Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere
Location  Ukraine
Founded 2009
Manager(s) Oleksandr "ZeroGravity" Kokhanovskyi
Sponsors Twitch.tv
DXRacer
SteelSeries
AOC International
G2A
HyperX
EGB.com
eSportsStore
Kiev Cybersport Arena
3OHA51
FragStore
Divisions Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Dota 2
FIFA
World of Tanks
Heroes of the Storm
League of Legends
Website www.navi-gaming.com

Natus Vincere (Na'Vi) is a multi-gaming esports organisation based in Ukraine with teams and players competing in Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, FIFA, World of Tanks, Heroes of the Storm, and League of Legends. Their Counter-Strike division is the first in history to win three major tournaments—Intel Extreme Masters, Electronic Sports World Cup, and World Cyber Games 2010—in one calendar year. Their Dota 2 division won the inaugural 2011 edition of The International Dota 2 Championship.

"Natus Vincere" is translated from Latin as "Born to Conquer."

Counter-Strike

History

Winning the ESWC 2010

Na'Vi winning ESWC 2010

After a bad performance at the Arbalet Cup CIS 2010 (4th place), Markeloff, the best player of the team, decided to skip the next big tournament, ASUS Winter 2010, so that the team could prepare for the Arbalet Cup and the Ukrainian qualifications for the ESWC.[1][2] In the middle of May 2010, Na'Vi took 2nd place in the prestigious Arbalet Cup Europe 2010 in Stockholm, losing to Fnatic in the finals and earning $10,000 in prize money.[3] Na'Vi finally gained victory at ESWC Ukraine.[4]

In the final part of the ESWC, the team hit the highest seeding, along with SK Gaming, Fnatic, and mTw.dk.[5] On July 4, 2010, Natus Vincere achieved the highest accolade in the history of Ukrainian e-Sports, winning the ESWC (which previously couldn't be reached by any CIS team), defeating SK Gaming in the finals: 16:5 (de_train) and 16:4 (de_inferno).[6] During the tournament Na'Vi passed through the group stage thanks to fortune, but outplayed Fnatic and mTw.dk in the playoffs.[7]

After being victorious in the world championship, Natus Vincere announced their participation in 2 more tournaments—Arbalet Cup Dallas and GameGune 2010 (Bilbao).[8] On July 18, 2010, Na'Vi won Arbalet Cup Dallas beating Mousesports in the final match: 19:15 (de_dust2), 16:12 (de_inferno). After receiving $25,000, Na'Vi took the first place in quantity of prize money earned by European teams that year.[9] Na'Vi took 3rd place in GameGune 2010 and Intel Extreme Masters Shanghai.[10][11]

Victory at the World Cyber Games 2010

Na'Vi winning World Cyber Games 2010

On August 15, Na'Vi won the Ukrainian qualifications for the 2010 World Cyber Games and got a paid voucher to the finals in Los Angeles from September 30 to October 3, 2010.[12]

The next tournament for Na'Vi was ASUS Summer 2010, to which the team received a direct invitation. This tournament became first in the ASUS Open series, which was held at Kyiv gaming center "Kyiv CyberSport Arena". In the semi-finals Na'Vi lost to Kazakh team k23 and as a result took the 3rd place.

On October 4, 2010 Natus Vincere became the World Cyber Games world champions by defeating Danish team mTw.dk in the finals.[13] This victory made Na'Vi the first team in the world which had managed to hold the three most prestigious championship titles at once (IEM, ESWC, WCG). At the end of October 2010, ESL TV commentator Bakr "KinGSaicx" Fadl proclaimed that SK Gaming was going to invite the Ukrainian team to take place of its Swedish squad, but the manager of Natus Vincere declined this information.[14]

In early November 2010 Natus Vincere took part in the World e-Sports Masters tournament (WEM 2010), which annually gathers the best teams from all over the world in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Among eight participants of the tournament, Na’Vi took 4th place as well as $7,500.[15]

Victory at DreamHack Winter 2010

From the 25th to the 27 November 2010 in the Swedish city of Jönköping the largest LAN party in the world took place—DreamHack Winter 2010. To go to this tournament, Natus Vincere had to skip a major Russian tournament, ASUS Autumn 2010, since it was coinciding with DreamHack’s dates. After finishing the group stage Na'Vi consistently outplayed teams puta, fnatic, Frag Executors, and mTw.dk in the finals, winning the tournament.[16] During the four playoff matches the Ukrainians lost only one time to fnatic on the new map—de_mirage.[17][18] "Starix" (Serhiy Ischuk) received the tournament's MVP award.

