Natus Vincere are attending IEM Sydney 2023 without their star player, s1mple, who was replaced last minute by their coach, B1ad3. It turns out, the coach has set a stunning milestone by playing in Australia, one that may never be beaten.
B1ad3 has become the first player to compete on five versions of Counter-Strike on LAN. These include the original CS 1.6, CS: Condition Zero, CS: Source, CS:GO, and now, CS2.
S1mple had to miss the event due to paperwork issues, with his exit announced on Oct. 15. With so little time left to replace him, NAVI fielded their head coach, b1ad3.
So far, however, the team has been doing fairly well at IEM Sydney 2023. They overcame Apeks in their opening game 13-9, where B1ad3 scored only four kills. The head coach also had a poor game on Mirage against MOUZ, their next opponents, whom they are facing at the time of writing. But, they’re currently dominating on the second map, Inferno, with B1ad3 doing s1mple justice on the AWP.
Many fans believe B1ad3 just had to warm up, and looking at his Inferno performance, we would be somewhat fools to believe otherwise. The coach’s mechanical skills are not as polished as back in the day, but his game sense is still there.
When it comes to being a CS legend, there are hardly more renowned and still active individuals than the 36-year-old. He started his career in 2005 and remained a player until 2018 when he switched to coaching. B1ad3 has been with NAVI since 2019, and with him, they hoisted many trophies, including a PGL CS:GO Stockholm 2021 Major.
