – qualifying for PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.
Qualifiers and RMR for PGL Major Copenhagen 2024
At the closed qualifications for the European RMR, the team faced a difficult path. They managed to complete them only in sixth place. 9 Pandas turned out to be stronger than Nexus and ECSTATIC, but lost to Natus Vincere and SAW. In the decider match, which threatened to end up in Last Chance, they faced 3DMAX. Denis seized Kostin’s team managed to win and advance directly to RMR.
At the European RMR 9 Pandas ended up in Group A, where they faced a very difficult first match against FaZe Clan. After the expected defeat, the team redeemed itself in the meeting with SAW, but lost in a close confrontation with KOI. In the elimination match, the team again defeated 3DMAX and a decider match awaited them with compatriots from AMKAL for access to PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. They failed to win such a significant victory, but Denis seized Kostin still had one last chance – to get to the major through the Last Chance Qualifier.
Week later, 9 Pandas had to face Astralis. The team managed to show all its power and unexpectedly left the roster of Nicolai device Reedtz without a home major. Seeding allowed the club to go straight to the decisive match and play one less match. There 9 Pandas met GamerLegion. For opponents, this slot was also extremely important, like Denis seized Kostin, Janusz Snax Pogorzelski missed all the majors since 2018. But in the head-to-head meeting, 9 Pandas turned out to be stronger. For the team, this victory meant everything – this was evident from the emotions of the players after the end of the match.
Denis seized Kostin managed to create a new team from scratch and lead it to the most important tournament in the career of every esports player. Participation in PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 means that the player is truly back on the big stage and will compete for the championship with the best teams in the world. While it is difficult to expect a phenomenal result from 9 Pandas at the major in Copenhagen, the club will most likely stop at the group stage. The maximum goal for the club could be to qualify for the playoffs, but there will be few chances to compete for the title. However, 9 Pandas knows how to surprise and, perhaps, they will be able to show a sensational result at Valve’s first Counter-Strike 2 event.