LEC 2026 - NAVI: Nascent Talent, Long-term Vision (1/10)

The 2026 season marks the long-awaited beginning for Natus Vincere. After entering the LEC in Summer 2025 by acquiring Rogue’s slot, the Ukrainian organization was also required to take over Rogue’s player and coaching staff contracts. Despite attempts to reshape the roster as best they could, results ultimately fell short.

For 2026, NAVI built the first roster fully aligned with their vision, overhauling both the coaching staff and the lineup. Only Korean AD Carry Lee "SamD" Jae-hoon was retained. He will be joined by Volodymyr "Maynter" Sorokin in the toplane, Enes "Rhilech" Uçan in the jungle, Yoon "Poby" Sung-won in midlane, and Polat "Parus" Furkan Çiçek as support.

The coaching staff was also completely overhauled, with the keys handed to Vasilis "TheRock" Voltis. The Greek head coach gave an interview to Sheep Esports in which he explained his vision for the project. Initially, the former Karmine Corp Blue in the LFL had planned to rely on experienced players, the "safest option [to] bring immediate results," but ultimately changed his mind and decided to bet on rookies.

“Usually, when you work with experienced players, you end up adapting to them a lot. They are less flexible, it’s harder to impose your ideas [....] Working with Yukino (Johnny Dang) helped me realize how much you can implement your vision with younger players,” he said. This is the core idea developed by the coach: how having young players allows him to quickly shape them into what he wants.

But "rookies often have strong mechanics and are very explosive," TheRock admited. "Some games are complete chaos, with endless fights". What the coach aims for, therefore, is to build a structured style of gameplay, similar to what can be seen in the LCK, where everything is planned...with some flexibility. "For example, my jungle and support are very aggressive. I can’t constantly pull them back. I need to give them freedom," TheRock said. Despite the roster’s youth, TheRock remains confident and believes, “realistically,” that securing a top-four finish is “achievable.”

That will necessarily require a strong showing from SamD, who has been excellent in the LFL and still has everything to prove at the highest level. The Korean AD Carry is described by his coach as a quiet force, who does the "dirty work": “He makes the correct moves without saying much. He’s as vocal as he needs to be. [...] You won’t see him making flashy plays constantly, but you’ll see him pop off in the most important fights without even realizing it at first."

Maynter’s arrival in the Ukrainian organization makes perfect sense for a team that has helped many of the country’s talents develop on Counter-Strike. He was expected to reach the LEC years ago, but visa issues forced him to wait until 2026. During the offseason, NAVI also had other names on the table, such as Panagiotis "Empyros" Tantis and Óscar "Oscarinin" Muñoz, TheRock said:

“The organization let me choose freely. I already had several low-voice players, so I needed someone who could push discussions and leadership in reviews and in-game," TheRock explained. "Maynter fits that role perfectly. He’s a player-coach type who drives conversation and helps align everyone. If you think about this, I couldn’t take Oscarinin or Empyros, from my vision.”

The jungle role is a bit more specific, as Rhilech is the only player TheRock didn’t really choose, since he was already part of the organization in Summer but didn’t play, which could raise questions about his sharpness. The head coach stated: “The first official games will be harder—more pressure, moving from ERLs to the LEC stage. But as a person, he handles pressure very well. He takes care of himself: diet, gym, routines, sleep. I’m not worried about him adapting. The first games may be tricky, but he’ll adjust quickly.”

That said, he did and didn’t choose him. Rhilech had already been on TheRock’s radar twice when he was coaching Karmine Corp Blue. He also described him as having the potential to follow a Rudy "SkewMond" Semaan–type path at G2 Esports, going from a top ERL prospect to a top LEC jungler. "Rhilech is one of the few you can really put faith in," the Head Coach stated. "He improves every year, both as a player and as a person."

The midlane and support roles were probably the positions where the team had the most to figure out. Parus was the perfect fit, according to TheRock. "He fits my system in draft, in-game, and outside the game. He’s cheerful, vocal, has strong opinions, and creates synergy with jungle. I wanted my support to be a strong voice. I’m a big Keria (Ryu Min-seok) fan, and Parus has that kind of potential."

Despite a difficult debut year in the LEC with Team BDS, Parus was therefore at the top of the list, with the idea to give him "space to shine". But the support was on hold for a long time to see if an opportunity would open with teams that were at Worlds. NAVI considered several names, including Adrian "Trymbi" Trybus, Jeong "Peter" Yoon-su, before his run at Worlds with KT Rolster, Han "Way" Gil, and Oh "Career" Hyeong-seok, but the language barrier was often a major obstacle, as TheRock wanted a vocal support.

For the midlane, like many other teams, NAVI had long waited for and wanted Vladimiros "Vladi" Kourtidis: “Vladi was the first name that came to the table. Everything was going on around KC, Fnatic was at Worlds, and so on. So the idea was Vladi with a Korean support, or Parus, and then depending on who fit best in mid.” With Vladi joining Fnatic, choosing Parus eventually allowed the team to secure a Korean midlaner. Poby became the obvious choice for the roster NAVI was putting together: "Poby fit the core that I wanted to build."

Adrien "GotoOne" Picard and Jorge "Lopon" López also join the coaching staff—and have been chosen by TheRock, at the end of a "crazy process", with numerous candidates and many tests. He considers both are on the same page as him, and will allow him to fully focus on drafts, but also on the "creative side: how we process the map, how we approach progress, and how we develop other ideas."

For more roster changes, check out our Transfers Hub and Offseason Live Tracker.