Vitality and Natus Vincere made it through the group stage with three straight wins to put them directly into the Semi-Finals on Saturday in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. However, when looking at the top performers of the tournament so far, G2 sticks out despite their opening loss against SAW. In the lower bracket, G2 completely annihilated their opponents to secure a Quarter-Final spot in Cologne. Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa is one of the two new members on the roster, and looking at the stats for the tournament so far, it looks like a very good move by the management of G2.

Here are the 10 best performers in the group stage of IEM Cologne 2024:

1. {cflag:BA} Nikola “NiKo” Kovač (G2) – 1.44 rating (9 maps)

2. {cflag:RO} Mihai "iM" Ivan (Natus Vincere) – 1.43 rating (7 maps)

3. {cflag:UA} Valerij "b1t" Vakhovsjkyj (Natus Vincere) – 1.42 rating (7 maps)

4. {cflag:RU} Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov (G2) – 1.39 rating (9 maps)

5. {cflag:GT} Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa (G2) – 1.38 rating (9 maps)

6. {cflag:LT} Justinas "jL" Lekavičius (Natus Vincere) – 1.35 rating (7 maps)

7. {cflag:BA} Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač (G2) – 1.33 rating (9 maps)

8. {cflag:PL} Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak (Liquid) – 1.30 rating (9 maps)

9. {cflag:IL} Shahar "flameZ" Shushan (Vitality) – 1.29 rating (7 maps)

10. {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut (Vitality) – 1.28 rating (7 maps)

You can read more about the tournament, results and schedules on our [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/everything-need-know-about-iem-cologne-2024","isNewTab":true,"text":"tournament page"}].

NiKo

B1tGOD

m0NESY

malbsMd

huNter

Ultimate

flameZ

ZywOo

G2 Esports

Facing a packed Royal Arena, NAVI continued their impressive campaign in Copenhagen, where they were initially considered outsiders. However, during the playoffs, NAVI demonstrated their ability to thrive under pressure, securing victories against Eternal Fire and G2. Against the seasoned FaZe roster, NAVI elevated their performance yet again.

FaZe opted for Ancient as the opening map, yet they never managed to gain a lead. Finn "karrigan" Andersen's squad consistently trailed NAVI, with NAVI's in-game leader Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen excelling in both shot-calling and fragging. Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy, the sole remaining member from NAVI's 2021 Major Champions team, and Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, the standout performer of the event, contributed significantly, culminating in NAVI securing the map.

Moving to Mirage, NAVI secured the pistol round, but FaZe struck back, seizing momentum and dominating NAVI's map pick with ten consecutive round wins. FaZe's 10-2 lead at halftime transitioned into a resounding 13-2 victory, forcing the match onto Inferno as the final map.

Inferno, renowned as the ultimate decider map in Counter-Strike, set the stage for the historic conclusion of the first CS2 Major. NAVI swiftly amassed seven rounds, overturning the narrative once more. FaZe's dominance on Inferno waned, allowing NAVI to dictate the pace. A pivotal 1vs3 clutch by FaZe's newcomer, David "frozen" Čerňanský, momentarily halted NAVI's momentum. However, NAVI's proactive approach, exemplified by Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, ensured they maintained control, thwarting FaZe's comeback attempts. The first half concluded 9-3 in favor of NAVI.

The pistol round in the second half proved decisive, as NAVI capitalized and won all rounds in the second half to emerge victorious in Copenhagen. A first Major win for Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, Ivan "iM" Mihai, and Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov, while Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy won his second Major with impressive win in the Royal Arena.

NAVI takes home the title alongside the first prize of $500,000 and the honour as the first Major winner in CS2.

NAVI - FaZe 2-1 | PGL Major Copenhagen Grand Final

13-9 (Ancient) | b1t - 1.55 Rating / 19-12 K-D / 98.1 ADR

2-13 (Mirage) | ropz - 1.91 Rating / 16-4 K-D / 109.1 ADR

13-3 (Inferno) | b1t - 2.16 Rating / 23-7 K-D / 131.6 ADR

Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy - 1.52 Rating / 51-34 K-D / 104.0 ADR

Aleksib

w0nderfu1

Natus Vincere

FaZe

The third group of ESL Pro League Season 18 ended with a fine display from Natus Vincere, who took out FaZe with a solid 2-0 win.

