NaVi confirm new CS:GO lineup

After several weeks of rumors, one of the most popular organizations in the CS:GO competitive scene, NaVi, confirmed the signing of three new players to their lineup for the second half of 2023 and, of course, for the transition to CS2.

There is no doubt that this move was practically a done deal after a disappointing first half of 2023. NaVi could not show a good level of play, and they did not even manage to reach the final stages of their tournaments. In addition, they failed to qualify for the Champions Stage in the Paris Major.

NaVi confirm its new CS:GO lineup

After many rumors, the Ukrainian organization, NaVi, confirmed the signing of Ivan “iM” Mihai, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, and Justinas “jL” Lekavicius. These three players join Valerij “b1t” Vakhovsjkyj and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev to try to raise the name of this team to the top in the CS:GO competitive scene.

Warm welcome to @AleksibCSGO, @iMeCSGO and @jLcsgo_
Learn more about our updated roster: https://t.co/kB6Ua0XigQ pic.twitter.com/kvvjMdIiE5

— NAVI (@natusvincere) June 30, 2023

On the other hand, this also takes care of confirming the departure of Denis “electroNic” Sharipov, Andrij “npl” Kukharsjkyj, and Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy from the team. There is no doubt that this is a radical change in the Ukrainian organization, especially in their Counter-Strike division, as it is the first time in their history that they have an international lineup.

NaVi is an organization that was characterized by keeping a majority of players from Ukraine or Russia to preserve the Russian language in the games. However, now only s1mple and b1t will be the Ukrainian players that are kept to preserve the tradition.

As we mentioned, these changes are fair and necessary for this organization, which has not been able to have good results so far this year. In addition, it is worth mentioning that NaVi’s turning point was at the end of February 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was just a few days old. However, the team completely fell apart after the departure of its IGL, Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhaylov, in May 2022.

ElectroNic failed in its role as an IGL

After Boombl4 departed from the lineup, electroNic took over the team’s IGL role, but the player focused so much on the new role that he neglected his level of play. However, not everything disappointed NaVi under electroNic’s tenure, as they won the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022.

NaVi played with Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev in their starting lineup as a substitute from May to December. However, when his contract ended, the organization promoted npl from the Academy team. At the same time, this move made things much worse, as the team did not perform well in the first half of the year. As a result, NaVi opted for a completely different path by getting rid of two of its most important players, electroNic and Perfecto, and one of its jewels, npl.

About the new signings

Everyone in the scene knows Aleksib’s level of play and performance, so he is expected to adapt to the team and form a solid partnership with s1mple. However, for now, there is a big doubt regarding Finn’s ability to lead a team with the GOAT of CS:GO, s1mple in its ranks.

On the other hand, adding iM is one of the most interesting ones, as the 23-year-old Romanian was the revelation of the Paris Major and was one of the main pillars of Team GamerLegion in its path to the tournament’s Grand Final. On the other hand, jL also looks good for this lineup, as he has been Apeks’ best player in their tournaments.

Finally, this new international lineup of the Ukrainian organization will debut in a showmatch against Team Vitality on July 8, 2023.

Header: NaVi