BLAST Premier Spring Lisbon saw the return of NAVI in prime form, which the leaderboards also reflected afterward. With s1mple taking home his 20th MVP award in his career most of the focus has naturally been on the #1 player in the World. But worth mentioning is also the new in-game leader Denis "electroNic" Sharipov, who by margins had his best event in 2022 despite taking over the reins as the caller on the team.

Highest rated at BLAST Premier Spring Finals:

KAST (Percentage of rounds in which the player either had a kill, assist, survived or was traded):

s1mple

electronic

ZywOo

B1tGOD

NiKo

Natus Vincere

We have finally reached the brawl we have all been waiting for. Eight of the best teams in the world started their run here at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal. Now we are down to just two teams. Vitality and Natus Vincere, "ZywOo" and "s1mple" - the biggest names in CS:GO is set to lock horns as the Grand Final of the event seeks to find the ultimate champion. Before the Bo3-series kicked off, it was clear that Natus Vincere were the favorites. The bumpy performances from Vitality have left us wondering how those five players are yet to have cemented themselves as a well-oiled machine. However, a great performance in the Semi-finals might have brought just enough life into the Vitality soul that a close brawl could be on the cards. Close, however, it never came to be. A masterclass performance from young "b1t" and his teammates at Natus Vincere were simply too much for Vitality to handle and in just two maps it was NaVi to call themselves champions at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022. 

The first map was picked by Natus Vincere and saw the battle begin on Mirage. As the most played map in the history of CS:GO, Mirage is a map that every single player on the server is more than familiar with. Unfortunately for Vitality, however, it is also a map that "s1mple" and NaVi are incredibly scary on when things are going their way. From early on it became apparent that NaVi is every team's worst nightmare when they are playing to their level of skill. A turned-on "s1mple" spearheaded the CIS offensive as they steamrolled Vitality at the beginning of the first half and secured an early 9-1 lead. Finally, Vitality woke up and managed to make the halftime scoreline somewhat respectable at 10-5, favoring NaVi. It seemed as if we would perhaps see a more ready Vitality roster going into the second half of Mirage. This, however, was not the case. Carrying over their momentum from their T-side, NaVi got another great start to their CT-side. Only allowing Vitality three rounds on their T-side, it was Natus Vincere to close out Mirage with conviction at the scoreline of 16-8. 

The second map of the brawl was, of course, picked by Vitality and saw the two rosters head towards Overpass to continue the battle. Overpass is a map that Vitality often pick as their map pick and a map that has been played very few times by NaVi in the past three months (2 maps). Despite the numbers favoring Vitality, Overpass is also a map that allows for great impact from a team's individuals seeing that rotations can be done fast and in a multitude of different ways. This time it was the French and Danish roster to have the better start to Overpass. It wasn't long until the beast of NaVi was awakened and once again it was clear that NaVi were in charge. A cohesive CT-sided half concluded with Natus Vincere in the lead at the scoreline of 11-4. Once the two rosters had switched sides, Vitality would have to put up an impressive performance to get back into the game against NaVi. The comeback of dreams never happened for Vitality and a dominating victory was slowly but surely put together by NaVi. At the crushing scoreline of 16-5, Natus Vincere took home Overpass, won the Grand Final against Vitality, and celebrated their deserved victory in Lisbon, Portugal. 

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Natus Vincere - Vitality 2-0 | BLAST Premier Spring Finals - Lisbon (Grand Final)

16-8 (Mirage) | {cflag:UA} b1t - 1.48 Rating / 21-15 K-D / 102.3 ADR

16-5 (Overpass) | {cflag:RU} electroNic - 1.89 Rating / 26-10 K-D / 116.0 ADR

: {cflag:UA} Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy - 1.55 Rating / 41-25 K-D / 103.9 ADR

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Team Vitality

The NAVI icon Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev seems to have found his inheritor of the throne on the Ukrainian super team.

