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

It was almost over before it had really started, but there were still some memorable moments from yesterday's Grand Final at BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon.

NAVI was dominant throughout the match and ended up winning the trophy and the $200.000 without breaking too much sweat.

Team Vitality

Whilst it is often the five players that are highlighted when a team is successful and wins events, a huge part of a great CS:GO team is, of course, also the Head Coach. Few have been as impactful as the current NaVi Head Coach Andrey "B1ade3" Gorodenskiy. Having already reached icon status within the CS:GO community, "B1ad3" is always calm, collected, and cool under pressured situations. 

We talked with him after Natus Vincere managed to eliminate OG in a thriller of a Semi-final. The victory means that Natus Vincere will be playing at the Grand Final of BLAST Premier Spring 2022 tomorrow. When asked about how he was feeling about the result, the Ukrainian Head Coach had the following to say: 

A player that stood out more than the others, when the two teams locked horns was, no not "s1mple", but "electroNic". The incredibly skilled rifler has been moved to an IGL role after the removal of "Boombl4" and is seemingly balancing being the in-game 'shot-caller' and a deadly rifler very well. When asked about "electroNic" and his future, "B1ad3" said the following: 

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To hear more about what "B1ad3" had to say after qualifying for the Grand Final you can watch the exclusive interview down below: 

The first quarter-final between NAVI and FaZe went the way of ⁠s1mple⁠'s squad, who made quick work of their American opposition, wrapping up the series in two maps with a 16-6 win on Dust2, followed by a dominant 16-1 on Inferno.

The action started with NAVI’s map pick on Dust 2, and the CIS giants started strong, quickly attaining a 6-1 lead. NAVI kept winning round after round, and it seemed like FaZe wasn’t ready for the match. The first half ended 13-2 in favor of NAVI, where electroNic performed on a very high level to help his team a big lead before halftime. Despite winning four rounds in a row, FaZe could not repair the damages from the first half and lost 16-6 in the opening map of the series.

The series moved on to FaZe's pick of Inferno and quickly devolved into another nightmare for the karrigan-led squad. NAVI secured the opening pistol and then proceeded to lock down both bomb sites and won seven consecutive rounds. The first half ended with only one round for the American team on their offense as ropz registered a regrettable 4-15 K-D. In the second half, NAVI's machine never faltered, and they took down the world's #1 in style at 16-1 and the series 2-0.

FaZe - NAVI 0-2 | BLAST Premier Spring Final

6-16 (Dust2) | {cflag:UA} electroNic - 1.69 Rating / 21-13 K-D / 110.1 ADR

1-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:UA} s1mple - 2.29 Rating / 28-10 K-D / 147.1 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev – 1.80 Rating / 46-21 K-D / 110.1 ADR

FaZe

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!

Boombl4

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”.

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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)

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buster

Virtus.pro

This Sunday evening in late-May, Finn “karrigan” Andersen and the rest of FaZe cemented their names in the history of Counter-Strike by winning the 17th CS:GO Major championship in Antwerp, Belgium. In the title decider, they took down the reigning Major champions from NAVI after a phenomenal individual performance by Håvard “rain” Nygaard. 

The Grand Final was set to begin on the always legendary map of Inferno. Here FaZe quickly took charge on the T side as they steamrolled over NAVI’s defence round after round, going up 8-0 led by Helvijs “broky” Saukants who posted 13 kills going into round 9. 

In the following round, FaZe decided to rush towards the A site with great confidence. Here they ran into Denis “electronic” Sharipov, who clinically took down three FaZe members to get his team the first point in the match. NAVI used the gained momentum to recover towards the end of the half, setting the score at 10-5 in the favour of FaZe. 

But then this happened in the second pistol round… 

Despite rain’s magnificent USP ace right after the switch, FaZe stumbled heavily in the second half which led NAVI back in the game. And it was in fact NAVI going up on match point first after a strong comeback from s1mple and company. But things were clearly not supposed to end in regulation with all the thrilling and action-packed CS that we were presented so far on Inferno - but also because of FaZe’s baltic duo of ropz and broky who saved a 15-14 deficit in the 30th round. 

In overtime, it was exactly like the start of the map with FaZe in control with captain karrigan stepping up huge with both calls and individual frags. After a sensational and really hard-fought brawl, FaZe secured a 19-16 victory to go up 1-0 going into NAVI’s map pick of Nuke. 

