Natus Vincere is in the top 10 again in CS:GO

A few months ago, Natus Vincere made several roster changes and immediately dropped a lot of positions in the global rankings. They were in the top 10 and then fell to position 30. Now, after two decent results obtained at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups (4^th-6^th) and IEM Cologne (7^th-8^th), they are back to being a top 10 team.

Na’Vi’s rank is currently 9^th, but they will soon climb much higher. It all depends on the synergy between Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Mihai “iM” Ivan. If these two players learn how to cooperate with each other really well, Na’Vi’s current roster will thrive.

Everyone on this team is highly experienced. Some of the players, such as s1mple, are so good that they can win matches almost on their own. The IGL, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, has already demonstrated his ability to lead teams to victory. The only thing that’s missing is a common language.

When you have an international roster, English becomes a mandatory requirement for everyone. We know that s1mple understands the language and can even speak it to some extent. We also know that the other members are comfortable with it. But it will take a while for the team as a whole to get comfortable with using it during matches.

We’ve seen what Team Vitality and FaZe Clan achieved with an international roster. So we shouldn’t doubt Na’Vi’s ability to do the same. The only real question is: will this team succeed in 2023 or will they need another 5 months to train and develop a solid system before they can beat the world’s best?

This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. It’s time for our first #IEM Cologne 2023 voicecomms. Enjoy it!

📽️: https://t.co/TgAvUpwhrF#CSGO #navination pic.twitter.com/FJSMsRbS1p

— NAVI (@natusvincere) August 12, 2023

Na’Vi’s strengths

Even though only two players from the former Na’Vi roster are still around, they are arguably the best of the five who used to compete for the club. And the three guys who joined are quite strong.

The most promising of the three is iM, who solo-carried GamerLegion to the Grand Final of BLAST.tv Paris Major, lost by his team against Team Vitality. His performance throughout the tournament reminded people of s1mple’s early days, when he was winning matches on his own.

S1mple probably liked what he saw and wanted to have a great teammate. No doubt, the transfer must have been very expensive, which is why GamerLegion decided to give up on their best player. Small teams tend to only have a brief moment in the Sun. After that, the bigger ones take their best members.

Header: Natus Vincere