The 1W-2L bracket appears increasingly perilous to descend into following losses from both Heroic and G2 in their second games at the Elimination Stage of the PGL Major Copenhagen.

On the map Ancient, Virtus.pro demonstrated an almost flawless T side, with Dzhami "Jame" Ali and his teammates leading 10-2 at halftime. Although Heroic attempted a comeback in the second half, Virtus.pro swiftly shut down their efforts. A 13-6 victory for Virtus.pro propels the Rio Major champions into the 2W-1L bracket.

In the match between G2 and Cloud9, one of the most intriguing narratives revolved around the clash between a team boasting one of the game's premier AWPers and Cloud9, who, following Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov's abrupt departure from the team last year, found themselves relying on in-game leader Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov to wield the AWP. In today’s encounter, Cloud9's absence of a dedicated sniper was hardly noticeable. Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov performed admirably as Cloud9 kept pace with G2 on their CT side on Anubis, a map that has tended to favor T-sided play.

During the second half, Cloud9 continued to impress, with Denis "electroNic" Sharipov making significant contributions for the team. The Russian rifler posted a K-D ratio of 26-12 in Cloud9's victory.

All four teams will return to action tomorrow, with all matches being either elimination or qualification games.

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electronic

Boombl4

Cloud9

G2 Esports

Virtus.pro

Heroic

The opening round of BLAST Fall Finals in Copenhagen has been announced. Two matchups have caught the attention with Cloud9's match against NAVI as the most prominent. 

Three former Natus Vincere players will be on the server with Cloud9. Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy joined the roster this summer from NAVI, while Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov is the latest addition to the squad after the departure of Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov. All three were part of the 2021 Major winning lineup for NAVI.

In the other group, Team Vitality will face Heroic, who has Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen on the server. The 30-year-old Dane was kicked from the active roster of Vitality a month after having won the BLAST.tv Paris Major earlier this year. Now dupreeh is set to face his old teammates in the opening round in Group B, where Astralis and Complexity are also in the mix.

You can see the schedule from the event here:

Perfecto

dupreeh

Natus Vincere

Team Vitality

Cloud9 and the rest of the Counter-Strike world were left in disbelief as one of the biggest stars on the scene Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov announced his departure from the team last week.

The 22-year-old Russian had been an integral part of the Gambit project that was later acquired by Cloud9. But since the arrival of the two former NAVI players, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov and Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy, Cloud9 has been dropping down in the rankings after several subpar performances. It is still unknown what triggered the decision from sh1ro.

The signing of Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov as a replacement comes as no surprise after the now-former 1WIN IGL has played as a stand-in for Cloud9 in the absence of sh1ro.

Boombl4 joins the team where he links up with his two former teammates Denis "electroNic" Sharipov and Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy. The trio was part of one of the most dominant eras in history at NAVI in 2021, when they won almost everything possible. Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov was later removed from the NAVI roster and ended up in 1WIN which he represented for the majority of 2023.

Cloud9 and Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov will play BIG in the Quarter-Finals of Thunderpick World Championships later today.

After the unexpected news yesterday about the departure of Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov from Cloud9, the NA organization has brought in Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov as a temporary replacement for the upcoming Thunderpick World Championship that is scheduled to start today.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"sh1ro-leaves-cloud9-most-difficult-decisions-career","isNewTab":false}]

The former NAVI in-game leader has been loaned out by 1WIN, where he is scheduled to be playing a match later today.

The Thunderpick Championship starts today with Cloud9 facing Fnatic. The match starts already at 10.00 (CEST).

Schedule for Thunderpick Championship 2023: (CEST)

Few players can boast about having won a major in their CS:GO career, Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov, however, is one of them. The now 24-year-old Russian managed to win a major tournament back in 2021 in Stockholm, Sweden. He, of course, won the at Natus Vincere before being let go by the roster the next year. 

