What’s up Astralis fans, where you at? NaVi Nation here, ready to take over the world.

It has been one hell of a week in the CS:GO world (once again). Records were broken multiple times, Natus Vincere aka Russian giants NaVi have stolen the show and ESIC have their hands full again, much too soon, if you ask anyone with morals.

Too Many Things Happened, But NaVi Shone

Do you remember last year aka four(ish) months ago when all hell broke loose in CS:GO and ESIC banned 37 (elite-class level) coaches because they used spectator bug? Well, the beginning of 2021 was marked by a myriad of bans, or 35 of them in the first round, to be exact. After a long and thorough investigation of two years, ESIC issued a ban for 35 pro players because of match fixing – the good old friend of esports (and all sports, for that matter). Players in hand were betting on their own matches and were tipping off “third parties” on the probable outcomes. Most of them were banned for 12 months, although there are also bans issued for 24, 36, 48 and 60 months. You can see the full list of banned players here.

Just one day after that statement, ESIC had its hands full once again. For the second round of their action, they punished Vitality with 10,000 dollars for stream-sniping. The chaos broke out during the most prominent tournament of January, BLAST premier. In the course of Vitality’s match with Team Liquid, fans noticed a screen playing a live-stream in the Vitality’s lounge. But, the players had their backs to the screen and didn’t benefit from the stream. That was the main reason ESIC decided it was just a mistake from the organization without “malicious intention”, and they didn’t punish them more severely, although there were some demands for it. Team Vitality’s CEO acknowledged the situation and apologized to the fans.

NaVi Saved (All Of) The Day(s)

Fortunately, that wasn’t the main event BLAST will be remembered for. The tournament broke many records, and all of them had one thing in common – Natus Vincere. Although the famous Russians weren’t on top of everybody’s lists for the big win, they certainly didn’t come from way behind either. They lost to Team Liquid in quarterfinals and were sent to the lower bracket, but they’ve managed to win every game from that point forward (and have their revenge on Liquid on the way) and ended up snatching the 1-million-dollar-tournament title from Astralis’ hands in the finals.

As far as the records go, the current record was made during a lower bracket final between NaVi and Team Vitality. The match had 687,691 viewers at one point which made it the most-watched online CS:GO match in history. But, that wasn’t the only time on BLAST that a record was broken. The previous record from 2020 ESL Pro Leagues finals, also held by NaVi and Astralis, stood at 568,406 concurrent viewers, and there were three other occasions (other than the mentioned current record-holding one) that also broke it. The record was also broken during two NaVi – Liquid matches, that had 569,159 and 592,089 viewers, and then the finals between NaVi and Astralis had 645,853 viewers. So, a pretty good start of the year for CS:GO if we concentrate only on the game and its popularity.

Overall, the community is ecstatic about skills and strategies NaVi has shown, and the numbers of viewers prove it. And as it seems we won’t be going offline for quite some time yet, it’s a good thing online tournaments can be so exciting. Let’s watch what happens next together: visit our Pick6 and play for free to utilize your knowledge.