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NAVI Junior Became The Champions Of The European Pro League Season 17

The European Pro League Season 17 has ended, a small online tournament with a prize pool of $20,000, which, as a rule, does not attract much attention compared to large LAN championships. But one extremely significant event occurred at this tournament for European teams. The Ukrainian team NAVI Junior became the champions of EPL Season 17. Let’s talk about how it was.

In this article you will learn about how NAVI Junior won their first professional championship, what is the phenomenon of youth squads, and why they are not particularly popular in Dota 2, as well as about the history of NAVI Junior and their prospects.

The first NAVI Junior championship won

The championship at the European Pro League Season 17 became significant for NAVI Junior for one simple reason – this is the first professional tournament won for the junior team of the Ukrainian organization. Like most participants in EPL Season 17, Riddys and his teammates received a direct invitation to the championship. According to the results of the draw, the team was placed in Group A. Despite the presence of such opponents as Rest Farmers and L1GA Team, which consisted of experienced esportsmen, NAVI Junior demonstrated a perfect game, making everyone who made an esports bet on them pretty happy, winning all five matches out of five. Moreover, it is worth noting the fact that during the entire group stage the Ukrainian club did not lose a single map, winning all matches with a score of 2:0.

A confident first place in the group guaranteed NAVI Junior a place in the final stage of the European Pro League Season 17. The first opponent of the youth team was the MarsBet Team. The victory with a score of 2:0 brought the Ukrainian club into the semi-finals of the upper bracket. There, NAVI Junior beat MOUZ in a full bo3 series, which secured the players a place in the winners’ final. Their opponent was supposed to be the Yellow Submarine team, but the team refused to participate in the match, thereby ensuring NAVI Junior a technical victory. In the grand final of the championship, Riddys and his teammates defeated MOUZ with a score of 3:1 and became champions of the European Pro League Season 17. In addition to the coveted championship, the Ukrainian team received the main prize of $10,000.

Thus, the junior squad of Natus Vincere, under the mentorship of the legendary Artstyle, won the first victory in their history at a professional tournament, demonstrating a phenomenal performance. Over the entire tournament, and in the case of NAVI Junior this is nine matches, the players lost only on two maps. At the same time, it’s worth talking separately about the phenomenon of youth teams, and why this is such a rare phenomenon in Dota 2 these days.

The phenomenon of youth teams and their unpopularity in Dota 2

In general, the concept of youth squads came to esports from traditional sports. So, for example, in football, since time immemorial, there has been a tradition of having players who are under 18 years of age or 21 years of age. For esports organizations, having a junior roster, also known as an Academy roster, is an excellent opportunity to develop their own promising esports players, who can then be successfully transferred to the main team or sold on the transfer market.

In the esports environment, youth squads have gained particular popularity in Counter-Strike 2 and League of Legends, where almost every respected esports organization has its own team consisting of young and promising players. One of the disadvantages of having such a unit in an organization is the high cost of such an initiative. After all, you don’t just need to pay the players a salary, because every work must be paid. The team will also need an experienced coach, psychologist, manager, as well as training space. 

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Now let’s move on to why youth squads are not particularly popular in Dota 2. The whole reason is the lack of a large number of tournaments for these teams. Until recently, the entire ranked season in the MOBA discipline was built around Valve’s The International. It was not profitable for organizations to have an additional roster when all that was required of the team was to get to TI. Probably the introduction of the ESL Pro Tour in Dota 2 and other tournament systems has the opportunity to change the situation, but only time will tell.

History of NAVI Junior and their prospects

Natus Vincere announced the signing of the youth team in August 2022. The team’s coach was a former player of this organization, champion of The International 2011, Ivan ‘Artstyle’ Antonov. The roster consisted of young Ukrainian and Kazakh players. At first, the team tried to get into the rating DPC season and even took fourth place at the DPC EEU 2023 Tour 2: Division II, earning $11,000, but for the most part, throughout 2023 they competed in various online tournaments and qualifications, gaining experience.

Already this year, NAVI Junior were able to qualify for the closed qualifiers of such major tournaments as ESL One Birmingham 2024 and DreamLeague Season 23. And the culmination of the current roster at the moment is the championship at the European Pro League Season 17. In the future, if the roster continues to develop at such a pace , NAVI Junior may be able to break into the ranks of tier-2 teams.

Conclusion

NAVI Junior truly pleased all the fans of the Ukrainian esports organization and surprised the esports community that follows Dota 2 even at such a grassroots level. The Ukrainian-Kazakh squad looks quite promising and potentially has every chance of becoming the basis for Natus Vincere. The next stop for Riddys and the team should be a trip to the LAN tournament.

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