Call it what you want — the NaVi era is upon us.
Any doubt over NaVi's consistency and dominance in the current competitive Counter-Strike 2 landscape has been put to bed following the squad's 3-1 victory over MOUZ at IEM Rio overnight.
The win is NaVi's fourth in 2024, with the Ukrainian organization recording an astounding six grand finals as they set about defending their CS2 Major crown in March. Tournament MVP Mihai "iM" Ivan was the difference-maker in the final, posting a 1.28 HLTV rating and 59 kills in the four-map series.
It's iM's world, we're just living in it
Pundits were concerned for NaVi following a lackluster end to 2023 with iM copping criticism for failing to live up to early expectations. But the 25-year-old Romanian rifler has turned the discourse around ahead of the road to the Shanghai Major, becoming a force to be reckoned with in this tight-knit NaVi roster.
"Won IEM Rio and I can only say...f**k you haters," he said on X/Twitter following the grand final win. After a tight win on Inferno, NaVi cruised to 2-0 in the best-of-five final with a scintillating 13-2 win on Dust 2. Justinas "jL" Lekavicius and iM led the way for the boys in yellow and black, but MOUZ weren't laying down without a fight claiming Mirage 13-6.
MOUZ all but locked out a win on Ancient, too: Up 10-2 at the half, there was reason to believe we'd need the full five maps to determine a Rio champ. However, it was iM and team sniper Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov who stepped up, and with the leadership of Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, NaVi made the comeback happen.
"This one was special," Aleksib said after the match. Unlike the rest of his team, the Finnish IGL was not interviewed on-stage during the trophy lift, with Aleksib clarifying emotions got the better of him as he had suffered the "loss of a close person" recently. "I've tried my best to fight the emotions. Hug your loved ones."
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NaVi firm as favorites for the Shanghai Major
The win at IEM Rio sees NaVi continue to extend a purple patch of form dating back to the Copenhagen Major. Only twice since March has NaVi failed to reach the playoffs of an S-tier event — and when they've made it, they've locked in a spot on championship Sunday at every tournament.
"I'm surprised at how well we are developing as a team, we came in at different levels of understanding," jL said to the panel after the game. "We're keeping a steady pace of improving and this is really nice. No one is slacking, everyone is putting in the work."
It may not have been MOUZ's day but the squad has timed their return to form well. MOUZ last appeared in a championship final back at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade; since the win in Serbia, it's been plenty of playoff appearances but the squad had yet to make an appearance on a final day.
"I think there's much to improve. I'm hoping to become more consistent tournament-by-tournament," Jimpphat said. "I don't think we have a fear [of the stage] anymore. We have so much experience already, I think we are playing really well on the stage."
The two squads won't have long to rest — both will make the long flight to Singapore in two weeks for the BLAST World Final before heading to China for the all-important Shanghai Major. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest CS2 news and coverage.
