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Natus Vincere confirmed to compete at ESL One Cologne

By Brittany Frederick

Members of the Natus Vincere Counter-Strike team pose with the trophy at DreamHack Leipzig 2016. Photo Credit: Acquired through Creative Commons.
Members of the Natus Vincere Counter-Strike team pose with the trophy at DreamHack Leipzig 2016. Photo Credit: Acquired through Creative Commons. /
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Ukranian powerhouse team Natus Vincere have joined the lineup of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams competing at this year’s ESL One Cologne.

ESL One Cologne announced the addition of Natus Vincere on Thursday, bolstering the lineup for the popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament despite it no longer being declared as a Major.

Natus Vincere (Na’vi) won ESL One New York in 2016. But they’re still looking for even a podium finish in 2017, ending up in the 5th to 8th place group at both January’s ELEAGUE Major and February’s DreamHack Masters Las Vegas. They were also in the 5th to 6th place group at last month’s IEM Katowice.

Na’vi’s longtime player and later coach, starix, also parted ways with the team in March.

But a victory at ESL One Cologne could easily make people forget about that recent turbulence. Cologne has become one of the most popular CS:GO tournaments in the world so winning would come with serious bragging rights, as well as net Natus Vincere the largest share of a quarter-million dollar prize pool.

Below is ESL One’s official announcement video confirming the attendance of Natus Vincere:

Natus Vincere are the fifth team to confirm their attendance at ESL One Cologne. They join 2016 winners SK Gaming, 2015 champions Fnatic, Virtus.pro and FaZe Clan on the roster.

Meanwhile, the Danish organization Astralis — widely considered to be the best Counter-Strike team in the world at the moment with two tournament victories in three months — have already declared that they will not play in this tournament.

Valve’s newest Major competition, PGL Krakow, starts in Poland a week after the conclusion of ESL One Cologne. With the added significance and larger prize pool, Krakow is expected to take priority over Cologne for some CS:GO teams, despite the popularity of the German event.

But with the 2015 and 2016 champions already confirmed to compete, plus major names in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive like Natus Vincere, ESL One Cologne should still be a phenomenal tournament this summer.

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ESL One Cologne is scheduled for July 7-9 at LANXESS Arena. Fans can get a preview of what’s to come at the event with the previously released teaser video here.