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Sources: Na'Vi, Other CIS Orgs to Meet in Moscow; Poor CS:GO Player Transfer Structure to be Addressed

By Jarek "DeKay" Lewis

Natus Vincere is among a group of teams meeting to hash out issues with the CIS CS:GO scene
Natus Vincere is among a group of teams meeting to hash out issues with the CIS CS:GO scene / Photo by Helena Kristiansson/ESL

Natus Vincere will headline a list of organizations expected to meet in Moscow, Russia this month to discuss, among other topics, the difficulty of player transfers in the CIS Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene, according to multiple sources.

The meeting will take place Feb. 21 and cover a multitude of topics in Dota 2 and CS:GO, the most notable to CS:GO being the difficulty of player transfers within the region. Representatives from Gambit, Virtus.pro, ForZe, Winstrike, Team Spirit, Empire, Vega Squadron, Unique, HellRaisers, Nemiga, and AVANGAR will also attend the summit, DBLTAP can confirm.

Multiple sources have indicated that recent discussions between Na’Vi and ForZe about Evgenii "FL1T" Lebedev prior to Na'Vi's acquisition of Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy encouraged the need to discuss the topic of player transfers. According to those with knowledge of the situation, ForZe asked for more than $1 Million for their player when approached.

In an interview conducted with Cybersport.ru after the ordeal, Na’Vi CEO Yevhen Zolotarov said, “It's true, FL1T was in our short list. As it usually happens in esports, one of our players asked FL1T whether he is interested in joining NAVI. After we got a positive answer, we right away approached [forZe's] CEO. We couldn't come to terms and stopped negotiations.”

The transfer market among CIS teams is notoriously dicey, and Na'Vi has been on both sides of the experience in recent years. Na'Vi asked for $1.2 million in April 2018 for the pair of s1mple and Egor "flamie" Vasilev when SK Gaming expressed interest. Months before that, Na'Vi wasn't able to lock down the acquisition of Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow after talks broke down in the later stages. The rumored (though unconfirmed) reason for the breakdown was HellRaisers' asking price.

Na’Vi added Perfecto late last month, who has stepped in for veteran AWPer Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács. Taking over the AWP role once again has been superstar Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev. In their first tournament after the move, Na’Vi reached the Finals of the ICE Challenge 2020 after beating Godsent twice and OG once. They are currently playing in Group B of the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 showdown.

It is not known what specific issues regarding Dota 2 will be discussed at the meeting, though that likely stems from the recent departure of Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanovto from Na'Vi to Virtus.pro via a contract oversight. Na'Vi did not pay a transfer fee to VP because the player left after giving written notice by the end of November, a massive oversight in the creation of the contracts.

Natus Vincere declined comment.