Esports kings Natus Vincere (NaVi) – made up of gamers from Ukraine and Russia – were crowned champions at the prestigious PGL Major Stockholm 2021 tournament as they scooped a cool $1 million in prize money.
Facing off against rivals G2 Esports in a Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) battle, NaVi swept their rivals 2-0 in Sunday’s Grand Final to win a major CS:GO title for the first time in the team’s history.
They achieved the feat in flawless fashion, becoming the first team ever not to drop a ‘map’ on their way to the title, having also whitewashed Team Vitality in the quarterfinal and Gambit Esports in the semifinal.
NaVi features legendary Ukrainian star Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev – widely regarded as the best CS:GO player of all time, but who was picking up his first major title in front of a live crowd at the Avicii Arena and millions more watching around the world.
Also part of NaVi are Kostyliev’s countryman Valeriy ‘B1T’ Vakhovskiy, as well as Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov, Ilya ‘Perfecto’ Zalutskiy and Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov – all of whom are Russian.
Mikhailov, 22, even used the occasion on Sunday to propose to his girlfriend back home in Moscow.
The success for the team follows an even bigger prize money triumph for Russian and Ukrainian gamers from ‘Team Spirit’ last month, who picked up a whopping $18.2 million for their win at Dota 2 The International.
The total prize fund at PGL Major Stockholm 2021 was somewhat more modest, with second-placed G2 Esports leaving with $300,000.
In addition to their $1 million prize, NaVi picked up 4,000 Blast Premier points and an automatic bid to the World Final 2021 in December.
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