NAVI have started the second Counter-Strike season of the year with tepid form, losing to Legacy in EWC and M80 in BLAST Open Porto, but the organization as a whole had a strong Esports World Cup.
The irony of the Esports World Cup for NAVI is that the Counter-Strike roster was the only roster to fail to earn any points towards the EWC Club Championship, but the success of its other pieces could provide the basis for much-needed investment in the roster.
NAVI secure unexpected EWC boon
There is a disconnect with the EWC Club Championship. It is something that fans have rarely expressed interest in, instead focusing on the specific rosters they support and their tournament outcomes. But the EWC Club Championship is absolutely central to esports organizations, as they attempt to balance their competitive offerings alongside the rewards for performing at the event.
With a prize pool of £30,000,000, a portion of that can be transformative for the ability of esports organizations to exist at all, but an overperformance can afford an org a little (or a lot of) extra spending money.
For NAVI, their Esports World Cup 2026 performance as a club was undoubtedly over expectations, a fact evidenced by the consistent social media posts lauding the club’s success despite a relatively small number of teams at EWC 2026.
The org finished 4th and was in contention to finish 3rd until the final moments of the Trackmania Grand Final, where any placement for NAVI’s Hubert ‘mime’ Dziedzic over Vitality’s Thomas ‘Pac’ Cole would have earned them the position.
The tight nature of that race came despite the fact that Vitality entered 21 teams in total to the Esports World Cup, with 17 of those rosters qualifying to the main event of their respective titles.
That meant that Vitality were joint second in terms of teams entered into EWC, and third in terms of teams qualified, only behind AG.AL with 18 and Team Falcons with 22.
By contrast, NAVI were joint 14th in number of teams entered, with 13, seven of which qualified for their respective events, also making NAVI the joint 14th organization in terms of qualified teams.
The result was that NAVI were one of the most efficient clubs at EWC 2026 in converting entered teams into financial gain, banking $3,000,000 from the Club Championship as well as $760,500 in prize money.
That success far outstripped 2025, when the club received no CC earnings, and 2024, when the Counter-Strike roster won the CS2 tournament, but received only $600,000 for their 8th-place club placement.
Could EWC money break NAVI’s roster impasse?
That success came in spite of the roster’s abject elimination from the EWC CS2 tournament; instead, it was, above all else, a victory for Luis Guadalupe ‘DarkAngel’ Castillo Gomez in the Fatal Fury tournament that helped the club’s tally.
Additionally, a runner-up placement in the MLBB Women’s International, a third-place finish in the PUBG tournament, a top-four finish in Trackmania, and top-eight finishes in Chess and CrossFire banked NAVI 2950 points in total. CS2 banked them 0.
But NAVI’s roster has clearly reached an impasse where the organization is looking for reinforcements but has been unable to get a deal over the line.
In an interview with NAVI Head Coach Andrii ‘B1ad3’ Horodenskyi told HLTV, “Like every end of the season, we were trying to build and analyze our strategy for the next season and overall the evolution of NAVI’s CS squad. A lot of offers were made to us. There were some possibilities to change the lineup. We were thinking, speaking with different agents, about who we could change… we tried some negotiations, but it didn’t go well. But we were close to making some changes, but eventually we understood that it couldn’t happen.”
Balanced with the fact that the roster won two tournaments last season, the organization seemingly doesn’t want to risk a precipitous drop down the rankings by making changes that won’t ultimately strengthen the roster. The roster had established protocols, rarely losing to lower-ranked teams, and showing a solid level despite an overall lack of firepower.
However, with the roster’s floor seemingly collapsing from under it, and the injection of over $3.75 million into the org, does that arithmetic change? Perhaps soon.
Following EWC elimination, B1ad3 told Insider Gaming, “For now, we just keep playing. We will keep playing the season, because we built a lot of material in bootcamp, and I think we have a good opportunity to start the season. The first three tournaments, let’s see how it goes and what it will bring us.”
If the roster does not recover at BLAST Open Porto, then StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 from September 17-20 will mark the roster’s third tournament of their season.
FURIA, MOUZ, Vitality, and Aurora are amongst the rosters at the event, providing a tough challenge for the eight-team event.
If things don’t turn around for the roster, the question is raised of whether that EWC money will suddenly come in useful for breaking the financial demands on the Counter-Strike transfer window that have not only limited NAVI, but several organizations from assembling the rosters they truly desire.
For NAVI, every player and every roster at EWC, except for the Counter-Strike roster, may have saved their season at EWC 2026.
Do you think NAVI will make a roster change this season? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
You can also read our EWC winner’s interview with tN1R! And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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