After winning DreamHack Winter 2010, the team established a new record: winning $220,000 in one year.[19] The previous record belonged to Swedish team fnatic, who earned $189,000 in 2009 (before that, the record was held by Swedish team SK Gaming with earnings of $183,000 in 2003).[20]

Winning the Intel Extreme Masters 5

On March 5, 2011 Na'Vi defended their position in Hannover as the champions of the Intel Extreme Masters and earned $35,000. They defeated Polish team Frag Executors in the finals: 16:12 (de_train) and 16:10 (de_dust2).[21] $4,550 of the prize money was deducted (13% of the total) as a penalty for breaking the rules.[22]

Record prize money

The amount of prize money in 2010– $215,573 (as of November 7, 2010) holds the record for the entire history of professional Counter-Strike.[19] Previous records belong to Swedish teams SK Gaming ($183,000 in 2003) and fnatic ($189,000 in 2009).

World Top Counter-Strike players

In 2010, popular website HLTV.org had made rankings for the 20 best Counter-Strike players. Yegor "markeloff" Markelov was 1st place, Sergey "Starix" Ischuk 4th, Ivan "Edward" Sukharev 5th, and the captain of Na'Vi "Zeus" had 19th place, as well as "The best captain of the year".[23][24]

2015

Na'Vi reached the finals of DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 where they were beat 2-0 by Team EnVyUs. Na'Vi won Intel Extreme Masters Season X - San Jose after beating Team Solomid (Now Astralis) in the grand finals 2-0.

Current roster

Coach & Manager

DotA & Dota 2

History

In October 2010, the creation of a Defence of the Ancients (DotA) squad was announced, which included the best Ukrainian players. Initially the team was composed of Oleksandr "XBOCT" Dashkevych, Artur "Goblak" Kostenko, Bogdan "Axypa" Boychuk, Oleksandr "Deff" Stepaniuc, and Andriy "Mag~" Chipenko. However, in December 2010, Mag~ and Deff- left the team. The empty slots on the team were filled by Ukrainian players from DTS.Chatrix—Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, Davis Brianne "Tacxz" Tacorda, and Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov, who became the captain of this new squad.

A roster change on June 17, 2011 resulted in the replacements of Goblak and Axypa with Clement "Puppey" Ivanov and Dmitriy "LighTofHeaveN" Kupriyanov. In August 2011, Na'Vi was invited to the first Dota 2 tournament at GamesCom, Cologne, Germany. The event named "The International" featured 16 of the top teams from all over the world with an impressive amount of prize money—$1,600,000. Na'Vi was the ultimate winner, beating Chinese team EHOME 3–1 in the grand finals and winning a cash prize of $1,000,000.

On October 13, 2011, shortly after their victory, Artstyle left the team. The captain position was taken up by Puppey, and Sergey "ARS-ART" Revin, from Russian team Moscow Five, took the fifth slot on the roster.

2012 was a very successful season for Na'Vi as they won multiple tournaments throughout the year, including four consecutive seasons of Star Ladder's Star Series, the premier tournament for the CIS region.

At The International 2012, Na'Vi attempted to defend their title where they ultimately placed 2nd, losing to the Chinese team Invictus Gaming 1–3 in the grand finals.

At the end of February 2013, ARS-ART was replaced by Gleb "Funn1k" Lipatnikov from Russian squad Team Empire. Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi from Mousesports also joined the team, while LighTofHeaveN went inactive. In April 2013, after his contract expired, LighTofHeaveN officially left for Team Empire. In June 2013, Na'Vi announced an all female squad.

The first half of 2013 was difficult for Na'Vi as they struggled to gain a footing in major tournaments with their new lineup. Their first major tournament win was against RoX.KIS at the first season of the ESL Major Series One in April. In July, Na'Vi competed against 9 of the best Eastern teams at the Alienware Cup. They defeated LGD Gaming.cn 3–2 in the grand finals, and became one of the few Western teams to win a major Chinese tournament.

