S1mple: “I need new Haters, the old ones became my fans.”
Natus Vincere have won the Intel Grand Slam Season 3 after a thrilling performance in the ESL Pro League Season 14. They are the third team to ever win the Intel Grand Slam after Astralis in 2018 and Team Liquid in 2019. With this victory, the players win $1 million for their dominating performance.
The CIS squad won the ESL Pro League Season 14 grand finals with a 3-2 victory over Team Vitality. It was a nail-biting finish for the team as they went to 30 rounds on the fifth map of the series. Winning the Intel Grand Slam was a momentous occasion for NaVi, whose coach had already expressed his desire to secure this achievement.
Only two teams have won the Grand Slam and we want to make history.
NaVi Makes history with Grand Slam victory
Natus Vincere has been dominating the CS:GO scene recently and is ranked #1 in the HLTV rankings. The team won its first Intel Grand Slam level tournament in 2020, just before the pandemic disrupted the scene. The team won IEM Katowice 2020 defeating G2 esports and then needed to win a at least four Master-tier tournaments in a span of ten events. Winning the Intel Grand Slam took them a year and a half as the pandemic disrupted events and led to several cancelations.
Sometimes it is better than the Major because there have been only two teams that have won.
In 2021, NaVi won DreamHack Masters Spring and IEM Cologne 2021. With three victories, NaVi was just one tournament win away from securing the Intel Grand Slam. The ESL Pro League Season 14 provided the perfect opportunity for the CIS squad.
NaVi lost just one series in the entire tournament, in the group stage, to BIG. The team took down ENCE and Heroic before meeting Vitality in the Grand Finals. The Grand Finals was an exciting affair going the distance of five maps to Mirage. Even on Mirage, it took the two teams all thirty rounds to decide the winner.
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Which Events were part of Intel Grand Slam Season 3?
Here is the list of events that were part of the Intel Grand Slam Season 3. Lasting 756 days, the third season of the Intel Grand Slam was its longest ever. Astralis finished Season 1 in 523 days while Team Liquid took just 144 days to complete the Intel Grand Slam Season 2.
- IEM Chicago 2019 - Team Liquid.
- ESL One New York - Evil Geniuses.
- DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019 - Fnatic.
- IEM Beijing 2019 - Astralis.
- ESL Pro League Season 10 - Mouz.
- IEM Katowice 2020 - NaVi.
- Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge - Astralis.
- IEM Katowice 2021 - Gambit.
- ESL Pro League Season 13 - Heroic.
- DreamHack Masters Spring - NaVi.
- IEM Summer 2021 - Gambit.
- IEM Cologne - NaVi.
What is the Intel Grand Slam?
The Intel Grand Slam is a million-dollar prize pool announced for teams that show consistency at the highest level. The prize goes directly to the players and is a reward for their consistency and performance.
How to win the Intel Grand Slam?
The Intel Grand Slam in Season 3 can be completed by the first team to:
1. Win six ESL Pro Tour Masters tournaments inside a span of ten consecutive events.
2. Win four ESL Pro Tour Masters tournaments inside a span of ten consecutive events. This is inclusive of a Championship level ESL Pro Tour event (any of the IEM Katowice or IEM Cologne Masters Championships or a CSGO Major Championship by ESL or DreamHack).
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