On Anubis Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy was a menace on both CT and T-side in a map where NAVI destroyed FaZe 16-4. On Nuke it was much more even, but still with NAVI in control. The Ukrainian Organization finally looks like a dangerous team again after some disappointing results lately. A 16-13 win on Nuke sends NAVI directly into the Quarter-Finals of ESL Pro League, where they join Vitality and ENCE.

FaZe will have to go through the second playoff round to qualify for the later stages of the tournament. Fnatic and 9z ended 3rd and 4th in the group. 9z took the long way through the first round of the Last Chance Stage to qualify. In the lower bracket of the tournament, they took out M80, Apeks, and 5yclone along the way to qualify for the playoffs. 

NAVI is out of IEM Katowice after a semi-final loss to Heroic. But with wins against Cloud9, Team Liquid, and Outsiders earlier in the tournament, there were also a lot of good things to carry forward for the team. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"heroic-eliminate-navi-ready-grand-final-katowice","isNewTab":true}]

And while all eyes are on the new addition of the team, Andrij "npl" Kukharsjkyj, it was a couple of the more experienced players in Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov and Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy that heavily underperformed in the semi-final. After the match Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev commented on the performance in the match against Heroic, and the Ukrainian did not hold back.

- Overall (the tournament) was nice, but on stage, some of the players still shit in their pants. The way some players played and communicated today was just awful to watch and hear.

The NAVI captain also gave praise to Heroic, who outclassed NAVI on the day.

- Today we played a much better team 100%. Individually they played really, really good and hit some insane headshots, but as a team, they just rolled us. They snowballed us on their T-side.

NAVI's next tournament is ESL Pro League, where they will play in Group D.

s1mple

electronic

An early treat was given to the Danish fans of Counter-Strike, as Astralis and Heroic went head to head at BLAST Spring Groups.

Both teams had lost their opening match at the event. Heroic's shocking defeat to Evil Geniuses gave way to an unexpected Danish derby in Group A.

The match started out on Inferno, where it was a one-man show from Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz that saw Astralis win their own map pick 16-10. But from here on it was all Heroic. In the next two maps, Astralis only managed to win eight rounds in total.

Heroic won 16-4, 16-4 on Mirage and Vertigo to seal the win and drop Astralis down to the knockout stage, where they will fight for their chance to qualify for the BLAST Spring Finals in a single elimination bracket. Heroic still has the chance to win Group A but will need to win against EG on Tuesday and then beat Team Vitality in the Group Final on Wednesday.

Earlier today Group C was kicked off with victories for G2 and Natus Vincere against BIG and Ninjas in Pyjamas.

MVP: {cflag:BA} Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač - 1.26 rating

Natus Vincere - Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 (16-9, 17-19, 16-8)

MVP: {cflag:UA} Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi - 1.26 rating

Heroic - Astralis 2-1 (10-16, 16-4, 16-4)

MVP: {cflag:DK} René "TeSeS" Madsen - 1.36 rating

BLAST Spring Groups will continue tomorrow with matches in Group B.

device

TeSeS

Heroic

Astralis

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi has to be considered one of the best rookies of all time. The young superstar showed highly skilled aim as a rookie for Natus Vincere in 2021. With b1t showing confidence from the very start and great performances, NAVI secured themselves four big event trophies during b1t´s first year in 2021. The young aim king took his new team to victory at IEM Cologne, PGL Major Stockholm, BLAST Premier Fall Final, and BLAST Premier World Final 2021.

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During the 2021 season, the Ukrainian rifler was averaging  1.10 Rating / 72.5 ADR / 1.04 IMPACT / 0.68 KPR. 

Check out the best highlights from b1t in 2021 right here:

For many years, NAVI’s CS:GO team had been on the brink of greatness. No matter how many legendary players had been a part of the roster, that one crucial piece that would push them over the edge was always missing. When b1t joined NAVI’s lineup, few people thought the inexperienced rookie could help take the squad to the top of CS:GO. But already at his first Major at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, b1t proved that he was exactly what NAVI needed to win.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"pgl-major-stockholm-2021-navi-lift-first-major-trophy","isNewTab":true}]

That’s why the now 19-year-old Ukrainian rifler, Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy, in his second year as a pro player for Natus Vincere has gone on to earn $1,003,324.36 in tournament prize money. His success has led him to become the second highest-earning Ukrainian CS:GO player just after Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev who has $1,672,721.98 to his name.