In August 2013, Na'Vi once again reached the Grand Finals of The International 2013, but they lost 2–3 in a very close fifth game against the Swedish team Alliance.

In July 2014, Na'Vi was knocked out in the lower bracket knockout phase of The International by Cloud9, placing at 7/8th place and earning $519,208. This would be the first time Na'Vi would not make it to the Grand Finals of The International. Many fans attributed this to lack of adaptation and even went as far to mark it as an end of an era. Soon after this, Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi and Clement "Puppey" Ivanov left the team.

On February 13, 2015, Gleb "Funn1k" Lipatnikov retired from the Na'Vi Dota 2 team.[27]

On March 4, 2015, DkPhobos joins Na'Vi, replacing Funn1k.

On March 9, 2015, DkPhobos leaves Na'Vi to rejoin ASUS.Polar.

On March 25, 2015, Goblak leaves Na'Vi with SoNNeikO taking his spot

On April 5, 2015, Na'Vi announces the return of Funn1k and ArtStyle with VANSKOR moving to reserve after battling a long term illness

On August 27, 2015, Na'Vi announced the departure of captain Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov following a disappointing finish at The International 2015.[28]

On September 2, 2015, Artstyle returned, but as a substitute. The main roster spot was filled by acquiring Yondonjamts "kuki" Nyamtseren, and the second substitute spot was filled by Ilnur "Kudes" Khafizov.[29]

On October 16, 2015, Na`Vi announced the disband of their main roster [30]

On October 19, 2015, Na`Vi say on their website that Danil "Dendi" Ishutin and Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev will pick out the remaining 3 players for a new Na`Vi roster[31]

Current roster

Tournament results

Place Tournament Location Date Prize money
IEM 4 European Finals Germany, Cologne 15–17 January 2010 $1 250
Arbalet Asia Kazakhstan, Almaty 30–31 January 2010 $10 000
IEM 4 World Championship Finals [32] Germany, Hannover 3 April 2010 $50 000
Arbalet Cup Best of Four Ukraine, Kyiv 9–11 April 2010 $12,000
Arbalet Cup Europe Sweden, Stockholm 14–16 May 2010 $10,000
Arbalet Cup Dallas 2010 USA, Dallas 16–18 July 2010 $25,000
Fragnet Summer Tour 2012 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo 25–26 August 2012 $500
Extreme Masters: Shanghai China, Shanghai 29 July – 1 August 2010 $5,000
ASUS Summer 2010 Ukraine, Kyiv 28–29 August 2010 $3,000
Dreamhack Winter 2010 Sweden, Jönköping 25–27 November 2010 $28,200
Intel Challenge Super Cup 7 Ukraine, Kyiv 19–20 March 2011 $5,000[33]
OSPL Spring 2011 Kazakhstan, Almaty 3 April 2011 $5,500[34]
ASUS Spring 2011 Ukraine, Kyiv 28–29 May 2011 $4,430[35]
DreamHack Summer 2011 Sweden, Jönköping 18–20 June 2011 $1,600[36]
Adepto BH Open Bosnia, Sarajevo 24–26 June 2011 $7,500[37]
GameGune 2011 Spain, Bilbao 22–24 July 2011 $4,000
ASUS Summer 2011 Ukraine, Kyiv 13–14 August 2011 $1,000[38]
The International 2011 Germany, Cologne 17–21 August 2011 $1,000,000[39]
e-STARS Seoul 2011 South Korea, Seoul 19–21 August 2011 $9,200[40]
SEC 2011 Poland, Warsaw 06–9 October 2011 $10,000[41]
ESWC 2011 France, Paris 21–23 October 2011 $6,000[42]
DreamHack Winter 2011 Sweden, Jönköping 24–27 November 2011 $4,275[43]
IEM 6 Global Challenge Kiev Ukraine, Kiev 19–22 January 2012 $16,000[44]
IEM 6 World Championship Finals Germany, Hanover 06–10 March 2012 $20,000[45]
TECHLABS Cup 2012 Russia, Moscow 17–18 March 2012 $10,000[46]
Copenhagen Games 2012 Denmark, Copenhagen 04–8 April 2012 $6,200[47]
DreamHack Summer 2012 Sweden, Jönköping 16–19 June 2012 $3,600[48]
The International 2012 USA, Seattle 31 August – 2 September $250,000[49]
Pro Gamer Series Exponor 2012 Portugal, Porto 10–14 October 2012 €4,000[48]
Alienware Cup China, online 16 June – 7 July 2013 $25,000[50]
RaidCall Dota 2 League Season 3 Spain, Valencia 20 May – 21 July 2013 $5,000[51]
The International 2013 USA, Seattle 7–11 August 2013 $632,370[52]
DreamHack Winter 2013 Sweden, Jönköping 28 Nov – 1 Dec 2013 $25,000[53]
SLTV Star Series Season 8 Ukraine, Kiev 25 Nov 2013 – 19 Jan 2014 $62,000[54]
8 The International 2014 USA, Seattle 8 Jul 2014 – 21 Jul 2014 $516,131[55]
15 The International 2015 USA, Seattle 3 Aug 2015 – 8 Aug 2015 $55,289[56]
IEM Season X - San Jose USA, San Jose 21 Nov 2015 – 22 Nov 2015 $115,000
Total 17 9 8