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The former IGL's goodbye to the organization was by no means pretty with the superstar of NaVi "s1mple" criticizing him as an in-game leader. Now, however, it seems as if the talented "Boombl4" is finally finding his footing with his new roster 1WIN. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"1win-signs-former-navi-in-game-leader","isNewTab":true}]

After an impressive 2-0 victory against Zen in the IEM Sydney 2023 Europe Open Qualifier 2, "Boombl4" and his troops can look forward to their well-earned spot in the Closed Qualifiers. Alongside 1WIN the Swedish roster of knasigT managed to advance to Closed Qualifier. Although still ranked as the 30th. best team in the world, 1WIN are looking more and more dangerous as time passes. Perhaps we are going to see "Boombl4" battling against "s1mple" at a big event sometime soon! 

1WIN

Group A of the European RMR starts tomorrow. We have taken a look at some of the storylines and tried to predict the event down below.

16 teams are slotted into group A, where eight teams will advance to the BLAST.tv Paris Major. Teams placed from 9th-11th will play in a last chance stage against the teams in the same position in group B. The six teams will fight for the 17th European spot for the Major.

The group will be played out in the Swiss format. This means that you will always play against a team with a similar score. If you win your first game, you will face another winner from the opening round and so on.

The group is significantly weaker than group B. The average world ranking is 29 for group A, while the number for group B is 19!

 as the two teams who are predicted to go 3-0 in the group. The number two and four on the world ranking should be able to qualify without any problems.

. The reigning Major champions are also expected to ease through the group. The team might be a little rusty having only played one competitive match in the last month, which they lost 2-0 to forZe.

 should also be able to go through with a 3-1 or 3-2 score. Fnatic is probably the team hardest to predict with their recent results in mind. A weak map pool could be a problem in the bo1 matches.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Bad_News_Eagles_wbzmvr","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

 have qualified for the last two Majors but outside of the biggest tournament in CS:GO, the team almost seems to go into hibernation. The team has not won any of the smaller tournaments that they have attended since the IEM Rio Major. Their opening match against 1WIN will be a very good indication of the form.

 is somewhat in the same category. The team has mostly played against lower-tier opponents since they were knocked out of the IEM Rio Major. Their last match was against a bunch of Germans called EPIC DUDES, where GL actually lost. So, what can we expect from them?

The former NAVI in-game leader Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov leads 

, who has been inconsistent in the past months. They seem to belong in the contenders' group alongside 

. They could all have the chance to go 3-2, but are probably most likely to be among the teams, that have to play against the teams from group B for the 17th and last European ticket to the Major. 

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/_Boombl4_uolcvo","originalWidth":4096,"originalHeight":2304,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

Boombl4 is back. If things pan out, he could face his former teammates for the first time since he was benched on NAVI.

It will especially be interesting to follow Falcons, who are fighting for the right to play on home turf in Paris. The team has had some okay results lately, but they need to see a stronger performance from their legendary AWP’er Kenny "kennyS" Schrub, if they are going to make it. kennyS is rated 0.92 on 12 maps in the last month.

 are to be considered the clear underdogs in this event. Sprout has been playing poorly lately with only a 26.9% win rate during the last three months. Into the Breach will for the first time in its history face a team placed within the top 30 of the world ranking. They start out with NAVI.

Viperio has not been able to follow up on their fine results at the closed qualifiers. The Irish/English team has lost 13 matches in a row against the likes of ENCE Academy, Iron Branch, Partizan etc. They are currently placed 80th on the world ranking. If they make it to Paris, it will be one of the all-time biggest upsets.

That leaves us with Apeks. The Norwegian-owned team has some fine players in Martin "STYKO" Styk and Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad, but the roster seems to be stuck in the tier-2 scene at the moment. They have recently won against BIG, which gives some promise.

Here is our prediction for group A of the European RMR:

5th-8th: Fnatic, OG, Falcons, and Bad News Eagles.

