Analyst and commentator Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg shared his thoughts on the current problems of the Natus Vincere CS2 roster in a new episode of the Snake & Banter podcast. In his opinion, the team continues to rely on the remnants of their 2024 successes, utilizing an outdated game model.
The expert noted that NAVI's style has become too predictable. As an example, he cited the team's actions on Mirage against M80, where the opponents read all of "Born to Win's" steps in advance. While the system previously managed to confuse opponents with unpredictable plays from b1t in "apps", iM or Aleksib from "connector", or jL from "ramp", opponents have now studied this style and successfully build anti-strats against it. Mauisnake also highlighted a symptomatic detail: NAVI players currently perform better in rounds with a Tec-9 or Desert Eagle than when trying to build a full attack.
The analyst paid special attention to the dissonance between the individual skill of the players and the overall results. According to him, the roster features three or four top-20 level esports athletes, yet the squad does not even rank in the global top five. Mauisnake called this roster one of the most powerful in terms of firepower, but one that is practically incapable of winning trophies.
As a reminder, Natus Vincere recently concluded their run at the BLAST Open Porto 2026 tournament. The team, led by captain Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, fell to G2 Esports with a score of 0:2 (6:13 on Ancient and 10:13 on Inferno), finishing in 9th-12th place at the event.
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