With the overall shift of Natus Vincere club, it seems like 17-year-old NPL is going to be benched.
According to a report from the foreign media outlet Dexerto, it is expected that Andrii Kukharskyi (NPL) will leave NaVi’s main team, where he has been playing for half a year. The article also highlights that NaVi is considering transitioning to an international lineup. The reason for this is simple – the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine severely limits NaVi’s options.
NaVi CEO Yevhen Zolotarov stated in February of this year to Dexerto that while the club wants to develop the best Ukrainian talent, they are also considering “all international players.”
For NaVi, this season has been somewhat lacking in success, not living up to the reputation of being “born winners.” In the first half of the year, NaVi failed to secure any championship trophies and also didn’t make it to the BLAST Paris Major playoffs; however, they managed to make it to the semifinals in at least three events – IEM Katowice, EPL S17, and IEM Rio.
The race for the world number one spot in the first half of the year was intense, but NaVi ended up being an outsider. Despite replacing Viktor Orudzhev (sdy) at the beginning of the year, npl didn’t seem ready to compete at the top T1 level, producing a rating of 0.92 during his time with NaVi’s main team. This data is also the lowest in the team, with the second-to-last player, Perfecto, having a rating of 1.02.
NaVi has less than a month left to finalize their new lineup. After the break, NaVi’s first event will be the BLAST Premier Fall Groups held in Copenhagen on July 13th.
If npl leaves NaVi, the lineup would be as follows:
