After the completion of the first part of the 2024 rating season, Valve, the developer and publisher of Counter-Strike 2, released an updated world and regional ranking for its shooter discipline. This is how the Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere, also known as NAVI, became a European leader. We’ll discuss the reasons for this success and the rating itself today.
In this article you will learn about the reasons for Natus Vincere’s leadership in the European rankings, the teams that occupy places in the top 5 in Europe, the principle of constructing the ranking from Valve, and a brief history of NAVI in Counter-Strike.
Reasons for Natus Vincere’s Leadership in the European Rankings
As it became known from the updated Valve rating, NAVI are the strongest team in the world and Europe, taking first place and having 1925 rating points. But how did this happen? Somewhere from the middle of last year, the Ukrainian club was actively involved in the formation of a new European roster of the organization, abandoning the Russians in the composition. Also, an important decision was the departure of s1mple, which became an important era in the history of the team.
So, from the end of the year, Natus Vincere systematically gained shape. The first positive sign was the 3rd-4th place at BLAST Premier: World Final 2023, which provided players with $85,000 in prize money. Already in the new year, the team convincingly won PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier A and BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, which made NAVI’s leadership even more obvious if you took a look at esports betting at that time. And the top 8 at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024 brought an additional $24,000. 3-5th place in the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A secured the team a ticket to the Major tournament in Denmark, where the team consolidated its leadership.
The young NAVI roster began its journey to PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 from the elimination stage, bypassing the opening stage of the tournament. The 3-2 statistics ensured the players advanced to the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Even at that time, few people believed that the team led by Aleksib would be able to achieve the desired result and surprise the whole world. But in the playoffs, Natus Vincere first defeated Eternal Fire, and then G2 Esports in a full bo3 series. The decisive match against the legendary FaZe Clan ended with a victory for NAVI with a score of 2:1. The world championship brought players, in addition to the Champions Cup, a grand prize of $500,000 and the status of the strongest Counter-Strike 2 team in the world.
Who Else is in the Top 5 in Europe in Counter-Strike 2?
In addition to Natus Vincere, which occupy first place, it is important to note the teams that follow them and occupy places from second to fifth. So their rivals in the grand finals of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, the FaZe Clan team, are literally breathing in their backs. Karrigan and the team have been at the top of the strongest teams for a long time, and the thirty-four-year-old Dane himself is clearly not going to retire
Also worthy of attention are Team Spirit, who won Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024, as well as MOUZ, who consistently ranked in the top 4 of major tournaments. Rounding out the top five strongest teams in Europe are G2 Esports, which have a fairly similar level of achievement to MOUZ.
Valve’s Rating Principle
Valve does not hide the algorithms by which it determines the number of points earned by a particular team. All factors and patterns are described on the developers’ Github page. In short, Valve takes into account three main indicators, namely team statistics, defeated opponents and personal results.
Valve’s team statistics include the amount of prize money earned; information about defeated opponents includes prize money won, as well as the number of teams defeated. In addition, the history of joint confrontations is taken into account in the final number of points. For example, it was the victory in the grand final of the Major event that brought NAVI into the lead. But it is worth noting that the Ukrainian club is only six points ahead of FaZe Clan.
History of NAVI
Initially, the Natus Vincere CS roster was formed in 2010 and included such players as Edward, Zeus, markeloff, starix and ceh9. This lineup immediately began to produce outstanding results, winning numerous tournaments and becoming one of the most dominant teams in the CS world.
During this period, Na’Vi were undeniable in the Counter-Strike world. They have won major tournaments such as Intel Extreme Masters, Electronic Sports World Cup and many others.
In 2013, the roster underwent changes and new players such as GuardiaN and seized joined the team. It was an adjustment period for the team, but they still continued to put in strong performances. Having completed their contract with the Astana Dragons, Zeus and Edward returned to Na’Vi. This led to the team’s growth and they achieved significant success in 2015.
Recent years have been a period of change and search for the optimal composition for the team. They included different players such as s1mple, flamie, electronic and others. Despite some tournament successes, the team continued to strive for stability.
Conclusion
Natus Vincere deservedly occupy the leading position in the professional rankings from Valve, having won the first Major championship of the current year. The team has recently demonstrated growth and development with a new lineup. The rating itself is formed according to open and understandable rules that are publicly available. The NAVI organization is famous for its long and eventful history of performances in Counter-Strike, and perhaps the current roster still has more to come.
