Natus Vincere’s main advantage and Team Spirit’s chances at the Major — highlights from the latest Counter-Points podcast

Analyst Jacob “Pimp” Winneke and host Duncan “Thorin” Shields appeared on the latest episode of the Counter-Points podcast. Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights in our article.

Thorin wondered which of the teams present would be able to compete with Team Vitality at the Major. The host pointed out the “Bees’” recent stats—they haven’t lost a single map in the playoffs across several consecutive tournaments.

At the same time, Duncan shared that last year, Team Vitality had a running joke that they should lose amidst their constant victories.

Speaking of Natus Vincere, Shields speculated that the “born to win” squad would face Team Vitality in the quarterfinals of the IEM Cologne Major 2026 playoffs. In such a scenario, a NAVI victory is possible, as they’ve already done it at another tournament, and their main advantage is psychological.

At the same time, Thorin believes that defeat sometimes benefits teams, as it relieves pressure.

Thorin touched on Team Vitality’s loss at the recent IEM Atlanta 2026 and noted that something similar had happened before with Ninjas in Pyjamas, whose streak of eighty-seven consecutive map wins was broken. However, even after a poor result, the team is capable of improving and can return to being a top-tier squad.

For his part, Pimp noted that the current Team Spirit roster interests him the most. If rifler Danil “donk” Kryshkovets arrives at the Major in top form, he will be able to carry the team single-handedly throughout the tournament. Nevertheless, the other players on the roster also performed well at PGL Astana 2026, the analyst believes.

Vinneche emphasized that he will always give Team Spirit a strong chance of victory, no matter which team they face. According to him, Natus Vincere is currently the second-best team in the world, but the “Dragons” have a chance to overtake them.

Thorin recalled FaZe Clan’s performance at the last Major and noted that he still doesn’t understand how the roster managed to achieve such a result. But despite this, the host is confident that karrigan plays worse than former Team Falcons captain Damian “kyxsan” Stoilkovski.

Pimp stated that when it comes to pure AWP skill, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov is the best sniper. That said, Mathieu “ZywOo” Erbo plays much better with a standard rifle than the Russian.

In addition, Vineche emphasized that Natus Vincere has managed to build a foundation that will allow it to remain one of the most stable teams. The analyst also named Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodensky the best coach in the world.

Earlier, analyst Jason “moses” O’Toole stated on the Snake & Banter podcast that Team Spirit is a contender to win the IEM Cologne Major 2026. Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg, in turn, added that the “Dragons” showed even better form at PGL Astana 2026 than they did at the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.

Photo — Adela Sznajder, ESL.