In a post-match interview yesterday, after securing a playoff spot over NIP at PGL Major Antwerp, s1mple touched on his young teammate Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy where he praised him to the skies – rightfully so, with b1t topping the charts throughout the Legends Stage, posting a 1.43 Rating (s1mple "only" averaging a 1.22 Rating)

- We are just getting warmed up. We always get a better form during official games and especially on LAN. So hopefully we will play much better in playoffs. And I mean, why should I step up when we have a “b1t”? – a future Major MVP, s1mple added and continued:

- Overall, his aim is insane. He needs to work on his understanding of the game and that’s what we are trying to help with. As you see every month, he understands more of Counter-Strike.

You can watch a piece of the interview with s1mple in the two videos down below.

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Yesterday s1mple and the rest of NAVI secured themselves a playoff spot at the Major, following their victories over G2, BIG and NIP in the Legends Stage. Here they will be joined by Spirit and six other teams making it through from the Swiss group. 

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For a while, it actually looked like BIG had something to say in their round two matchup with Natus Vincere. A close first half ended with an 8-7 lead in favor of NAVI, but that was the last time, that the match was competitive. 

As CT's NAVI only lost one single round to completely deny any BIG attempts at breaking through the defense. BIG's new player Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa got the lesson of his life against fellow youngster Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy, who won their duels 5-0. The Ukrainian has started excellently at the event with two stellar performances.

NAVI won the match 16-8 and is now ready for tomorrow's qualifications matches, where they go head to head with another 2-0 team at the event for the first spot in the Champions Stage. BIG will have to fight their way out of the 1-1 bracket to keep their hope alive for a playoff run.

NAVI – BIG 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage

16-8 (Ancient) | {cflag:UA} Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy - 1.49 Rating / 19-11 K-D / 95.8 ADR

Krimbo

Day 1 of the Legends Stage at PGL Antwerp has been filled with insane matchups to highlight the great level of Counter-Strike that the best teams in the world has to offer. The best match was left for last as a suiting dessert with the two Grand Finalists from last year's Major going head to head.

NAVI and G2 picked Mirage as the battleground for the rendezvous. The two teams gave each other a great fight trading rounds back and forwards. Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi picked off where he left at the last Major with a brilliant performance, while Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač played greatly on the other side of the server as well.

G2 carried an 8-7 lead to the second half, where they finally managed to string some rounds together, which gave them a 14-11 lead towards the end of the match. But then s1mple got activated. The best player in the world came in clutch for his team at the exact right time to help NAVI to overtime in a thrilling and intense match.

In overtime it was NAVI that fought best and edged out G2 in a superb last match of the first round. Both teams are back in action later tonight.

NAVI – G2 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage

19-17 (Mirage) | {cflag:UA} Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy - 1.30 Rating / 31-21 K-D / 90.8 ADR

huNter

G2 Esports

In the match of the day at ESL Pro League, the favorites of Group D, Na'Vi, took on Heroic in a battle for first place in the group. The CIS squad stays undefeated after defeating the Danes 2-0. s1mple and company took the lead in the series after a 16-7 game on Overpass before securing the victory on their pick of Mirage 16-5.

The action opened on Heroic’s map pick of Overpass, where NAVI took the first pistol round and got off to a good start, leading the Danes 3-0 early on. Despite a slow start, Heroic fought back to tie up the game 4-4, but then s1mple and company shifted into a different gear, winning seven in a row to make it 11-4 at halftime. After swapping sides, the Russian domination ensued once again. Five rounds were all NAVI needed on their T-side, and they managed to close things at 16-7 to take the first map of the series.

The second map of the series was Mirage, picked by NAVI. After having gained momentum and confidence on Overpass, NAVI came flying out of the gate on Mirage. The CIS squad wasted no time getting started, winning the pistol round and converting it to a 6-0 start before the Danes won their first round. NAVI stayed in control during the half, but Heroic started to stabilize their defense, winning a couple of rounds and managing to end the half with a slightly more respectable 10-5 score in the favor of NAVI. The game didn’t look any different after halftime, as the Russians won the pistol round and didn’t look back after that, closing out the map 16-5 and the series 2-0.

