Natus Vincere will have a showmatch with Vitality on July 8 in a game that will see NAVI debut its new CS:GO squad. The two teams will play with their respective updated lineups and also mix their rosters up by exchanging players.
This will give CS:GO fans the opportunity to see s1mple and ZywOo, the two CS:GO GOATS, play on the same team with the match set for broadcast on NAVI and Maincast’s channels.
This information was released by NAVI on Thursday on their Twitter handle to the delight of CS:GO enthusiasts. Asides from the side attraction of the exchange of rosters by the two teams and mix of players, NAVI fans will particularly get a first look at the organization’s new roster for CS2.
The reports, which are yet to be confirmed by the organization, say rookie Andrij “npl” Kukharsjkyj, electroNic, and Perfecto will be leaving while the latter two will join Cloud9 no thanks to their unimpressive after a string of lackluster results in 2023.
These three players will be replaced by in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, BLAST Paris Major’s breakthrough player Ivan “iM” Mihai, and Lithuanian rifler Justinas “jL” Lekavicius pending official confirmation of these changes by NAVI.
Furthermore, this will be the first time since NAVI was founded in 2009 that they will field an international lineup in CS esports, leaving S1mple and b1t as the only Ukrainian players left on NAVI.
Vitality won the BLAST Paris Major in May as they improved their profile to be considered as a top-tier team in the last three months; the organization only made a single change for the CS2. This was the signing of OG’s former Israeli star Shahar “flames” Shushan on June 22 to replace Peter “Dupreeh” Rasmussen.
Both NAVI and Vitality’s first official match with their respective updated rosters at BLAST Premier Fall Groups between July 13 to 23.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