To compare it to other pro players, he’s just been in the pro Counter-Strike landscape for two years. Even Vitality’s ZywOo, who is undoubtedly one of the best to ever touch the game made it to $564k in twice the time it took b1t. ZywOo is now 22 years old. Then there’s sh1ro, who is currently 21 years old. He has played at the top level of Counter-Strike for a similar time and made $523k. This shows exactly how crazy b1t’s achievement actually is.

While NAVI crashed out of BLAST Fall Finals in the Quarter-Final against Ninjas in Pyjamas they still managed to produce some amazing moments.

One of them came from their young Ukrainian rifler Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi. The 19-year-old was standing in the latter room on Mirage, where he could hear the NIP troops approaching. With a spectacular play, b1t managed to take down all three NIP players with just three bullets! An incredible accuracy!

[twitchClip:CarelessAmusedShingleTheThing-v4GNANaFqSvSLoO0]

While NAVI is out of the competition, you can still bet on the Semi-Finals at BLAST Fall Finals via our betting partners down below.

With the 18th Major being in full swing at IEM Rio, we have taken a look at who has been the best player in Major in history.

On our list, you will have to have played at least 20 maps to be part of the ranking.

1. {cflag:BR} Marcelo "coldzera" David - 1.25 rating (72 maps)

Widely considered one of the best CS:GO players of all time. The Brazilian has been incredibly consistent at the nine Majors in his career winning two of them back in 2016. He is still most famous for his insane double no-scope shot at Mirage that saved Luminosity down 9-15 in the Semi-Final of the MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016.

Coldzera's play inspired his team to a fantastic comeback and was later rewarded with a graffiti from Valve. Coldzera is back in action this year for 00NATION, who was one of the 24 teams, who qualified for IEM Rio. The Brazilian is currently the best player at a Major.

2. {cflag:UA} Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev - 1.21 rating (92 maps)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"Gamle billeder/S1mple_ukraine_1_dn8xxh","originalWidth":1279,"originalHeight":719,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

Probably the best CS:GO player to ever play the game. The Ukrainian finally won a Major last year in Stockholm but has shown some incredible consistency in his performances on the big stage. He has attended 11 Majors, and will always be remembered for his double no-scope kill on Cache.

3. {cflag:UA} Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi - 1.18 rating (22 maps)

From two veterans to a newcomer on the big stage. The headshot machine of NAVI was brought in before the PGL Stockholm Major. And what an impact he had! b1t gave NAVI the last push to elevate the team to become the best in 2021 without any doubt. He rocked a 1.21 rating in Stockholm in his Major debut!

4. {cflag:LV} Helvijs "broky" Saukants - 1.17 rating (21 maps)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/broky_FaZe_jpl5dy","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

The Latvian could be looking into grabbing another Major in Rio in November. FaZe is one of the big favorites for the tournament, and luckily for them, they seem to be able to rely on broky as a difference-maker. At his first Major in Stockholm, broky was the best player for FaZe, who had a disappointing run. In Antwerp, he played a big part in FaZe winning the title. The AWP'er also has the ability to perform some sick clutches and is definitely a player to keep an eye on in the future.

5. {cflag:SE} Andreas "znajder" Lindberg - 1.17 rating (21 maps)

29-year-old znajder has had a long career in CS:GO. He won a Major in 2013 with Fnatic, but was also taking part in ELEAGUE Major in 2017 for GODSENT. The Swedish rifler was also skilled with the AWP, and performed at the highest level in all three Majors that he played. At the start of 2021 he was announced on the Lemondogs roster, but has not played any competitive games since the summer of 2021.

6. {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut - 1.16 rating (46 maps)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/ZywOo_Vitality_dhr4lu","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

It was always meant to be for ZywOo. He was born on the same day as Counter-Strike's commercial release on November 9, 2000. Dubbed the "Chosen One", ZywOo has also delivered on the big stage. In his four Majors so far, ZywOo has been outstanding on an otherwise mediocre team. Team Vitality has not made it past the Quarter-Final stage despite ZywOo's individual brilliance. Will Rio be the tournament, where ZywOo and Team Vitality breaks through?

