Na'Vi invited to ESL One 'Counter-Strike' tournament after signing S1mple
Natus Vincere is the fifth Counter-Strike team invited to the premiere ESL One tournament in New York this October.
The announcement came soon after it was revealed that former Team Liquid player S1mple has replaced Zeus on the Na'Vi lineup.
Na'Vi will be competing Oct. 1 and 2 at ESL One New York against SK Gaming, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, Virtus.pro and three other top teams that are to be determined.
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While Na'Vi has grabbed a few first place spots in premiere tournaments throughout the last year, they have lacked consistency. The team often leans on its AWPer Guardian to pull them out of sticky situations and level the playing field, and relying on one-fifth of the team isn't conducive to winning rounds. And when Na'Vi starts to lose against an opponent, they lose confidence and rarely turn the match around.
To shake things up, Na'Vi needed a new, strong player to give themselves a little more competitive backbone. One week ago, the team replaced long-time Na'Vi player and in-game leader Zeus with S1mple, a younger player who has recently proven himself to be one of the best CS:GO players in the world.
S1mple could be exactly the confidence booster Na'Vi needs going into ESL One New York. The team placed fourth in the first season of ELeague and placed fifth-eighth at ESL One Cologne in July.
S1mple's previous team, Team Liquid, may not have as good of a shot at the tournament as they previously thought, as S1mple was arguably the best player on the team.
The other three teams will be tough competition. Virtus.pro is coming hot off a win at ELeague, SK Gaming is currently fielding what many consider to be the best all-around Counter-Strike team playing right now, and G2 Esports has an up-and-coming roster that has placed pretty well in tournaments when everyone shows up to play.
ESL One New York will take place live at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Doors open Oct. 1 and 2 at 10 a.m. ET, and all the action will be broadcast live on Twitch.