Heroic – NAVI 0-2 | ESL Pro League Season 15 (Group D)

7-16 (Overpass) | {cflag:UA} ⁠s1mple – 1.51 Rating / 22-13 K-D / 79.4 ADR

5-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:UA} b1t – 1.63 Rating / 19-10 K-D / 100.2 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi – 1.42 Rating / 36-23 K-D / 89.1 ADR

Heroic

Top 5 Leaderboards | ESL Pro League Season 15 (Group D) 

2. {cflag:US} Brehze (Evil Geniuses) | 96.7

5. {cflag:US} Brehze (Evil Geniuses) | 1.45

2. {cflag:US} Brehze (Evil Geniuses) | 65.0%

3. {cflag:US} autimatic (Evil Geniuses) | 60.9%

1. {cflag:US} Brehze (Evil Geniuses) | 2.49

 (percentage of rounds in which the player had a kill, assist, survived or was traded)

Despite their age, the young players have already shown incredible levels. The youngsters have been a menace so far and will be some of the best players in the future. But who will be the last youngster back at IEM Katowice to take the trophy?

The five youngest players competing in the Semifinals of IEM Katowice 2022 today:

m0NESY

stavn

TeSeS

broky

In the world of Counter-Strike, the Intel Grand Slam is one of the most prestigious and greatest honors to obtain. The massive prize and title live up to its name, as the Intel Grand Slam offers no more than a whopping $1.000.000 in prize winnings.  The Intel Grand Slam was founded in 2017 by ESL and the prize is awarded to any team that manages to win four S-tier events held by ESL and DreamHack in a span of ten tournaments.

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In this article, we’ll be taking a look at how Natus Vincere cemented themselves into the history of Counter-Strike by becoming the third team to win an Intel Grand Slam and the spoils of $1.000.000.

NAVI joined the elite group of Astralis and Team Liquid, but became the first team to complete the impressive run with victories in both ESL Pro Tour Championship competitions, IEM Katowice, and IEM Cologne. They also managed to break Astralis’ record for most prize money won in a calendar year – $4,275,500, surpassing the achievement of Astralis, who scooped in $3,600,000 in 2018, according to esportsearnings.com.

Intel Grand Slam Season 3 | 2019-07-18 to 2021-09-12

Winners: Natus Vincere (Born to Win) – s1mple, Boombl4, Perfecto, B1T, electronic, flamie.

Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship | NAVI 

Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Cologne | NAVI 

The third season of the Intel Grand Slam is the only one that had two of its events held online. DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 and ESL Pro League Season 14 were among many other events in that period that just couldn’t be carried out on LAN due to the Covid-19 crisis and its devastating consequences. This was also the reason for the Season 3 of the Intel Grand Slam being the longest one to date, lasting 756 days since it kicked off at IEM Chicago 2019.

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In the first two seasons of the Intel Grand Slam, which were won by Astralis and Team Liquid respectively, a team was required to win four S-Tier events out of ten. With Astralis and Team Liquid both securing the Intel Grand Slam title within the same twelve months, many fans feared that there would be no third season of the Intel Grand Slam. However, Season 3 of the Intel Grand Slam got confirmed not long after, but the IEM boss, Michal Blicharz revealed that there had been made some changes in the rules. To win the Intel Grand Slam, a team could still secure the title with four wins in ten consecutive tournaments but had to win either IEM Katowice, ESL One: Cologne, or a Major held by ESL or DreamHack.

Here’s the story of NAVI’s journey to the Season 3 Intel Grand Slam title.

NAVI begin the hunt for the Intel Grand Slam

Natus Vincere’s hunt for the Intel Grand Slam title began at IEM Katowice in February 2020. It was the last S-Tier LAN event before the Covid-19 pandemic forced CS:GO events to be played online. At the event, NAVI recovered from an early loss to fnatic and made it out from the Lower bracket by defeating the likes of FaZe Clan and Ninjas in Pyjamas to lock in a spot in the playoffs. Here, NAVI’s top level of team play began to show, with all their players’ individual skills also shining through.