7. {cflag:DK} Nicolai "device" Reedtz - 1.15 rating (123 maps)

When is device coming back? Is device coming back? Where is device now? The questions surrounding the Danish AWP god are many, which all seem fair looking at device's Major results. As part of the legendary Astralis roster, device won four Majors and earned two MVP's along the way. His best individual Major was IEM Katowice 2019, where device scored a rating of 1.32.

8. {cflag:US} Timothy "autimatic" Ta - 1.15 rating (29 maps)

The North American player earned himself a reputation from 2017-19 on Cloud9, where the rifler performed consistently in four Majors in a row. The highlight was undoubtedly the Boston ELEAGUE Major in 2018, where Cloud9 on home turf shocked the world and won the Major. Now the American rifler is back and will play his fifth Major at IEM Rio, where he and Evil Geniuses will look to build on their rising form.

9. {cflag:PL} Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski - 1.14 rating (83 maps)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Snax_2_obqqd7","originalWidth":1000,"originalHeight":563,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Virtus.pro - DreamHack"}]

As part of one of the most legendary rosters in Counter-Strike history, Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski has made his mark on the game, which we all love. The Virtus.pro rifler has attended 13 Majors in total and finished among the four best in seven of them. On home turf in Katowice in 2014, Snax and Virtus.pro cemented their names in history with a win. His best individual performance was in 2014 at the DreamHack Winther 2014 event.

10. {cflag:RU} Denis "electroNic" Sharipov - 1.14 rating (69 maps)

The now NAVI in-game leader has played eight Majors in his career mostly for NAVI. He made his debut at a Major for the team FlipSid3 together with Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy, who is the coach of NAVI now. At the FACEIT Major in London 2018, electroNic was the highest-rated player at the event with a 1.36 rating! The Russian star has won one Major and been in three Grand Finals in total.

(The list is made without the statistics from IEM Rio)

coldzera

broky

znajder

autimatic

Snax

Here are the best players at Majors

Virtus.pro

Bad News Eagles acted as the grim reaper yesterday knocking tournament favorites FaZe out of IEM Rio. Today the Balkans was tasked with an equal tough job in Natus Vincere.

Unlike yesterday, NAVI opted not to ban Ancient against BNE. A decision that turned out to be a good idea.

NAVI came out firing on all cylinders finally activating Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy. The young Ukrainian has had a rough IEM Rio, but against Bad News Eagles the NAVI rifler was ruthless. With Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev also showing off his insane talent, NAVI smashed BNE 16-3 on Ancient!

On their own map pick of Nuke, NAVI won eight rounds on their T side in the first half. A strong start to the map, where Bad News Eagles now had to produce their best-ever T side to stay alive. But two rounds was all that NAVI allowed them to win. The PGL Stockholm Major winners were on another level in the match and had absolutely no problems taking down BNE.

Natus Vincere is now in the 2-2 bracket, and will have one last match left to qualify for the playoffs tomorrow.

NAVI – Bad News Eagles 2-0 | IEM Rio Major Legends Stage

16-3 (Ancient) | {cflag:UA} s1mple – 2.15 Rating / 25-6 K-D / 128.5 ADR

16-9 (Nuke) | {cflag:UA} s1mple – 1.41 Rating / 20-15 K-D / 85.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev - 1.72 Rating / 45-21 K-D / 104.1 ADR

Bad News Eagles

We are now less than one week away from the start of the much-awaited IEM Rio Major in Brazil. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 17 Majors. Today we have reached the second-most recent Major: PGL Major Stockholm where NAVI secured their first-ever Major title with a flawless run.

The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 was the 16th CS:GO Major Championship and the most anticipated event of all time because the Covid-19 pandemic made it impossible for organizers to arrange a championship with an audience for two years. Other than that, the PGL Major Stockholm was the first Counter-Strike Major broadcasted in 4k, while the event also had the biggest prize pool in the history of the franchise: a whopping $2 million! 

 Natus Vincere (s1mple – electronic – B1T – Boombl4 – Perfecto) 

 Ancient, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Vertigo. 

The Russian-Ukrainian squad was undoubtedly the best CS:GO team coming into the PGL Major in Stockholm and it seemed impossible to deny them this Major achievement. All of NAVI’s players were full of confidence as well as momentum, as they had just completed their Intel Grand Slam a month before the event. And with consistently high placements in the CIS Regional Major Rankings (RMR) events throughout the year, NAVI earned themselves a top-two seed at the PGL Stockholm Major. This meant that Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy’s troops got to start in the New Legends Stage as a part of the top 16 teams. 

