Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #26 Filu Dawid Czarnecki chloric Caide Heaton ExiT Abdullah Al-Twaijri Ruxic Uğur Güç hiro Emirhan Kat ComeBack Berkcan Şentürk stand-in has announced the departure of longtime player Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky.

"I want to thank NAVI and all my teammates with whom I had the chance to play!" Shao said. He shared that he was allowed to explore his opportunities, preferring the Controller and Initiator roles in any region.

Shao was a part of the original Masters Copenhagen-winning FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks core that joined NAVI ahead of Valorant's partnership era, joining alongside FPX teammates SUYGETSU , ANGE1 , and Zyppan . Since then, Shao has played an integral role in NAVI's squad, starting out as the team's main recon Initiator player before transitioning into the Controller role in the future.

Through just over three seasons with Shao, NAVI has ballooned up and down in the pecking order of EMEA. The start of the partnership era was marked with a semifinal finish at LOCK//IN São Paulo, and a fourth-place finish in the EMEA League was just enough to qualify for Masters Tokyo thanks to FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Alfajer Emir Ali Beder winning LOCK//IN and granting EMEA four slots at the event. FNATIC won in Tokyo, granting EMEA an additional slot at Champions Los Angeles, which NAVI claimed after a second-place finish at the EMEA LCQ.

The following year, NAVI picked up ardiis , reuniting the FPX core that lifted a Masters trophy in Copenhagen in 2022. That iteration of the squad fell just short of reaching a Masters event in 2024, bowing out in the semifinals of Kickoff and then finishing 5th-6th in Stage 1. The year ended disappointingly, with a veteran core failing to qualify for a single international event. In 2025, NAVI retooled itself, going for a multinational rebuild by introducing hiro and koalanoob . While that squad managed a 5th-6th and fourth-place finish in regional play, it never racked up enough points to qualify for an international event, extending its drought for another year.

In 2026, NAVI parted ways with just koalanoob, bringing in former BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #3 Crewen Ali Eren Sargin Lar0k Yusuf Kaan Kanber Loita Utku Kart Rosé Eren Erzan lovers rock Umut Pekdoğan player sociablEE and retaining the rest of the roster. To start the year, NAVI had its worst finish in a regional event since Kickoff in 2025, finishing 7th-8th. At EMEA Clash, NAVI fielded a team with Kolosha replacing core member Ruxic, who was receiving physiotherapy to treat an arm injury, on a temporary basis. In an effort to rebuild for the next stage, NAVI moves on from one of its most familiar names in Shao, now leaving Ruxic as the only original NAVI member to still be on the roster.

Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #26 Filu Dawid Czarnecki chloric Caide Heaton ExiT Abdullah Al-Twaijri Ruxic Uğur Güç hiro Emirhan Kat ComeBack Berkcan Şentürk stand-in 's full roster is now:

  • Volkan "sociablEE" Yonal
  • Dawid "Filu" Czarnecki
  • Uğur "Ruxic" Güç
  • Emirhan "hiro" Kat
  • Kyrylo "ANGE1" Karasov (Head coach)
  • Dmytro "chippy" Bychenko (Assistant coach)
  • Zuzanna "Zuzanna" Hejduk-Mostowy (Performance coach)
  • Urszula "Xirreth" Klimczak (Performance coach)
  • Alaa "Flynn" Nasrallah (Analyst)