In convincing fashion, they stormed through to the grand final with 2-0 victories over Team Liquid and Astralis before ultimately taking down G2 3-0. The Russian-Ukrainian squad only dropped 29 rounds in their final five maps. Their Ukrainian beast, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, grabbed the MVP award and averaged a 1.33 rating across 18 maps, totally outclassing the opposition at the tournament while also closing out the grand final with a 1.52 rating.

NAVI’s second step towards the Intel Grand Slam title came in April 2021. In the period leading up to the DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 event, NAVI was going through a bit of a turbulent time with their six-man roster and decided to make a change. After some poor results at IEM Katowice 2021 and ESL Pro League Season, the organization announced the benching of flamie, replacing him with one of Ukraine’s biggest talents, B1T. In his first S-Tier event with NAVI at DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, the 18-year-old prodigy quickly showed the CS:GO world what he was capable of. With B1T, NAVI seemed to had found their missing piece as they went on to eliminate MOUZ, Virtus.pro, FURIA, and Heroic before sweeping their CIS rivals from Gambit with a 3-0 series result in the grand final.

The Ukrainian beast, s1mple, grabbed another MVP award, finishing DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 with a 1.41 across 15 maps. This was s1mple’s 13th MVP medal of his career.

Just a week later, the world of CS:GO finally got the experience that they had waited for in such a long time. The first LAN event in 500 days, IEM Cologne. Here, NAVI played their hearts out and no one stood a chance against them. They demolished every team on their way to the grand final – Renegades, Team Vitality, Astralis, and FaZe Clan. In the grand final of the event, they took upon G2, their opponents from the last LAN event at IEM Katowice. The Russian-Ukrainian squad made quick work of the grand final and came out on top with a dominant 3-0 victory to claim what seemed to be rightfully theirs.

Once again, s1mple clinched the MVP award, this time at a stacked $1 million tournament. The Ukrainian beast showed terrifying form throughout the whole event and averaged a 1.51 overall rating. The MVP medal was s1mple’s fourth of the year and 15th in his career as a professional Counter-Strike player.

NAVI write their name in the history books

Coming from IEM Cologne and a short player break, it was clear to everyone that Born to Win was a level above everyone else in CS:GO and undoubtedly the best team heading into the ESL Pro League Season 14 event, where they would finally clinch the Intel Grand Slam title. And even if they didn’t triumph at the event, they would still have two opportunities to claim the prize.

Natus Vincere started off with topping the arguably most competitive group in the tournament, taking down the likes of fnatic, MOUZ, Evil Geniuses, and FaZe before crushing the playoffs with victories over ENCE and Heroic to set up a grand final battle against ZywOo and company from Team Vitality. The Frenchmen got the best out of NAVI in the grand final and pushed them to the limit by making sure the affair went the distance of five maps.

However, NAVI’s momentum of their previous victories helped them clinch the victory on the deciding map, Mirage (16-14).

Alongside the ESL Pro League title and the Intel Grand Slam, s1mple was awarded the 16th MVP medal of his career. The Ukrainian superstar was without a doubt the best performer at the event and topped several categories, including rating (1.35), kills per round (0.88), impact rating (1.48), and KAST (77.8%), while also being in the Top 5 in terms of K-D difference (+135), ADR (87.3), and opening kills per round (0.18).

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NAVI got their deserved Intel Grand Slam title and wrote their names in the history books of CS:GO by becoming the third team to win an Intel Grand Slam while silencing any doubters or haters in the process.

Events that were part of the Intel Grand Slam Season 3

Here’s the list of events that were part of the Season 3 Intel Grand Slam:

- ESL One: New York 2019 – Evil Geniuses 

- DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 – fnatic 

- ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals – MOUZ 

- IEM Katowice World Championship 2020 – Natus Vincere 

- Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge – Astralis 

- DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 – Natus Vincere 

The most exciting fact is that Boombl4's men weren’t even looking to slow down things any time soon.

