Cover And Thumbnail Image Courtesy: Intel Extreme Masters
Na’Vi did not just win IEM Katowice 2020 but they actually made a bold statement through their victory, going undefeated in the playoffs to lift the trophy after 10 long years. And though it was a team effort, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev was their knight in shining armor and their coach Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy feels the same as he states that, “A lot of people say he's the best player to ever touch the game of CS and I think that's true", according to ESPN.
B1ad3 seems to be in awe of s1mple’s talent as he says that “he (s1mple) was even the best player last year but because of the changing lineups, he couldn't achieve more with the team," himself considering s1mple to be the best player in the world right now he goes on to define his game style, “the way he plays and the moments he creates during the matches are unbelievable.”
While appreciating s1mple Na’Vi’s coach also talks about the team’s future with concern “Today we're the best at this tournament but we need to work on consistency if we want to be considered as No. 1.” Still seeing Astralis as their main competition, B1ad3 still doesn’t consider Na'Vi to be the best in the world yet, aiming to cross the Danes record of three CS:GO Majors.
Na’Vi with this victory has set itself up for a great year ahead, as they enter the race for Intel Grand Slam - Season 3 and lead the ESL Pro Tour rankings as well. While s1mple might be “happy that everyone who does not believe maybe will start to believe and everyone who trash talks will start to be quiet,” the Ukrainian squad will need to keep up their form as they face cut-throat competition from other teams.
