The future of Natus Vincere after winning PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. A new era or an accident?
No one expected Natus Vincere’s victory at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, not even the players themselves and the club’s coach. Andrey B1ad3 Gorodenskiy noted that the maximum result for the team in the playoffs would be a place in the top 4 of the championship, but despite this, the team managed to win the first CS2 major as an outsider. After such victories, the question arises about the future of the team, because it is quite difficult to consolidate your success in this position. Natus Vincere has not reached its peak form, and after the championship title at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, the best teams in the world will closely watch it and it is unlikely that it will be able to surprise again. Virtus.pro found itself in a similar situation after winning the IEM Rio Major 2022: in two years, the team never won another major tournament. However, NAVI’s roster has several aspects thanks to which they can gain a foothold in the top of the best teams and create their own new era. In this article we will discuss the future of Natus Vincere after winning the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 and the reasons for their success.
Reasons for Natus Vincere's possible success after the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024
One of the main advantages of Natus Vincere at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 was the presence of a stable and promising young sniper. After Ihor w0nderful Zhdanov joined NAVI, no one believed in his success, because he had to replace one of the best players on the planet – Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev. Nevertheless, even if not immediately, the young talent achieved his goal enough to help the team win the first CS2 major. The sniper did not receive such a high rating for the championship (1.11), but in key matches he was one of the key players on the roster and made many important kills. It is still difficult to judge the future prospects of Ihor w0nderful Zhdanov, because the distance of the major is too small, he still has to open up at future tournaments and prove all his power.
In addition to a great sniper, the Natus Vincere roster was able to reveal a confident reefer. Justinas jL Lekavicius showed his full potential after a few months at the club and became one of the best players on the current roster. NAVI was also very lucky that its brightest tournament came at a major – thanks to his performance, jL even received an MVP medal, and also helped the team beat formidable opponents in G2 Esports and FaZe Clan. If Justinas Lekavicius can maintain his playing form, he could be one of the reasons Natus Vincere dominates the professional scene.
The success of these two players is certainly the merit of NAVI coach Andrey B1ad3 Gorodenskiy. Before moving to NAVI, they did not perform at the tier-1 level and initially the new squad of the club did not look particularly promising or competitive. This is not the first time that Gorodensky manages to reveal the talents of esportsmen; we recall that he was one of the first who noticed the prospects of Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev and took him to FlipSid3 Tactics, and later was able to re-educate the future star in NAVI and cope with his toxic character. Without Andrey B1ad3 Gorodenskiy, the current Natus Vincere roster would not have been able to win PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, just as the past would not have been able to dominate for a long time and triumph at PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
We can say that the departure of Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev into inactivity also had a positive impact on the success of NAVI in CS2. The team lost some firepower, but gained a pleasant atmosphere in the team and confidence in each other. Players no longer need to listen to comments from the main star of Natus Vincere and it has become easier for them to communicate in matches. The team understood that they were not the favorites of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, but they enjoyed playing together and did everything possible to win and support the decisions of their teammates.
Is victory at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 an accident?
Despite the positive aspects, the Natus Vincere roster has several fundamental problems that may not allow the team to consolidate its success after PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. Despite the championship at the major, three players of the team are in terrible shape. Because of this, NAVI’s triumph became an even greater sensation, because the team’s players did not stand out statistically, and the team itself lost more rounds than it won. Aleksi Aleksib Virolainen has the least complaints in this matter, since he plays the role of captain. However, he fails too much in terms of individual form, and top esports players in the IGL position have long shown that even in such a role it is possible to perform with positive statistics.
The main «anchor» of Natus Vincere is Ivan iM Mihai. Even after winning the major, many questions remain for the player, as well as for Natus Vincere itself, which keeps him on the roster. During his entire time playing for the club, he did not show a single successful tournament, and at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 he completely failed. Andrey B1ad3 Gorodenskiy attributes the esportsman’s results to nerves in official matches, but he already had enough time to get used to playing on the shooting tier-1 stage, which he failed to do. Even after winning the major, NAVI can replace Ivan iM Mihai in order to act for the future and consolidate their success.
The once star player of Natus Vincere, Valeriy b1t Vakhovskiy, also does not show the same success. He was never able to adapt to Counter-Strike 2 and no longer looks like such a formidable opponent. It is also noticeable that he is not quite accustomed to playing in an international lineup; he was able to show himself better with players from the CIS. After the departure of Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev, Valeriy b1t Vakhovskiy should have become the main star of NAVI, but after a while he completely lost this status, losing to the club’s newcomers.
Given this trend, Natus Vincere has no players left who can save the team in case of complete failure of its other members. The NAVI mechanism only works with perfect team play and competent performance by all involved. This is a competent system, but even it sometimes fails, and by assembling such a roster, the organization lost its backup plan in case of failures during big tournaments.
To summarize, we come to the conclusion that Natus Vincere is unlikely to be able to create their own era in times of enormous competition. To do this, they need a completely different composition, for example, what they had before the Russians left for Cloud9. However, if the club can properly prepare the team for the upcoming tournaments, it will be able to win a few more victories before the team goes into decline.