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Boombl4

flamie

Perfecto

Team Liquid

Astralis

The current CS:GO rulers from Natus Vincere have had a quite unsuccessful BLAST Premier Spring Groups campaign, having lost to MIBR, Astralis and NIP. Nonetheless, have Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and company still managed to book a ticket for the prominent BLAST Spring Final tournament in June this year.

The qualification became a reality this Sunday when NAVI met the Swedes from NIP for a rematch from the previous stage. Last time NIP got the better of the world leaders - however, today the power balance had turned.

Not even a strong NIP comeback on Overpass turning a 7-14 deficit into 14-14 could overthrow NAVI, as they showed impressive damage control in a tough situation, securing the 2-0 win despite the Swedes stepping up their game on the second map. 

NAVI – NIP 2-0 | BLAST Premier Spring Groups

16-6 (Nuke) | {cflag:UA} b1t – 1.78 Rating / 25-8 K-D / 101.9 ADR

(Overpass) | {cflag:UA} s1mple – 1.48 Rating / 26-17 K-D / 93.3 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Aleksandr ”s1mple” Kostyliev – 1.59 Rating / 50-28 K-D / 99.0 ADR

Ninjas in Pyjamas

NAVI advanced to the next stage of the gauntlet at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2022 after defeating Liquid 2-0. 

The action started with NAVI’s map pick of Mirage, and the CIS team barely came out on the first half but still managed to get an 8-7 lead before halftime. EliGE and company did a great job, while the containing Major champions struggled on the offense in the first half. After switching sides, NAVI showed their power, thanks to another impressive performance from s1mple, closing the map 16-10 with a 32-11 K-D. 

Onto the second map of the series was to be played on Ancient, picked by Liquid. The CIS team made the best out of their CT side, completely closed the map, while the North American couldn’t maintain their performance from the first map. Down 13-2 in the first half, Liquid had to make the comeback of the year. Despite looking much better on the defense for Liquid, NAVI secured the three necessary rounds to close the map and the series 2-0.

Natus Vincere – Team Liquid 2-0 | BLAST Premier Spring Groups

16-10 (Mirage) |{cflag:UA} s1mple – 2.00 Rating / 32-11 K-D / 106.7 ADR

16-12 (Ancient) | {cflag:UA} b1t – 1.41 Rating / 27-14 K-D / 89.4 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev – 1.47 Rating / 52-32 K-D / 89.5 ADR

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. 

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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

While Astralis is still regarded as the most successful Organization in Counter-Strike history, one of their records was beaten last night.

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In the capital of Denmark, Natus Vincere won the BLAST Premier Fall Finals and surpassed the Astralis roster on the money list for a single year in tournament earnings. The record belonged to the 2018 Astralis roster, who completed the Intel Grand Slam and won the FACEIT Major in London that year alongside many other tournaments.

NAVI has also completed the Intel Grand Slam this year and also won a Major, the PGL Major in Stockholm. And though they have won fewer tournaments than Astralis did in 2018, the prize pools of CS:GO tournaments these days have risen. In 2018 NAVI won the BLAST Pro Series in Copenhagen and took home $125,000, while yesterday's victory made them $225,000 richer. 

The numbers in this list has been taken from [link:{"url":"https://www.esportsearnings.com/","isNewTab":true,"text":"esportsearnings.com"}]

1. s1mple, B1T, electronic, Perfecto, Boombl4 (NAVI - 2021) - $732,100

2. dev1ce, Xyp9x, dupreeh, gla1ve, Magisk (Astralis - 2018) - $730,150

3. Stewie2k, NAF, EliGE, nitr0, Twistzz (Team Liquid - 2019) - $477,850

4. dev1ce, Xyp9x, dupreeh, gla1ve, Magisk (Astralis - 2019) - $430,700

5. FalleN, coldzera, TACO, fer, fnx (Luminosity - 2016) - $365,794

When looking at most money earned in total, there is still a gap between the five Astralis players and down. But perhaps this will also change in 2022?

