b1t surpasses s1mple in all-time S-tier LAN trophies won for NAVI

This weekend NAVI locked down a first-place finish at IEM Atlanta 2026 in a dominant fashion, winning the grand finals 3-0 over GamerLegion after while also beating world #1 Vitality in the quarterfinals.

The win marks an important milestone for NAVI's Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi as IEM Atlanta is the Ukrainian star's eleventh S-tier LAN trophy under the organization, as defined by Liquipedia, meaning the 23-year-old has now won more big trophies under the organization than the legendary Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev.

s1mple is, of course, inextricably linked with the NAVI brand after playing for the Ukrainian organization from 2016 to 2023, helping power the organization's CS:GO division to ten S-tier LAN trophies while cementing his status as a superstar hall-of-fame candidate.

b1t joined NAVI from Natus Vincere Junior on December 20th, 2020 as part of a short-lived experiment with a six-man roster before joining the starting lineup in place of Egor "flamie" Vasilyev in April 2021. This decision would immediately pay dividends as NAVI secured their first title with b1t, the online DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, before winning IEM Cologne 2021 later that year as the scene returned to LAN post-COVID.

From there, b1t continued to help NAVI secure trophies even as the team made their transition to an international lineup, claiming his second Major trophy with NAVI at the PGL Copenhagen Major 2024. Overall, six of b1t's titles thus far have come after s1mple left the lineup.

For reference, here is a list of b1t and s1mple's S-tier LAN trophies with NAVI:

For those curious, the record for the most trophies won by a player during their time udner NAVI is held by Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko, with the veteran player claiming sixteen S-tier LAN during his 2009-2016 and 2017-2019 periods with the team. Zeus' numbers are significantly helped by an impressive seven trophies won by Natus Vincere's iconic 1.6 roster from 2010 to 2012.

For those that prefer HLTV's definition of the most prestigious events in Counter-Strike, their "Big Event" label, the two players are currently tied with 11 "Big Events" each. s1mple is helped by HLTV counting the BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018 as a big event despite the two-day event featuring only six teams and a much-maligned Bo1 Round-Robin format.

Whether or not this is a deal breaker in declaring b1t the holder of the second-most NAVI trophies we'll leave up to you. However, all eyes should be on IEM Cologne 2026 as the Major could prove to be a key opportunity for b1t to secure a 12th trophy and a coveted third Major.