W0nderful’s apparent downfall at NaVi has been greatly exaggerated.
Players and staff with NaVi's CS2 division have spoken out against insider claims that prodigal sniper Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov is up for trade this week as the team prepares for its first tournament in a month.
Insiders are adamant NaVi CS2 is looking to offload w0nderful, but the org's head of esports Amiran "ami" Rekhviashvili and rifler Justinas "jL" Lekavičius has defended the 20-year-old, calling the insider claims "false" and a cry for attention.
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"Just for the views": jL lashes out at insiders as ami states no changes coming
NaVi rifler jL didn't mince words when responding to a claim by CIS-based insider "harumi" on X/Twitter, who on Feb. 26 suggested NaVi was "close" to benching w0nderful and that coach Andrij "B1ad3" Ghorodensjkyj was looking to promote Nikita "cmtry" Samolyotov to the main roster from NaVi's academy.
"These 'insiders' post the most random ass leaks just for the views," jL said. While some CS2 community members weren't convinced the move was off, a tweet from ami, NaVi's head of esports has seemingly put the claims to bed.
"Reading the news just makes me smile," ami said today, adding a roster change for w0nderful is not on the cards. "Please stop spreading this false 'insides'." For w0nderful's part, he's remained silent on the topic.
Today's interaction supposedly quells the idea NaVi was looking to swap out their sniper. W0nderful joined the organization in late 2023. He was acquired for his form at Team Spirit and Sprout, hitting the ground running at the BLAST World Final in 2023.
2024 saw a step up for w0nderful and NaVi. A top-eight finish at IEM Katowice aside, NaVi climbed the top step of the PGL Copenhagen Major — the org's first Major win since Stockholm 2021. W0nderful wrapped the calendar year with four big event wins and an HLTV rating of 1.12.
An underperformance at the Shanghai Major, where NaVi failed to make the playoffs, had fans sounding alarm bells. W0nderful was far from the problem with the Ukrainian sniper recording a 1.09 rating — second only to teammate iM.
W0nderful remains in the green for NaVi's three events in 2025 so far. The squad is coming off a break, choosing to sit out PGL Cluj-Napoca and prepare for this week's ESL Pro League Season 21. While many have been left hoping for more from the NaVi sniper, there is nothing from the outside indicating he'll lose his spot anytime soon.
NaVi open their EPL campaign in the main stage, with the EPL Play-In kicking off Feb. 28. For more CS2 news and coverage stay tuned to esports.gg.
