With winning over $220,000 prize money last year, the Ukrainians of Natus Vincere set a new record. This year everyone is trying to stop their domination. One week before the IEM in Kiev we had a little chat with Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko and asked him about the IEM and how they feel being the team that everyone wants to beat.

Your team will go into the IEM V European Championship Finals as one of the favourites. Which factors make you confident Na`Vi will be the
European champions at the end of the tournament?

First of all our team is in a very good shape. We are practicing a lot and I guess it will pay off. You can also ignore roster changes in the top teams which won’t be able to reach their top level within a month.

As a team well known for being very good at researching their opponents
how will you prepare for teams like fnatic and lions.swe who have not
produced any HLTV demos since their lineups changed?

It’s quite rarely that we adapt for a certain team and lately we have been putting accent on improving our game and working on our personal mistakes. I don’t think it’s a huge problem.

Who do you anticipate to be your toughest opponent at the event and who
has the most potential to surprise?

I’d say SK and mTw. While MYM will be a “darkhorse”.

Which teams would you pick, including yourselves, to make the playoffs
from each group?

SK, mTw and FX. From our group - fnatic and Lions.

After winning so much money and so many tournaments last year how does
it feel to be the team every other team wants to beat?

It is really difficult and you always have to be in your best shape, getting ready to face any team. For example even if you lose, you lose to those teams who are better on that given tournament.

What can Na`Vi do to achieve similar success to last year or better?

The most important thing for us is to keep that motivation and urge for victories. Or if some 2012 happens, it’s also a bad luck. (smiles)

No team has ever sustained dominance over top level Counter-Strike for
more than a single year, give or take a month or two. What are your
feelings on this and does it add any pressure as you go into 2011?

As you may know, we had a lot of victories in 2010, but we also had many defeats which taught us a lot. I think we can take into account all mistakes of the previous teams and keep the winning tendency in year 2011!


Na`Vi will be competing in Group B at the IEM V European Championship Finals in Kiev, Ukraine, where SK Gaming will be live on location providing up to the minute coverage.