Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius is stepping back from competitive CS2 and will be placed on the bench of Natus Vincere, as announced by the Ukrainian organization on Tuesday. Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri, who has recently been elevated from the academy team, NAVI Junior, will take his place.
Read more about Natus Vincere promoting makazze.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘jL’ provided additional details about his choice.
‘jL’ joined Natus Vincere during the summer of 2023 when the team transitioned to an English communication system, becoming part of the lineup alongside Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and Mihai ‘iM’ Ivan.
The Lithuanian performed at an unprecedented level in 2024, contributing to NAVI’s victory in four championships, including the PGL Major Copenhagen, where he earned an MVP medal. He was recognized as the fifth-best player of 2024 and received the Closer of the Year award.
However, Natus Vincere experienced an unsatisfactory first season in 2025 where they struggled to compete for titles. While they consistently progressed to the playoffs, they only succeeded in reaching the semi-finals on two occasions, at BLAST Bounty and IEM Katowice. Additionally, ‘jL’ was unable to replicate his previous success from 2024, with a LAN rating of 1.06, a drop from his 1.13 rating last year.
The updated Natus Vincere team is set to make its debut later this month at IEM Cologne. Their journey will kick off in Stage 2, which is scheduled to commence on July 26.
Natus Vincere Statement
Natus Vincere roster is as follows:
- Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen
- Mihai ‘iM’ Ivan
- Valeriy ‘b1t’ Vakhovskiy
- Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov
- Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri
- Andrey ‘B1ad3’ Gorodenskiy (coach)
- Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius (benched)
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