Natus Vincere will part ways with CS:GO head coach Andrij “B1ad3” Ghorodensjkyj and young player Andrij “npl” Kukharsjkyj, according to a report by Russian insider John Knyaziev on social media platform VK.
This information, first spotted by Escore News, comes one week after NAVI’s lackluster performance at the BLAST Paris Major, the final CS:GO Major ever. The Ukrainian team was knocked out by FaZe Clan in the Legends Stage on May 16, missing out on playoffs.
Before facing FaZe, NAVI also had the chance to qualify over tier-two team Monte, but they were heavily outplayed by their former player Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev. NAVI hasn’t won a tournament since BLAST Premier Spring Final in June 2022, when they still were playing with sdy instead of npl.
Despite the trophy drought, they qualified for the BLAST Paris Major with Legends status due to their great run at the Europe RMR in April. There were big expectations on the team to at least reach playoffs, especially considering star man s1mple is considered the best CS:GO player of the decade.
B1ad3 has been working for NAVI since March 2019 and became the team’s head coach in September 2019. He helped the team win prestigious events such as IEM Cologne in July 2021, ESL Pro League season 14 and the Intel Grand Slam in September 2021, and most notably the PGL Stockholm Major in November 2021 with a flawless run.
Npl, a former NAVI academy player, has been playing with the main lineup since December 2022. He became their official fifth ahead of the 2023 season but so far has struggled to leave his mark in tier-one CS:GO, finishing the BLAST Paris Major as one of the tournament’s worst players. B1ad3 also admitted that the 17-year-old is not on the “same level” as his teammates. during the Major.
NAVI will play at the BLAST Premier Spring Final, a $425,000 tournament that will run from June 7 to 11, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see any roster changes before that.