However, their journey to glory wasn’t easy at all, as NAVI had to face multiple tough opponents on the way such as Heroic, NiP, Team Vitality, and Gambit before ultimately taking down G2 in the grand final. 

Kirill “Boombl4” and company started the event with a match against Casper “cadiaN” Møller’s men from Heroic who were sitting in 5th place in the HLTV world ranking at that time. In a very tough match, NAVI came out on top of Ancient with a 16-11 scoreline. Later, NAVI took upon Dzhami “Jame” Ali and the rest of Virtus.pro in a matchup where NAVI left no chance for their opponents, closing out the match in dominant fashion on Overpass, 16-4. 

A bo3 match against Ninjas in Pyjamas for a spot in the playoffs as an undefeated 3-0 team awaited for Born To Win. The match was expected to deliver some nail-biting action, but both maps turned out to be one-sided affairs, as NAVI booked themselves a ticket to the playoffs with back-to-back 16-9 wins against the Swedes. 

Their first opponent in the playoffs was Team Vitality. Many predicted that the Frenchmen were going to be the first team to steal a map away from NAVI, but s1mple and company made quick work of them. NAVI took Vitality’s map pick of Dust2 16-11 before returning to their home of Nuke to extend their map-win streak to 17 with a 16-13 scoreline. That victory led them to the semi-finals where their rivals from Gambit waited for an exciting CIS derby. On two maps, NAVI gave away only 11 rounds in total and locked in a spot in the grand final. 

The grand final was the most closely contested match for NAVI at the event and the closest they came to losing a map. Boombl4’s men registered a somewhat comfortable 16-11 victory on the newest map in the rotation, Ancient, a planned curveball from the French-Balkan squad which took fans by surprise. G2 hoped to catch NAVI off guard but failed. G2 would need to deliver some magical individual performances to keep the series alive, considering NAVI’s home of Nuke was up next, where the Russian-Ukrainian squad held a 17 map win streak. 

On Nuke, NAVI were tested to their very limit by G2 who looked dangerous with some strong showing from the Kovac’s and Audric “JaCkz” Jug who all three pushed their team to a 10-5 advantage. The roster of G2 continued their strong form and secured match point at 15-10. However, s1mple and company resurfaced from the depths of defeat to force not one but two overtimes. In double overtime, NAVI secured match point and eventually snatched Nuke away from G2’s grip right in front of their eyes. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"nikos-heaven-flank-denied-gods ","isNewTab":true}]

With a 2-0 victory in the grand final, NAVI not only repeated Astralis’ flawless Major playoffs in the past but went a step further by not dropping a single map throughout the entire event, claiming the title with an incredible 10-0 map record. NAVI made history and completed the most dominant run ever seen at a CS:GO Major. 

Watch highlights from the Grand final right here: 

The Ukrainian beast, Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev capped off a fantastic Major event with a powerful final performance as he inspired NAVI to a stellar 2-0 victory over G2 with a server-leading 1.51 rating and took home the MVP medal in the process. s1mple’s first-ever Major MVP and the 17th MVP medal of his career at the time. 

s1mple topped the charts in several categories across the event, most notably leading in rating (1.47), KD-diff (+106), and kills per round (0.95). The arguably best player of all time finally achieved his dream of winning a Major trophy and he showed up on every single map to become the only player in history to be both Major MVP and the highest-rated player. 

Highest rated players at PGL Major Stockholm 2021

1. Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (NAVI) – 1.47 Rating 

2. Nikola ”NiKo” Kovac (G2) – 1.36 Rating 

3. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (Vitality) – 1.30 Rating 

4. Dennis “electronic” Sharipov (NAVI) – 1.28 Rating 

5. Valeriy “B1T” Vakhovskiy (NAVI) – 1.27 Rating 

6. David “frozen” Cernanský (MOUZ) – 1.22 Rating 

7. Dmitry ”sh1ro” Sokolov (Gambit) – 1.21 Rating 

8. Helvijs ”broky” Saukants (FaZe) – 1.18 Rating 

9. Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi (CPH Flames) – 1.16 Rating 

10. Martin “stavn” Lund (Heroic) – 1.15 Rating

The Grand final between Natus Vincere and G2 reached a peak viewership number of 2,748,434 viewers, demolishing the previous CS:GO peak viewership record by over 1 million, according to [link:{"url":"https://escharts.com/tournaments/csgo/pgl-major-stockholm-2021","isNewTab":true,"text":"Esports Charts"}].

