NAVI's woes continue as Astralis move on in first BLAST Groups stage

NAVI will start the Gauntlet stage from the last seed in Group B after two consecutive losses.

With back-to-back-to-back titles including the PGL Major Stockholm trophy in their back pocket, Natus Vincere entered the new season looking to continue establishing their era as one of the few teams not to make changes during the break.

But while some of the new constellations such as G2 and OG have thrived in their debut matches in the new year, for the world's best team the first day of the new season in Group B at BLAST Premier Spring Groups was one to forget.

In the opening best-of-one, NAVI suffered a shock loss on Dust2 at the hands of an MIBR team competing at the event with a stand-in, while the usually ever-present Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev went missing.

Now, they have finished the first stage of the tournament in last place, faltering to Astralis after a chaotic affair on Mirage, which came down to the wire after Natus Vincere came back from 9-15 to force overtime.

After placing last in Group B, NAVI are now on the verge of elimination from the tournament going into the new Gauntlet stage that BLAST has introduced for the spring season. On Thursday, s1mple and company will face Group C's third-placed team in a do-or-die series before they can breathe a little easier again, as they'll have a couple of chances to qualify for the Spring Final in case they come out victorious from the first best-of-three.