12th-16th: Apeks, Sprout, Into the Branch, and Viperio

The tournament is played on location in Copenhagen and will last from Thursday to Sunday.

kennyS

STYKO

jkaem

Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov is ready to make his comeback on the competitive CS:GO scene. The former Natus Vincere IGL has now signed a deal with the Russian organization 1win. 1win recently signed with Igor "Forester" Bezotecheskiy on a transfer deal from Entropiq. 1win has also signed with Entropiq coach Dmitry "hooch" Bogdanov and NickelBack. The last-mentioned has been a part of 1win since the start of January. 

The former Major champion will now team up with the Entropiq trio and the only two players remaining on the 1win roster, Denis "⁠deko⁠" Zhukov and Aleksandr "⁠TRAVIS⁠" Timkiv. 1win is set to play the ESL Challenger League upper bracket quarter-finals after they managed to take down Belive and Sprout in the first two rounds of the bracket. Boombl4 and 1win will continue their run at ESL Challenger League on Match 7 at 19:00 (CET) against Endpoint. 

The Russian side will also participate in the BLAST.tv Paris Major's European RMR closed qualifier on February 16-19. The newly establish roster will face Viperio in their opening match at the closed RMR. 

{cflag:RU} Aleksandr "⁠TRAVIS⁠" Timkiv

{cflag:RU} Igor "⁠Forester⁠" Bezotecheskiy

{cflag:RU} Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov

{cflag:RU} Aleksei "⁠NickelBack⁠" Trofimov

{cflag:RU} Dmitry "⁠hooch⁠" Bogdanov (coach)

The known CS:GO insider Alexey "OverDrive" Biryukov believes that Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov is looking to form a Russian team with former Major winner and top 20 players. OverDrive called in one of his previous posts that n0rb3r7 will be kicked out of Outsiders, but with the following information, the insider is certainly sure that the new Russian team is featuring the IEM Major winner David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelian. The other players that are completing the roster are two former Entropiq players and an unknown AWPer. 

Boombl4's possible roster will look as follows:

The Russian in-game leader Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov's contract with NAVI has expired leaving him free to explore his options in 2023.

Back in May 2022, Boombl4 was removed from the active NAVI roster after controversies outside of the server.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"navi-bench-boombl4","isNewTab":true}]

In a Twitlonger post the Russian wishes his old team good luck in the future and also opens up about his ambitions for the future.

- My contract with Natus Vincere has come to an end. I want to thank you for all the ups and downs that we experienced together, it was an unforgettable part of my life that I will always remember. I wish Natus Vincere good results and always be in the top of the Olympus. A new stage of life is beginning for me and I am happy to announce that I am a free agent now. There are a huge number of peaks that I have not reached. I am ready!

Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov is rumored to be creating a new team together with Igor "⁠Forester⁠" Bezotecheskiy and Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin under the banner BetBoom.

KaiR0N-

Forester

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

s1mple

B1tGOD

Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov could make his comeback to competitive CS:GO with a transfer to the Russian esports organization BetBoom.

It’s the renowned CIS insider Alexey “OverDrive” Biryukov, who has reported that the former NAVI captain is rumoured to create his own team, he explains in a post on [link:{"url":"https://telesco.pe/ihuntnoobs/668","isNewTab":true,"text":"Telegram"}]. The squad is allegedly already put together, and it’s set to field some “very good players”, according to OverDrive. 

Earlier this year Boombl4 was removed from NAVI’s active lineup after a series of scandals surrounding the Russian in-game leader. According to the Ukrainian organization, the decision was made not because of his performance on the server but due to “high reputational risks for the team”. 

Since then, ex-Spirit player Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev has filled out the void on the roster, while Denis "electroNic" Sharipov has taken over the IGL duties on a permanent basis. 

Kirill Mikhailov hasn’t played a single minute of competitive Counter-Strike since his benching on NAVI back in May, following the scandal between him and his ex-wife which allegedly was a “high reputational risk” for the Ukrainian organization.

