Natus Vincere wins ESL Pro League Season 23

17 March 2026

Since its launch back in 2015, the ESL Pro League has grown into the premier professional Counter-Strike 2 league worldwide. And now, about eleven years and 22 editions later, Natus Vincere have crowned themselves the most recent ESL Pro League champions. The Ukrainians proved to be in a league of their own during ESL Pro League Season 23 and ended up beating international esports organization Aurora Gaming 3-1 in the Grand Final, which took place offline in Stockholm (Sweden).

ESL Pro League Season 23

From Friday, March 13th, to Sunday, March 15th, the eight best Counter-Strike 2 teams in the world gathered in Stockholm for the Playoff stage of ESL Pro League Season 23. The tournament was held at Annexet, a popular event venue in the Swedish capital that held about 2,500 live spectators for one of the biggest CS2 events of the year. The following teams managed to qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 23 Playoffs:

 

NAVI winning streak

As is usual at practically any Playoff stage, every match was all or nothing from the get-go. Eventual champions Natus Vincere (NAVI) started off against The MongolZ, of whom they dispatched with relative ease, despite a promising start by the Mongolians (0-2; 11-13, 4-13). This victory allowed NAVI to advance to the Semifinals, where FUT Esports was waiting. The Turkish organization has eliminated MOUZ a round earlier.

FUT was nevertheless blown away by NAVI on the first map (Mirage, 13-5), but then managed to regain some composure and even clinch the second map (Ancient, 11-13). This was against the run of play and NAVI seemed to be wobbling for a moment, before getting in the driver’s seat again. The Ukrainians then showed why they were one of the favorites for the title by clinching the third map (Dust II, 13-7) and progressing straight to the Grand Final.

Aurora Gaming

In terms of scores, the other eventual finalist, Aurora Gaming, had a bit more trouble in reaching the ESL Pro League Season 23 Grand Final. The Serbian-Turkish organization first beat Legacy in the Quarterfinals (2-1; 4-13, 13-8, 6-13) and then Astralis in the Semifinals. The match against Astralis was a particularly close one, as the Danes actually started by winning the first map (Nuke, 13-11). Aurora Gaming hit back hard immediately though, with a 2-13 victory on the second map (Dust II) and a 10-13 victory on the third map (Inferno).

Natus Vincere dominates

The resulting Grand Final between Aurora Gaming and Natus Vincere ended up being a prey for the latter. The Ukrainians took control of the proceedings from the beginning, only slightly losing control on the second map, which was the only one they lost (Anubis, 13-11). They won the first map (Mirage, 7-13) though, as well as the third (Nuke, 8-13) and fourth (Dust II, 9-13) maps to crown themselves ESL Pro League Season 23 champions. The victory earned them $ 100.000 in prize money, while runner-up Aurora Gaming took him $ 55.000 of the total $ 275.000 prize pool.