Earlier matchups in the event also consistently broke records from previous Majors and were watched on various streams across the world, setting a high new standard for CS:GO event viewership.

1. PGL Major Stockholm 2021 – 2,748,434

Perfecto

Boombl4

IEM Rio will be the second CS:GO Major of 2022 and the first-ever Major tournament to be held in Brazil. The Challenger Stage of the Major will kick off on October 31, with the Grand final of the event set to be played on November 13. Once the Legends Stage kicks off, a total of 16 teams will be competing for the lion’s share of the $1.250.000 prize pool, with the winner walking away with a Major trophy and $500.000.

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{cflag:UA} Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev – 1.29 Rating in 2022

{cflag:RU} Denis “electronic” Sharipov – 1.11 Rating in 2022

{cflag:UA} Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev – 1.01 Rating in 2022

{cflag:RU} Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy – 1.04 Rating in 2022

{cflag:UA} Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy – 1.12 Rating in 2022

Is not that long ago since NAVI fell out of the Top 3 of HLTV’s World Ranking for the first time since they acquired Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy to the first team. Their last dip from the Top 3 dates all the way back to May 2021, so it’s not a secret that there have been some questions regarding the team who had a disappointing start to the second half of the season. This is the reason why the spotlight was sat on the new IGL, Denis “electronic” Sharipov, who many didn’t find as the right man for the job. However, after a rough 5th-8th finish at ESL Pro League Season 16, NAVI picked themselves up and made some clear changes in the way of approaching the game, which has helped them finish the rest of this year, until now, with podium finishes.

They succeeded in moving through the RMR Europe with ease, recording no losses at all to secure a 3-0 record. At the end of the event, electronic and s1mple were to be found on the top of the best-performing players with a 1.58 and 1.48 Rating, respectively.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"video-3-07-rating-electronic-gets-41-kills-just-21-rounds-rmr","isNewTab":true}]

Many CS:GO fans would probably be pointing to Natus Vincere as one of the favorites alongside FaZe and Team Vitality to win the IEM Rio Major. They’re the second-most recent Major winner behind FaZe, and their coolness and individual experience on the big stage could get them a long way, even if they aren’t hitting their best day as a team. Our prediction is that s1mple and company from Natus Vincere will reach the semi-final of the Major. But, the only way to know for sure is to tune in to the Major when it kicks off on October 31, 2022.

 2nd at PGL Major Antwerp 2022, 1st at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022, 1st-3rd at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022, 1st at Intel Extreme Masters Road to Rio 2022: European RMR B.

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The future of competitive Counter-Strike is looking bright – very bright. The increased focus and huge investment in talent and academy teams throughout the entire CS:GO circuit in recent times has made it much easier to not only discover the new up-and-coming players, but it has also made it much easier to climb the ranks as a youngster.  

In this article, we’ve taken a look at the best performing teenagers in top-tier CS:GO by listing the 10 highest-rated under-20 players in 2022 so far. And it comes with little surprise that NAVI's Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy is to be found at the very top, with the promising Ukrainian having made a lightning entry onto the scene after his debut last year. His former NAVI Junior teammate Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov is doing his best to catch up with him as the AWPer is placed right behind him.

1. {cflag:RU} m0nesy (G2) | 1.12 rating / 70.8 ADR / 1.10 Impact rating

2. {cflag:UA} b1t (NAVI) | 1.11 rating / 75.4 ADR / 1.11 Impact rating

3. {cflag:IL} flameZ (OG) | 1.11 rating / 77.5 ADR / 1.17 Impact rating

4. {cflag:RU} Patsi (Spirit) | 1.09 rating / 82.2 / 1.25 Impact rating

5. {cflag:RO} lauNX (Sprout) | 1.09 rating / 79.2 ADR / 1.17 Impact rating

6. {cflag:BR} dumau (00Nation) | 1.09 rating / 78.4 ADR / 1.09 ADR

7. {cflag:RU} fame (Outsiders) | 1.07 rating 73.5 ADR / 1.05 Impact rating

8. {cflag:DK} jabbi (Heroic) | 1.06 rating / 75.7 ADR / 1.08 Impact rating

9. {cflag:LT} bymas (MOUZ) | 1.04 rating / 71.9 ADR / 0.92 Impact rating

10. {cflag:DK} Zyphon (Sprout) | 1.03 rating / 72.5 ADR | 0.97 Impact rating

(Stats are from Top 30 matches - Minimum 30 maps played)

