Natus Vincere entered IEM Rio 2024 with high ambitions. After losing the Grand Finals of IEM Cologne and BLAST Premier Fall Final, they probably wanted to prove to their fans and also to themselves that they are still the best team in CS2.
The year 2024 has been absolutely incredible for the Ukrainian organization: four S-tier trophies, including a Major, as well as three 2nd place results. It’s hard to do better than this.
The Path To The Trophy
At IEM Rio 2024, Na’Vi started in group A with an easy match against Imperial Esports. The score was 13 – 2 on Nuke and the entire roster played well.
The second match was harder. Team Liquid easily won the first map, Inferno, 3 – 13. But on the next two maps, Na’Vi proved why they’re the best: 13 – 5 on Dust II and 13 – 11 on Ancient. Liquid nearly managed to force an overtime after being led 8 – 4 but they were denied in the last round.
The upper bracket Final did not go as planned. FURIA Esports, the local favorites, defeated Na’Vi 0 – 2 and advanced to the semifinals. For the Ukrainian side, this meant they now needed to win three consecutive matches to claim the trophy.
In the first one, against Virtus.pro, they struggled a bit on the second map but still won 2 – 0. Then, against HEROIC, the struggle became even more intense. After losing 13 – 9 on Ancient and being 6 rounds down after the first half of Dust II, Na’Vi made a spectacular comeback and won 14 – 16 followed by 6 – 13 on Mirage.
The Grand Final against MOUZ had another epic comeback but of smaller proportions. Na’Vi won the first map, Inferno, 11 – 13, and the second map, Dust II, 2 – 13. Mirage belonged to MOUZ (13 – 6) and it seemed like Ancient would belong to them as well. But after winning the first half 10 – 2, MOUZ lost the second half 1 – 11.
Despite not having the best KD score, Mihai “iM” Ivan was the best player on the server and won the MVP award.
