November’s Major champions and May’s runner-ups have proved the doubters wrong once again. Natus Vincere – CSGO’s unluckiest team – managed to work through their early slip ups, including a tough loss to OG that put the Ukrainian powerhouse at risk of elimination, and won Blast Premier’s Spring Finals. Navi looked to be in trouble after that early loss to OG, but the team bounced back with victories over reigning major champions Faze, early kingslayers OG, and Vitality – the only team with a player that could contest S1mple’s claim to best player in the world right now, Zywoo.
Navi reminded viewers of the fact that, despite losing their longtime in-game leader, Navi’s strength rested firmly in the unmatched skill of their players. This was displayed in their dominant 48-23 round differential over the tournament on Dust II, a map that has historically been known to be decided by important aim duels more so than strategic decision-making. Furthermore, s1mple, electronic, and bit all recorded HLTV ratings greater than 1.20 over the course of the tournament, putting three Navi players in the Top 5 of any players in the event. For their own parts, Perfecto and somedieyoung – a standin for the event – collected crucial kills in tense situations and presented effective utility use that helped put Navi’s raw talent into a winning tactical position.
With this victory, Navi will go on to face Faze and six more world-class teams that have yet to earn their spots at Blast Premier’s World Finals in December. Navi won that event the last two years, making them the reigning champions and putting them in position to potentially threepeat. In fact, Navi is actually the only team that has ever won a Blast Premier Global Final and has placed first or second in the last five Blast Premier final events that they’ve played in. The star-crossed Ukrainian dream team has survived their latest round of misfortune, but will it be enough to put them down as the greatest Blast Premier team until at least 2025?