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Jabbi

fame

Bymas

Zyphon

lauNX

dumau

Patsi

NAVI had a tough task ahead of them at BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where they had to play without their superstar Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, who due to personal reasons had to skip the group stage at the event.

In his place, NAVI fielded 18-year-old Danyyl "headtr1ck" Valitov, who had to fill in some big shoes. In the first match of the day, Danyyl "headtr1ck" Valitov did well but had to see his team in big problems against Complexity. On Overpass the NA team managed to completely shut down NAVI's offense and ended up winning the map 16-9.

Immediately after it was time for G2 to give their new lineup a go against Team Liquid. But the debut ended badly with G2 losing 16-12 on Mirage to a well-playing Team Liquid with Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis in top form. Then G2 went on to lose another match, as NiKo's men fell short against NAVI in a nailbiter of a match.

Team Liquid took a narrow victory against Complexity to give way for a rematch between Complexity and NAVI. This time around there was no doubts about the result, as NAVI won 16-3 with Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi delivering a spectacular match.

The Group Final between Team Liquid and NAVI ended up being another one-sided match in favor of NAVI. Again Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi stepped up and saw his team win Group A with a comfortable 16-4 win.

All teams in the group are still alive before next week's playoff round at BLAST.

compLexity Gaming

Team Liquid

If you have been a fan of professional Counter-Strike for some time, you will probably have heard about the Cathedral of Counter-Strike. Having hosted some of the most iconic CS:GO events of all time, IEM Cologne is an event that any team in the world would love to be able to call themselves the champions of. With just four teams remaining at the ongoing event, the Semi-final stage had been reached. Locking horns in the first Semi-final were Astralis and Natus Vincere. Needless to say, Natus Vincere were the heavy favorites going into the brawl between the two rosters. Looking to add to their impressive past performances at IEM Cologne, the CIS giants took the necessary step toward becoming champions yet again as they moved past the Danes of Astralis in the Semi-final. 

The first map of the Bo3-series was picked by Astralis and saw the Semi-final kick off on Nuke. Whilst Natus Vincere, and especially "s1mple" are a scary opponent to face on Nuke, so has Astralis been in the past three months. Having won their last seven maps of Nuke, before locking horns with NaVi, it seemed the obvious pick for the Danes to try and get off to a great start in the Semi-final. Off to a great start, however, were NaVi as they let their presence be known on Nuke from early on. A great CT-sided half with impressive calls from IGL "electroNic" saw the NaVi boys secure an 11-4 lead before going into the second half of Nuke. Once the two teams had switched sides it seemed as if a more cohesive Astralis side emerged. This, however, was only until NaVi found their footing on their T-side, managed to discombobulate the Astralis defense, and secure victory at the scoreline of 16-8. 

The second map of the brawl was, of course, picked by Natus Vincere, and saw the battle continue on Mirage. Whilst it is a map that Astralis have begun playing more and more since acquiring "blameF" and "k0nfig", the prospect of taking down NaVi on one of their absolute best maps seemed a daunting one after the defeat on Nuke. Whilst it seemed as if Mirage would be a quick affair for the NaVi roster, they were met with a completely different Astralis opponent, this team led by "blameF" calling the shots. Looking far looser than on Nuke, Astralis posted a rock-solid defense with "Farlig" and "k0nfig" stepping up in a huge fashion. At 12-3, Astralis had put themselves in an incredible position to capitalize on Mirage. In the second half, Natus Vincere finally came alive. Slowly biting away at the Astralis lead, Natus Vincere managed to make Mirage close in the end. in fact, NaVi managed to make the scoreline so close that overtime was needed at 15-15 to find a victor. After the short break leading into OT, NaVi seemed back to their usual selves and managed to claim victory on Mirage at the scoreline of 19-17. 

Natus Vincere - Astralis 2-0 | IEM Cologne (Semi-finals) 

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

B1tGOD

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