In the beginning on Nuke it stood clear that the overtime loss on Inferno hurt NAVI heavily with the CIS giants struggling to set up a decent and acceptable T side. After yet another 10-5 lead in the favour of FaZe, NAVI once again stood with their backs to the wall going into the second half. 

One determining factor for NAVI’s problems could well be the lack of impact coming from their superstar Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. The Ukrainian phenomenon was far away from his usual top levels on both Inferno and Nuke, which also could be said about his partner in crime electronic. 

On the complete contrary, was Håvard “rain” Nygaard playing some of his best CS of his career when it absolutely mattered the most - And what a timing to pull out your peak performance. The Norweigan rifler had racked up no more than 27 kills at the score of 13-10 and had no intention of stalling. In the end, it was also rain who carried FaZe to the magical and decisive16th round which secured them the PGL Major Antwerp trophy. 

FaZe - NAVI 2-0  |  PGL Major Antwerp (Grand Final)

19-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:LV} broky - 1.29 Rating / 30-22 K-D / 78.2 ADR

16-10 (Nuke) | {cflag:NO} rain - 1.84 Rating / 30-16 K-D / 132.1 ADR

MVP: {cflag:NO} Håvard "rain" Nygaard - 1.42 Rating / 52-40 K-D / 107.9 ADR

karrigan

rain

broky

It was a fight for the fourth and final semi-finals spot when Heroic and Na'Vi went head-to-head in Antwerp. Heroic were so close to taking down the CIS giants, but in the end, Na'Vi prevailed.

The match kicked off on Heroic's pick of Inferno where Na'Vi surprisingly let the Danes start on the CT side.

The CIS squad got the map kicked off with a couple of rounds in the win column, but then it was the Danes' turn. Heroic went on a 9-2 run where they crucially got contributions from every single player on the team. Na'Vi ended the half as they started it, with a couple of rounds, and at half Heroic led by three.

Na'Vi also won the second-half pistol round and quickly equalized at 10-10. This is where "cadiaN"s offensive took over. Heroic won six rounds in a row, some by way of out-calling and some by way of individual heroics, and secured map one.

The action continued on Na'Vi's pick of Ancient where Na'Vi the whole arena hyped up as they played an impeccable T side. After taking the pistol round, the CIS squad led the entire half with the exception of a tie at 5-5. "electroNic", who has had somewhat of a quiet tournament, showed that he is not afraid of the big stage as he led the team to nine rounds at the break.

Heroic also played a fantastic T side. They won five rounds in a row before Na'Vi were able to take their first. Afterward, it got a bit more difficult, but they were threatening in every round. In the end "boombl4" and co. just about took the win at 16-14 and pushed the match to a decider.

The third and final map to decide this thrilling series was Nuke, and here we got a different look Heroic on the T side. The Danes, who had won the T halves on both of the previous maps, were getting battered. They won the pistol round but were unable to convert, and from there it was all downhill. To be fair, it was a hard task for Heroic, who had to go through "electroNic", whose play was out of this world.

Heroic grabbed the second half pistol round for themselves, but once again failed to capitalize on it as Na'Vi won the force-buy and put themselves on 14 rounds. Heroic managed to save some dignity as they put four rounds on the board towards the end, but Na'Vi would still end up taking a dominant win of 16-8.

[twitchClip:pgl/clip/CharmingResilientFiddleheadsOptimizePrime-cFFv_0l3M01Mjhjr]

Natus Vincere - Heroic 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage

10-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:DK} cadiaN - 1.51 Rating / 22-11 K-D / 91.3 ADR

16-14 (Ancient) | {cflag:RU} electroNic - 1.43 Rating / 26-19 K-D / 98.2 ADR

16-8 (Nuke) | {cflag:RU} electroNic - 1.79 Rating / 30-18 K-D / 129.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Denis "electroNic" Sharipov - 1.46 Rating / 75-52 K-D / 102.0 ADR

cadiaN

Heroic

The reigning champions from NAVI have secured themselves the best possible conditions going into the upcoming Major as they qualify for the favourable Legends stage. Winning 2-0 against the Russians from forZe, was enough for the #2 seed to join FaZe, Heroic and BIG at the top of PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR A. forZe is, on the other hand, qualified for the Challengers stage alongside the likes of Liquid, Imperial and Eternal Fire. 