1. {cflag:DK} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/dupreeh","isNewTab":true,"text":"Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen"}] - $1,937,581

2. {cflag:DK} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/xyp9x","isNewTab":true,"text":"Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth"}] - $1,918,480

3. {cflag:DK} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/device","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nicolai 'dev1ce' Reedtz"}] - $1,914,931

4. {cflag:DK} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/gla1ve","isNewTab":true,"text":"Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander"}] - $1,770,642

5. {cflag:DK} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/magisk","isNewTab":true,"text":"Emil 'Magisk' Reif"}] - $1,531,040

6. {cflag:UA} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/s1mple","isNewTab":true,"text":"Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev"}] - $1,418,238

7. {cflag:RU} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/electronic","isNewTab":true,"text":"Denis 'electronic' Sharipov"}] - $1,271,975

8. {cflag:US} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/stewie2k","isNewTab":true,"text":"Jake 'Stewie2k' Yip"}] - $1,172,640

9. {cflag:BR} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/fallen","isNewTab":true,"text":"Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo"}] - $1,125,238

10. {cflag:BR} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/taco","isNewTab":true,"text":"Epitácio 'TACO' de Melo"}] - $1,083,086

With the 2-1 win in the Grand Final at BLAST Premier Fall Finals, NAVI once again proved to the world, that they are the best team on the planet right now. After winning the PGL Major in Stockholm, Natus Vincere followed up in Copenhagen with another stellar performance to win their third LAN tournament out of three this year.

At the center of attention, we find Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, who won another MVP title at the event. But right next to him 18-year-old Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi lures. The young Ukrainian has been a menace on LAN in both Stockholm and in Copenhagen and can look back on a magical year with multiple titles under his belt and $732,287.50 in earnings!

How far can the young Ukrainian go? According to caster/analyst Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill, we could be witnessing something truly special.

*This interview was recorded before the Grand Final at BLAST Premier Fall Finals.

For quite some time the CIS giants of Natus Vincere were extremely inconsistent. Whether or not they would win a series seemed to depend solely on two players, "s1mple" and "electronic". Whilst it was clear that they had the potential to take down even the toughest of opponents, they needed a third player to rely on in the most difficult of situations. In April 2021 this player was introduced to the world of CS:GO - he goes by the name of "B1T". 

Natus Vincere are currently battling against Vitality in the Grand Final of BLAST Premier Fall Final 2021. Whilst it goes without saying that "s1mple" has pulled a lot of weight in them getting to this stage, his teammate "B1T" has been just as good. They are both currently sitting on a 1.35 rating throughout the event. However, one statistic that the young "B1T" doesn't have to share with "s1mple" is his headshot percentage. It is currently the highest at the entire event, sitting at 67,9%. 

He has already displayed his sickening ability to hit clean headshots against Vitality in the Grand Final - take a look: 

If you want to watch the Grand Final LIVE you can watch the entire match right now down below: 

It's time to initiate the first Upper Bracket matchups from the star-studded BLAST Premier Fall Final taking place in Royal Arena, Copenhagen. The first battle will be against Heroic and the world leaders from NAVI. The electrifying matchup features two of CS:GO's best performing teams right now, with especially NAVI's Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and Valeriy 'B1T' Vakhovskiy in top form at the moment. 

Watch the match live here from 15.00 (CET).

Day 1 at BLAST Premier Fall Finals featured all eight participating teams. 

With four 2-0 matches the rankings are dominated by four teams, Natus Vincere, Heroic, Team Vitality, and Astralis.

(Percentage of rounds in which the player either had a kill, assist, survived or was traded)

(rating based on the number of kills per round, the survival rate of a player per round, and the amount of multikills)

The tournament continues today with two matches in the upper bracket.

k0nfig

Misutaaa

The NAVI train has not stopped despite their monumental victory at the PGL Major in Stockholm. In Copenhagen, the CIS team demonstrated, that they are still thirsty for success. In the opening round of BLAST Premier Fall Finals, Natus Vincere smashed BIG without any problems.