However, today the Russian in-game leader will make his return as he’s set to compete at PARI Patriki Vibe LAN 2022, a small Moscow-located event with a $10.000 prize pool, for a team called BEBRA. The tournament also includes K23, AVANGAR, and Forward, featuring former Major winners in Mihail “Dosia” Stolyarov Rustem “mou” Telepov. BEBRA vs Websterz will be played at 13:00 (CET) and can be streamed right [link:{"url":"https://www.twitch.tv/mpkbk","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

Boombl4's last competitive match was at the PGL Major in Antwerp in May, where he and NAVI suffered a 2-0 defeat to FaZe in the Grand Final. The following months turned out to be quite dramatic for the 23-year-old IGL with him allegedly being blackmailed by his ex-wife, which later on turned into a highly publicized divorce between the two of them. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"boombl4-allegedly-declined-invite-from-smooya-co-due-recording-track","isNewTab":true}]

Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov has made many headlines this year - From being accused of taking drugs by his wife (now ex-wife), to being kicked by NAVI, just to announce that he wants to pursue a career as a rapper simultaneously with playing CS:GO.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"boombl4-denies-allegations-infidelity-violence-substance-abuse-","isNewTab":true}]

But what is his top priority? CS:GO or rap?

According to Rodion "Fear" Smyk from Benched Heroes, which also includes Owen “Smooya” Butterfield and Michał “MICHU” Müller, boombl4 declined an invite from the profiled mix because “he was recording a track”.

Something Fear revealed on a [link:{"url":"https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1576969251","isNewTab":true,"text":"stream"}] with Konstantin "LENINIW" Sivko. (Transcript from [link:{"url":"https://escorenews.com/en/csgo/news/37748-apparently-smooya-and-aunkere-stack-wanted-to-invite-boombl4-but-he-declined-because-he-was-recording-a-track","isNewTab":true,"text":"escorenews.com"}])

Last week, Smooya and the rest of Benched Heroes managed to secure a ticket to the prominent RMR tournament before IEM Rio later this year. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"mixed-team-led-smooya-qualify-iem-rio-eu-rmr","isNewTab":true}]

smooya

Fear

BenchedHeroes

Earlier today, HLTV referenced a livestream session with Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov and a popular Russian rapper, where the former NAVI in-game leader spoke about negotiations with G2.

Here Boombl4 revealed, that he was in talks with G2, but that the it fell through in the early stages due to different complications such as his level of English, lack of willingness to relocate to Europe, and his tarnished reputation.

A short while after the owner of G2, Carlos 'ocelote' Rodriguez commented on the claims made by Boombl4.

The question now remains, where the future of the Russian in-game leader lies. According to his own statement, it is hard to see him playing for an Organization outside his home country.

- Playing in a European team but without friends, without family and close ones is very difficult, Boombl4 says. It's not a matter of attachment to a country, but rather to close ones and social circle. And I would not want to leave it, because, without it, the emotional state will simply be… you will quickly burn out and you won’t be able to get this energy anywhere as with close ones and friends who support and spend time with you.

You can read the full story with more quotes from Boombl4 on [link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/news/34330/boombl4-speaks-on-talks-with-g2-falling-through","isNewTab":true,"text":"HLTV"}].

The best player in the world of Counter-Strike, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev gave a press conference before he and NAVI begin their run at BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon.

Here the Ukrainian was asked questions on various topics including his thoughts on the situation with Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov, who was removed from the active NAVI roster two weeks ago.

NAVI will play the BLAST Premier Spring Finals with Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev as the fifth man, while Denis "electroNic" Sharipov will take over the responsibility of being the teams in-game leader. You can hear what s1mple thinks of the roles on the team in the video below, where we have gathered the whole press conference for you to see.

*A ventilator is killing the sound, but we hope you can look past that!

Former NAVI captain Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov has been accused of drug use by his wife, Lika ‘LiQueen’ Mikhailova. He has responded on social media, stating he "was blackmailed with various photos/videos and also a huge amount of fake information." LiQueen started posting on Telegram with very violent accusations. She writes, among other things, that he has knocked out her tooth, that he has been cheating on her several times, and that he is a drug addict. However, the Russian player denies all charges, which is why he soon intends to sue for libel.