NAVI had no problems taking down forZe this Wednesday with the superstar duo of Denis “electronic” Sharipov and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev presenting a dominant performance on Inferno and thereafter Mirage.

NAVI – forZe 2-0 | PGL Antwerp Major Europe RMR A

16-10 (Inferno) | {cflag:UA} s1mple – 1.38 Rating / 24-13 K-D / 74.8 ADR

16-8 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} electronic – 1.65 Rating / 24-13 K-D / 109.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Denis “electronic” Sharipov – 1.45 Rating / 43-27 K-D / 100.0 ADR

Complexity – IHC – Renegades – Liquid – 9z – MIBR – Imperial Vitality – Eternal Fire – forZe – Outsiders/sAw

MOUZ – OG – Dignitas – Fnatic – Unique – GamerLegion – QUAZAR – Outsiders/sAw

forZe

The third match between the 1-0 teams was a clash between Na'Vi and OG. Mirage was picked as the map to decide the fate of the match.

Na'Vi absolutely dominated the first half on the CT-side. "s1mple" and "electroNic" were both playing their A-game, and in most rounds, OG didn't even stand a chance. The European squad did manage to pick up a stray round here and there but were down 12-3 at halftime.

OG won the first two rounds of the second half but were not able to get anything more done versus the star-studded lineup of Na'Vi, who took the map with ease at 16-5.

Natus Vincere - OG 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR A

16-5 (Mirage) | {cflag:UA} s1mple - 2.22 Rating / 26-6 K-D / 129.9 ADR

In the last game of the day at EPL, the CIS-squad Na'Vi took on the Danes of Astralis. The Danes were really hoping for a win as that would secure a place in the playoffs for them, while Na'Vi had already secured their spot by winning all of their previous matches. The match also so "boombl4" return to action after having been out due to covid.

The Bo3 started on Ancient, and even though it was Astralis’ pick, the Danes did not have a good time in the first half. Every time they were able to find a hole in the defense of Na’Vi, “s1mple” and “electroNic” patched it up with superhuman speed. “k0nfig” was able to do some crazy things from time to time, but that was the only bright spot for the Danes who went to halftime down 12-3.

The break did nothing to help Astralis, as Na’Vi put the pedal to the metal to drive it home in dominant fashion at 16-4.

The fighting continued on Nuke, and the map-pickers of Na’Vi got off to a crucial 4-0 lead on the T-side. It was such an important lead for the CIS-squad because when the Danes were able to get full rifles and utility, they put on a show. Eight rounds in a row put them in a very comfortable position, and it was evident that they were feeling more free and confident in their play. Na’Vi were able to snag two rounds towards the end, and the halftime score was 9-6

Astralis continued their beautiful showing in the second half after having lost yet another pistol round. Quickly they found map point at 15-9, but surprisingly “boombl4” and co. were able to bring it all the way back to overtime point. After five squandered map points, including three bomb plants, the Danes were finally able to seal the game at 16-14 and push the Bo3 to map three.

The deciding map of the series was Inferno, and after winning the knife round Astralis chose to start on the CT-side.

The Danes, brimming with confidence after taking away their opponents’ map pick, went on a game-changing 8-0 run to start the map. Na’Vi went on a mini streak of their own, but with several members struggling weren’t able to make too big of a dent in the Astralis stronghold, and the score at halftime read 11-4.

After switching sides Na’Vi did to Astralis, what was done to them, and went on an almost as long winstreak, and after nine rounds the game was tied at 12-12. Astralis struggled majorly to find rounds on their T-side, which has been a recurring theme for the Danes, and Na’Vi won Inferno at 16-13.

Astralis - Na'Vi 1-2 | ESL Pro League Season 15 (Group D)

4-16 (Ancient) | {cflag:RU} electroNic - 1.80 Rating / 20-8 K-D / 124.8 ADR

16-14 (Nuke) | {cflag:DK} blameF - 1.50 Rating / 32-18 K-D / 106.0 ADR

13-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:UA} s1mple - 1.62 Rating / 29-15 K-D / 106.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev - 1.58 Rating / 81-39 K-D / 96.0 ADR

k0nfig

blameF

Astralis

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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[slugORMA:{"slug":"throwback-team-liquid-win-intel-grand-slam-season-2-inside-63-days","isNewTab":true}]

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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flamie

Perfecto

Team Liquid

NAVI has started 2022 on shaky ground after mixed results at BLAST Premier Spring Groups and a narrow victory against ENCE yesterday. But to be fair to s1mple and company, there has still been an aura surrounding the team, that when things get serious, NAVI is still in control and above all else.

