NAVI Wins BLAST Premier: World Final 2021, S1mple Breaks MVP Award Record
NAVI close 2021 with a win.
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Natus Vincere (NAVI) has closed the year similar to how they started it, with a win at the BLAST Premier: World Final 2021. The CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) derby between Gambit Esports and NAVI was a treat to watch, as Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev led the charge for his side to ensure its comeback after facing an early deficit.
The grand final went all the way down to a decider as NAVI fought its way back into the match after losing its map pick in the very first game to later lift the trophy high at the BLAST Studio in Copenhagen, Denmark.
It was a special day for s1mple personally as he was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of BLAST Premier: World Final 2021, his eighth MVP title this year as he sets a new record for most MVP awards won by a CS:GO player in a calendar year.
NAVI wins the last CS:GO tournament of 2021 with s1mple setting a new record
NAVI has successfully won all the LAN tournaments that they have participated in 2021. Though the team could not maintain its unbeaten streak on LAN which they had maintained ever since Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi became a permanent member of the active roster, the Ukrainian organization has been able to establish its own era in CS:GO by conquering the year.
NAVI closed out 2021 by winning the BLAST Premier: World Final 2021, defending their title and continuing its streak as the BLAST Premier champions.
The successful lower bracket run was synonymous to the team's journey through BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020, which they had won in similar fashion. NAVI's run across both these BLAST events from lower bracket round two all the way up to the lower bracket final was eerily identical as they faced G2 Esports, Team Liquid, and Team Vitality in this very order.
While NAVI as a team has achieved its own era in CS:GO, their star player s1mple had a huge role to play behind the team's success. He showed peak consistency and deadly form in every single tournament, resulting in him winning eight MVP awards in 2021.
With this, s1mple has broken the record set by Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz in 2018 when he had won seven MVP awards. The eight MVP medals clinched by s1mple are as follows,
BLAST Premier Global Final 2020
DreamHack Masters Spring 2021
StarLadder CIS RMR
IEM Cologne 2021
ESL Pro League Season 14
PGL Major Stockholm 2021
BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021
BLAST Premier: World Final 2021
NAVI is now walking into 2022 as the world champions having won the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, the most recent team to have won Intel Grand Slam Season 3, and the reigning champions of BLAST Premier.
