Recently, speaking on a podcast about Counter Strike, Liquid coach Jason «moses» About’Toole shared his opinion on the playing style of one of the strongest CIS teams, Natus Vincere. In his opinion, the team is strongly influenced by the fact that it actively participates in many European tournaments. As a result, tactics and style of actions become less original than other CIS players. Teams that have been playing in local tournaments for a long time more often offer something unexpected, while NAVI does not differ much from European teams.
Also O’Toole mentioned that the team management has every reason to think about solifl. Despite the fact that Alexander «s1mple» Kostylev demonstrates consistently high results, the team's performances at tournaments are not always successful. This gives cause for speculation about how productive the other players are doing.
Analyst Jacob «Pimp» Vinneche expressed a similar view. In his opinion, the changes in the lineup will help the team become more stable and qualify for the top spots in tournaments. In his opinion, now the success of their performances largely depends on how well s1mple and electronic will show themselves, and much less initiative is expected from the rest of the participants.
The last time the NAVI lineup was changed was in January 2020, and they were successful – then after the appearance of Ilya «Perfecto» Zalutsky in the roster, the team managed to win IEM Katowice 2020 and then BLAST Premier Global Final 2020. Now, after a disappointing performance at IEM Katowice 2021, Natus Vincere will have to participate in the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 13, which starts in mid-March.