Both Boombl4 and LiQueen have confirmed that they are getting a divorce just five months into their marriage. He proposed to LiQueen on the PGL Major Stockholm stage following NAVI’s victory in the grand final against G2 Esports.

On May 28, NAVI announced that Boombl4 had been removed from the team and made it clear that the decision was not due to anything sportingly. They called it instead a decision made to eliminate "the high risks regarding the reputation of our club."

Boombl4 responded to the accusations. In a video posted on Telegram, Boombl4 apologized to his followers.

According to [link:{"url":"https://www.dexerto.com/csgo/exclusive-electronic-could-take-up-igl-role-as-navi-monitor-buster-1836165/","isNewTab":true,"text":"Dexerto"}] and Luís Mira, the CIS giants from NAVI have set their sights on Timur “buster” Tulepov as a potential replacement for the newly-benched Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov.

However, a transfer will only be possible if buster is being released from his contract with Virtus.pro due to NAVI being “unwilling to conduct business with the Russian organization [VP]”, NAVI COO Alexey “xaoc” Kucherov has said to Dexerto.

In addition to the alleged interest in buster, the article also touches on the problematic in-game leader situation on NAVI following the departure of Boombl4. Here Kucherov (NAVI COO) explains that NAVI “is seriously considering the possibility of electroNic taking over as in-game leader”.

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

electronic (in focus) together with his long-standing NAVI companion Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev

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{cflag:UA} Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev 

{cflag:RU} Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov 

{cflag:RU} Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy 

{cflag:UA} Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy 

{cflag:UA} Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy (coach)

[slugORMA:{"slug":"navi-coo-transfer-rumors-are-negotiating-with-yekindar","isNewTab":true}]

buster

After the conclusion of the Major earlier this month, there have circulated some heavy rumors surrounding a transfer between the Latvian machine Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis and the CIS giants from NAVI. Something that only became even more exciting when [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/virtus-pro-bench-yekindar-buster","isNewTab":true,"text":"Virtus.pro announced the benching of YEKINDAR"}] and NAVI clearing a spot in the roster through [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/navi-bench-boombl4","isNewTab":true,"text":"the demotion of Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhaylov"}].

However, yesterday NAVI COO Alexey “xaoc” Kucherov went on Twitter to deny the rumors by saying “For now, I can deny that we’re negotiating with YEKINDAR”

YEKINDAR

Sunday this weekend, NAVI announced the benching of their profiled In-game leader Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov, due to the 23-year-old Russian being a “high reputational risk for the club", NAVI stated.

Prior to the confirmation of Boombl4’s benching, CS:GO expert and analyst Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg appeared in an [link:{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3HINe9aLyc&","isNewTab":true,"text":"episode"}] of “Snake & Banter” alongside Duncan “Thorin” Shields and Sudhen "Bleh" Wahengbam. Here Mauisnake expressed his thoughts about the current Cloud9, which he believes “never will work moving forward” and why Boombl4 could be the solution.

You can find the entire episode here, where you can hear Mauisnake elaborate on his thoughts. 

Vladislav "nafany" Gorshkov has been in charge of the promising lineup ever since their first days as Gambit Youngsters, then at Gambit's main team, and now under the banner of Cloud9. The 20-year-old IGL has led the team to impressive victories at big tournaments like BLAST Premier Spring Finals and IEM Katowice 2021. However, their performances and results on LAN are one of Mauisnake's strongest arguments as to why nafany should be replaced. 

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Mauisnake with Maniac on the analyst desk at PGL Major Stockholm

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nafany

Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov has been removed from active duty in Natus Vincere. The Russian IGL has been removed not due to in-game performance, but because of what they call "high reputational risks for the club".

This highly unexpected move comes in the wake of a statement from the Na'Vi CEO where he said that "We are not going to work with people who live in Russia and who pay taxes to the Russian Federation". 

Natus Vincere's roster for the upcoming BLAST Premier Spring Final has yet to be announced so the current roster looks like this:

{cflag:UA} Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy (coach)

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

Boombl4

Player stats

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