NAVI's failure at the BLAST Paris Major 2023: an analogy to the events of six years ago

The BLAST Paris Major 2023 CS:GO tournament brought many surprises. Among them was the absence of Cloud9 and Astralis. Equally surprising was the failure ofNAVI and G2, who failed to qualify for the play-offs. And this despite the fact that many fans bet on their victory on GGBET . Just imagine that player M0nesy from G2 didn't make it to the decisive stage at any Major. As for team NAVI, which includes the famous S1mple, the departure was a real failure and a sensation of the season. The last time such a thing happened was in 2017 at a tournament in Krakow.

Problems at NAVI: what was the reason for their departure from the tournament in Krakow?

When Zeus left NAVI, the team was reinforced with Ukrainian esportsman S1mple and Seized took over as captain. The first game was excellent, as the Major in Atlanta saw NAVI leaving the group with a devastating 3-0 lead. Only 12 rounds were lost in the whole stage, but the quarterfinals put everything in its place and the Astralis team was victorious. Despite this, the minimum plan was fulfilled and the squad remained unchanged.

Problems in Cracow began where they weren't expected. The management of the team was supposed to be taken over by Starix. But Valve made a change and forbade the coaches to talk during the rounds. All responsibility fell on the Seized captain, who blew the task. In addition, there were moments like this:

1. Team spirit was undermined by Guardian, who wished to leave due to Zeus' kick.
2. Young S1mple also played his part, showing character.
3. Starix left NAVI and his place was taken by the inexperienced Andi. He didn't manage to win any authority among the guys.

As usual, the Major in Krakow started with a top-16 for the team, as the NAVI squad had a great showing in Atlanta. But the first game against G2 revealed the main disadvantage - lack of tactics. They came out against their opponents without any specific tactics and were trying to take the lead by fire only. No less negative was the minimal spread, which allowed the enemies to easily farm frags.

Also within the event was a victory over Flipsid3, and then there were two setbacks in games against Immortals and Fnatic. For the first time since 2014, the NAVI squad failed to make the play-offs. However, former player Zeus, who moved to Gambit, won the tournament.

Defeat in Krakow and changes to NAVI

After the Majors in Krakow, Guardian was promoted to Faze, while Zeus returned to NAVI. The management decided to give Seized another chance and S1mple was promoted to sniper. According to Zeus's recollection, the new line-up was not easy for him. This was due to the fact that everyone in the Gambit squad played quietly. In the renewed NAVI, S1mple, who couldn't cope with his emotions, caused a fuss at some point. As a result, all the sttun players were held hostage by the situation and they literally started to get stormy.

Three months later, Seized dropped out of the team. His place was taken by the promising electroNic. At the same time, the NAVI team did not make it to the top, but did not leave the group stage either.

By analogy with the championships in Paris and Krakow, we can draw conclusions about the future restructuring of the team. It's possible that the changes will directly affect players Npl, B1t and electroNic. In the meantime, NAVI is out of the running for the current CS:GO tournament.