Natus Vincere, commonly abbreviated as Na’Vi, is a Ukranian esports organization founded in 2009 when they entered into the Counter Strike scene. Natus Vincere means “born to win” in Latin.
In 2010 Na’Vi picked up their first Dota team. A year after their inception and after bringing Danil “Dendi” Ishutin onto the roster, Na’Vi was invited to The International 2011. The team led by Dendi would later find themselves in the grand finals claiming a 3-1 victory over EHOME, securing themselves a first place finish in The International 2011. After a rough couple of years, Na’Vi’s Dota 2 team disbanded in late 2015, only to be reformed a few days later.
Na’Vi’s ongoing involvement in the Counter-Strike scene has proved fruitful for the organization. Despite reaching the finals of both DreamHack Cluj-Napoca 2015 and MLG Columbus 2016, the team has been unable to claim a Major title. Na’Vi’s CS:GO roster is expected to make deep tournament runs at almost every event, especially with a talent pool that boasts the likes of world-class AWPer Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács, remarkably consistent 1.6 veteran Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev, and young CIS talent Egor “flamie” Vasilyev. Most recently, the team replaced long-time team captain and in-game leader Daniil “Zeus” Teslenko with Ukranian Counter-Strike prodigy Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. Na’Vi are known for their methodical and slow-paced playstyle, especially during their T side campaigns–the team often sets up passive defaults designed to counter Counter-Terrorist aggression before transitioning into intricate late-round bombsite executes. The future is promising for Na’Vi’s CS:GO team, especially following the acquisition of s1mple, whose stellar performance while on Team Liquid was an integral part of the North American team’s historic Major tournament runs.