League of Legends

Na'Vi previously had a LoL team in 2012. In 2015 they announced the formation of a new squad which consists of Jesper "Jwaow" Strandgren (top lane), Amin "Amin" Mezher (jungle), Hicham "SozPurefect" Tazrhini (mid lane), Sébastien "exork" Lamorte (AD Carry), Patrick "MounTain" Dasberg (support), and Krystian "Czaru" Przybylski (mid lane substitute).[57]

World of Tanks

In July 2013 Russian–Ukrainian team Red Rush began competing under the Natus Vincere banner in World of Tanks.[58]

Na'Vi won the first Wargaming.net League of World of Tanks in Warsaw, Poland in April 2014.[59]

Heroes of the Storm

Na'Vi branched into Heroes of the Storm in April 2015 by acquiring Team Tomorrow Big.[60] The team won the European 2015 Road to BlizzCon event without losing a match[61] and made it to the semifinals of the Heroes of the Storm World Championship which took place at BlizzCon 2015.

Current roster

Contribution to the development of Ukrainian e-sports

Na'Vi and former prime minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov

On July 14, 2010 Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov met the team Natus Vincere in the Cabinet of Ministers’ building. During the meeting issues pertaining to the development of the IT industry in Ukraine were discussed. The Prime Minister promised to hold the E-Sports International Open Cup of Ukraine in 2011. Ukrainian players were enrolled in to the so-called "Gold Reserve", enlisting the support of the government.