The Germans had forced NAVI onto Dust2, but that quickly backfired. Like in the Major, it was a collective effort from NAVI. Their biggest star, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev could sit back and enjoy how his teammates found all the right solutions with in-game leader Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov at the center of the NAVI bombardment. 16-4 was the score after a masterful performance from the reigning Major champions.

Things were not looking positive for BIG heading into Nuke. With 18 victories in a row, it is safe to say, that NAVI felt comfortable picking the map. On their CT side, Berlin International Gaming managed to make the first half competitive. Nicklas "gade" Gade and Nils "k1to" Gruhne both contributed heavily with above 100 in ADR during the first 15 rounds. But it is as Counter-Terrorists on Nuke, that NAVI has become almost invincible. Quickly the score was 11-7 in favor of the CIS squad, but then BIG woke up. Again it was through the Dane, Nicklas "gade" Gade, that the Germans found success. At 10-11 BIG had the chance to equalize, but Florian 'syrsoN' Rische could not finish his 1vs2 clutch to make it all even. 

Instead, Valeriy 'B1T' Vakhovskiy took over and once again showed his great potential with several round-winning actions. NAVI won 16-11 on Nuke and is not ready for a banger of a match against Heroic tomorrow in the upper bracket. BIG will have to defeat FaZe to avoid elimination on Friday.

BIG vs. Natus Vincere 0-2 | BLAST Premier Fall Finals

4-16 (Dust2) | {cflag:RU} Boombl4 – 1.99 Rating / 24-8 K-D / 122.3 ADR

11-16 (Nuke) | {cflag:UA} B1T – 1.66 Rating / 29-14 K-D / 101.4 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Valeriy 'B1T' Vakhovskiy – 1.72 Rating / 47-20 K-D / 101.9 ADR

gade

It’s safe to say 2021 just keeps getting better for the Ukrainian esports organization and its members of the CS:GO team.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"navi-win-pgl-major-stockholm","isNewTab":true}]

NAVI has gone on to win both the Intel Grand Slam Season 3 and the first CS:GO Major in two years, PGL Major Stockholm 2021 in the same year. And their achievements have not gone unnoticed, as two members of their CS:GO team have stormed into the list of finalists for The Game Awards 2021.

Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has been nominated under the category of “Best Esports Athlete”, while NAVI’s head coach Andrei “B1ad3” Horodenskyi has been nominated under the category of “Best Esports Coach”. As a result of the players and their coach hitting all the right notes, the Ukrainian organization has also been nominated under the category of “Best Esports Team” at The Game Awards 2021. It will be interesting to see how many of those categories they will be able to nab and take home with them.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"crazy-statistic-s1mple-is-best-player-maps-except-navis-perma-ban","isNewTab":true}]

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	6	20
Maps count	14	41

B1tGOD

Player stats

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Total NAVI domination at BLAST Premier Spring Finals

Natus Vincere dominate Vitality in Grand Final!

s1mple: Why should I step up when we have b1t?

NAVI in full control against BIG - Now 2-0 up

NAVI edge out G2 in entertaining battle

NAVI take down Heroic in a comfortable 2-0 series

Top 5 Leaderboards | ESL Pro League Season 15

Five youngsters back at IEM

Throwback: s1mple and NAVI clinch Intel Grand Slam Season 3 title

NAVI qualify for BLAST Spring Final after beating NIP

NAVI back with a victory against Liquid

PGL Major Stockholm 2021: NAVI lift their first Major trophy

NAVI just surpassed Astralis for winning most money in a year!

SPUNJ: B1T could be something we haven't seen before

B1T: The headshot machine

Live: Heroic vs NAVI (BLAST Final Upper Bracket)

B1T and k0nfig leads the way at BLAST Premier Fall Finals

NAVI destroy BIG and extends their unbeaten record on Nuke

NAVI nominated for The Game Awards 2021

The Headshot Kings of 2021

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