With a devastating 3-0 victory over G2 Esports, Na`Vi has officially crowned itself champion of IEM Katowice 2020. s1mple – the brightest star of Na`Vi also delivered an impressive performance throughout the tournament, earning the MVP title and being hailed by the community as the “best player in history”, the “true number 1” in the CS:GO scene.
Sharing his feelings after the championship, s1mple stated he was extremely proud of the achievements that Na`Vi reached in just 2 weeks. First was a 1-3 defeat to Mousesports in the ICE Challenge finals on February 6, followed by a victory in Group B of the BLAST Premier Spring Series 2020, and finally the championship at IEM Katowice 2020 – a tournament that just 3 months ago s1mple never thought he could win.
One of the highlights of Na`Vi in the playoffs was their devastating performance on Nuke – a map once considered “unbeatable” by Astralis, and also part of G2’s map pool. However, when faced with these two opponents who picked this map, Na`Vi brutally crushed Astralis with a score of 16-5, and then G2 Esports with a score of 16-4.
Notably, in Na`Vi’s history, Nuke has never been considered their strongest map. Speaking about this map, s1mple said that Coach B1ad3 and IGL Boombl4 are the two key figures behind their success on Nuke. The top minds of Na`Vi always make adjustments, adding or removing strategies on this map when facing different opponents, making their gameplay harder to predict and impossible to read. “Of course, we always learn from the maps we lose,” s1mple added.
After losing Nuke to FaZe and Mirage to fnatic, they returned to study and practice these two maps meticulously, as Na`Vi understood that they must perform well on as many maps as possible to secure victories against all opponents.
Many people say this is the strongest Na`Vi lineup ever, as it is rare to see a Na`Vi where none of the 5 members are considered a “weak link”. Sharing his thoughts on this, s1mple mentioned that the team members are all at a peak in their performance with “insane” individual skills, but the most important factor is that all 5 members are of similar ages (20 – 22 years), which helps them understand each other both inside and outside the game. s1mple also thanked Na`Vi’s psychologist for always helping the team maintain a comfortable atmosphere, unity, trust in each other, and complete focus on the game.
This is the 10th MVP title in s1mple’s career, helping him level with two other legendary names in the CS scene, GeT_RiGhT and kennyS, and only behind device (who has 15 MVP titles). However, it seems s1mple is not too concerned about the number of MVP titles he has achieved:
“It’s pretty great but I just want to win more team titles with my team. Of course, I always want to show my highest personal performance, not just me but every player wants that too.”
“I know my teammates can easily achieve the MVP title as well. It’s quite random, for example, if the whole team is playing extremely well, the opponents will be taken down before they even get a chance to face Perfecto, and of course Perfecto won’t get a single kill. Or if Boombl4 gets 28 kills in just half a match, it’s tough for other players to surpass that number. No matter who gets the MVP title, I still feel happy, but overall, the feeling of enjoying the championship with the whole team is always the best for me.”
After the success at IEM Katowice, Na`Vi will take nearly 2 weeks off before participating in ESL Pro League Season 11 – another S-tier tournament featuring 24 of the world’s top teams. All information about major tournaments and the latest news in the CS:GO scene will be continuously updated by gamek, so stay tuned!