After reuniting with his former teammates a year ago, and the addition of Denis “electronic” Sharipov to the team a few months later on, Daniil “Zeus” Teslenko and his squad have steadily shaped up into one of the best teams in the world. During the run-up to the FACEIT Major, they’ve established themselves as a powerhouse again, with the potential of winning every tournament they enter.
For Zeus, this was a homecoming. Na’Vi is, and will be associated with him for a long time. He has seen it all while waving the black and yellow flag of the venerable CIS organization. Well, not exactly, though. He made headlines in 2017 by winning the Krakow Major with Gambit, in a spectacular story. This resonated immensely with the tweet he made when Na’Vi decided to release him, where he promised himself to win a Major in his career. Yet there’s one thing that would make his career complete, more than anything else, and that is winning a Major with Na’Vi.
Whether it be reaching the top of the world with Gambit last year, or with Na’Vi during their 1.6 golden year in 2010, Zeus knows what’s needed to win. He’s been doing this for years. So when given young, blazing, powerful guns such as Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev or Denis “electronic” Sharipov, you have to consider that this one has good chances to be his. Na’Vi proved they could beat anyone in the last few months. All that’s needed is to string everything together and deliver at the most important tournament of the year.
As Na’Vi are about to make their entrance into the Major New Legends stage, we sat down with Zeus and discussed about his current situation and the team’s, his wishes and plans for the future, and notably the book he’s close to releasing. This last one is only fitting, as he’s just hours away from attempting to write one of the most important chapters of his careers at the FACEIT Major.