Today the Ukrainian/Russian roster had the opportunity to qualify for the playoffs at IEM Katowice. FURIA was in their way, but not for long. A near-perfect CT side on Mirage gave NAVI a 13-2 lead on the first map that finished before four of the FURIA players had scored double digits on the scoreboard.

On Nuke NAVI just continued their grind towards a quick win. As commentator Mohan "launders" Govindasamy stated in the first half "it almost looks like a scrim" after NAVI tried to execute the same opening four times in a row. In the second half, FURIA tried to make a comeback with Kaike "kscerato" Cerato in excellent shape, but the Brazilian could not do it alone. NAVI won the map and can now look forward to a meeting with either FaZe or Fnatic in the battle for a direct spot in the Semi-Finals at IEM Katowice. FURIA drops down to the lower bracket, where G2 awaits. 

16-2 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} electroNic – 1.96 Rating / 21-6 K-D / 116.3 ADR

16-12 (Nuke) | {cflag:BR} kscerato- - 1.77 Rating / 34-18 K-D / 130.4 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Denis "electroNic" Sharipov - 1.45 Rating / 41-23 K-D / 97.0 ADR

KSCERATO

FURIA

While virtually everyone in the CS:GO community agrees, that Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev has been the best player of 2021, there is still a lot of different opinions about who is "best of the rest". HLTV's top 3 of the best players of the past year will be released tonight, where the biggest question is, if NiKo or ZywOo will be 2nd or 3rd.

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According to the Swedish CS:GO media, [link:{"url":"https://fragbite.se/cs/news/48075/s1mple-avslojar-dessa-fem-spelare-var-bast-ar-2021","isNewTab":true,"text":"fragbite"}], Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev named his top 5 of 2021 during a live stream on Twitch.

sh1ro

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

G2 Esports

The Consolidation Final of the $1 Million event began on Nuke, a map which NAVI has turned into their very own fortress this year. Since late June, NAVI has won no more than 22 times on Nuke only losing once, despite taking on some of the best teams in CS:GO week after week.

It was Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev who set the tone from the start in today’s matchup, as the Ukrainian superstar managed to break through Vitality’s defence on several occasions, through his great showing on the T side. After the switch, his wing-man and partner in crime, Denis “electronic” Sharipov was the one in control and the main reason for NAVI winning 16-12 and getting to a 1-0 map lead, by averaging a stellar 2.04 in the second half.

On Vitality’s map pick on Dust2, the Frenchmen struggled heavily to find a footing in the battle against the Russian-Ukrainian side, which resulted in a troublesome 0-7 deficit for Dan “apEX” Madeslclaire and his men. The dominance continued and NAVI showed no intention to stop, setting the half-time score at 10-5 before going onto the T side.

Throughout the match, it stood clear that Vitality had run dry on batteries, despite this being their last fight together as a roster before splitting up. Vitality had no answer to NAVI their powerful individual weapons in the likes of electronic, s1mple, and B1T, which in the end resulted in a heavy 16-5 beating on the second map, sending NAVI to the Grand Final against Gambit.

The 2-0 loss does not only mark the end of Vitality’s campaign at BLAST Premier World Final, but it also marks the end of this current Vitality roster, with several roster changes already being nearly confirmed.

The Grand Final at BLAST World Final between NAVI and Gambit is set to start at 18:30 (CET), where the two CIS titans will fight each other for the $500.000 1st prize. 

NAVI – Vitality 2-0 | BLAST Premier World Final

16-12 (Nuke) | {cflag:RU} electronic – 1.40 Rating / 23-17 K-D / 101.7 ADR

16-5 (Dust2) | {cflag:UA} s1mple – 1.73 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 114.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Aleksandr ”s1mple” Kostyliev – 1.44 Rating / 44-29 K-D / 95.0 ADR

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

electronic

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