References

  1. ↑ "Украинская команда по CS 1.6 победила на "Arbalet Cup-СНГ"" (in Russian). Подробности. 27 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  2. ↑ "NaVi пропустят ASUS Winter 2010". CYBERFIGHT.RU. 14 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  3. ↑ "Arbalet Cup Europe 2010 Summer: репортаж" (in Russian). CYBERFIGHT.RU. 16 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  4. ↑ "ESWC Украина: репортаж" (in Russian). CYBERFIGHT.RU. 30 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  5. ↑ "UNiTED и NaVi могут оказатся в одной группе на ESWC 2010" (in Russian). CYBERFIGHT.RU. 27 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  6. ↑ "Украинцы выиграли чемпионат мира по Counter-Strike" (in Russian). Подробности. 4 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  7. ↑ "Na´Vi beat SK twice to win ESWC". hltv.org. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  8. ↑ "Na´Vi confirmed for GameGune". HLTV.org. 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  9. ↑ "Обновился рейтинг заработков от Arbalet Cup" (in Russian). CYBERFIGHT.RU. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  10. ↑ "Результаты турнира GameGune 2010". ytstrystysyttysy`Vi – третьи!. 2010-07-26.
  11. ↑ "EM Шанхай: fnatic чемпионы!" (in Russian). CYBERFIGHT.RU. 1 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  12. ↑ "Українська команда Natus Vincere поїде на World Cyber Games 2010" (in Ukrainian). watcher.com.ua. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  13. ↑ "Medals: GRAND FINAL: 2010". wcg.org. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  14. ↑ "NaVi метят в SK?" (in Russian). cyberfight.ru. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
  15. ↑ "WeMade FOX win WEM 2010". hltv.org. 7 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
  16. ↑ "Na´Vi win DreamHack Winter 2010". hltv.org. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  17. ↑ "Репортаж с DreamHack Winter 2010 — День третий". gameinside.ua. 27 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  18. ↑ "Dreamhack Winter: Na`Vi заканчивают год непобеждёнными!". cyberfight.ru. 27 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  19. 1 2 "Esport Index Counter-Strike team: Natus Vincere". SK Gaming. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  20. ↑ "Na`Vi выирали $220,000 за год!" (in Russian). gameinside.ua. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  21. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Natus Vincere do the double, beat FX". sk-gaming.com. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
  22. ↑ "IEM 5: На Na`Vi наложены санкции". CYBERFIGHT.RU. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
  23. ↑ "Markeloff – лучший игрок 2010 года!". navi-gaming.com. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  24. ↑ "Top 20 players of 2010: Introduction". HLTV.org. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  25. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Natus Vincere Website". navi-gaming.com. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  26. ↑ "starix steps down in Na`Vi". Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  27. ↑ "Funn1k leaves the team". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  28. ↑ "ArtStyle leaves Natus Vincere". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  29. ↑ "Natus Vincere welcomes PSM!". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  30. ↑ "Natus Vincere bids adieu to its Dota 2 Roster - Natus Vincere Website". read.navi-gaming.com. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  31. ↑ "Dendi and SoNNeikO to form new Na'Vi - Natus Vincere Website". read.navi-gaming.com. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  32. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Na´Vi top PiNG, win Arbalet Cup Ukraine". sk-gaming.com. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  33. ↑ "Intel Challenge Super Cup 7: NaVi чемпионы!". CYBERFIGHT.RU. 20 March 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  34. ↑ "OSPL SPRING 2011 Counter-Strike — NaVi выигрывают турнир". CYBERFIGHT.RU. 3 March 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  35. ↑ "Na´Vi victorious at ASUS Spring". hltv.org. 29 May 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  36. ↑ "Na´Vi claim DH Summer bronze". hltv.org. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  37. ↑ "Adepto BH Open 2011". ProPlay. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  38. ↑ "Прямой репортаж с ASUS Summer 2011 – день 2". cyberarena.tv. 14 August 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  39. ↑ "The International 2011 - Valve".
  40. ↑ "Итоги e-STARS Seoul 2011".
  41. ↑ "AGAiN out plays Navi".
  42. ↑ "SK beats Navi".
  43. ↑ "Fnatic wins DH:W 2011".
  44. ↑ "Navi wins iem 6 kiev".
  45. ↑ "ESC wins IEM 6".
  46. ↑ "Navi at TCL Finals".
  47. ↑ "Fnatic Wins CPH 2012".
  48. 1 2 "Fnatic Wins DHS 2012".
  49. ↑ "The International 2012 - Valve".
  50. ↑ "Navi winning the Alienware Cup".
  51. ↑ "Navi winning the RaidCall Dota 2 League Season 3".
  52. ↑ "The International 2013 - Valve".
  53. ↑ "Natus Vincere wins the ASUS ROG DREAM LEAGUE in Dota 2".
  54. ↑ "Natus Vincere wins the SLTV Star Series Season 8 in Dota 2".
  55. ↑ "The International 2014".
  56. ↑ "The International 2015".
  57. ↑ Bury, Josh (December 10, 2015). "Natus Vincere announces LoL roster". TheScore eSports. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  58. ↑ "Na`Vi signs World of Tanks squad!". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  59. ↑ http://wargaming.com/en/news/2014/04/08/navi-gets-world-champions-title-after-hard-fought-battle-against-virtuspro/
  60. ↑ "Na`Vi opens HotS division". navi-gaming.com. Natus Vincere. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  61. ↑ Higgins, Chris. "The secret to Na’Vi’s 10–0 Heroes of the Storm run". redbull.com. Red Bull eSports. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
Preceded by
tournament created		 The International winner
2011 		Succeeded by
Invictus Gaming (iG)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.