The ??????? ???????? ??????????Natus Vincere IGL is set to miss the start of their group stage campaign as he is suffering from a bout of COVID.
Reigning Major champions Natus Vincere will have to play without their IGL for the start of their ESL Pro League group stage, with Kirill "?Boombl4?" Mikhailov missing due to testing positive for COVID.
Daniil "?headtr1ck?" Valitov of NAVI Junior, who has been listed as a substitute for the team in their official tournament lineup, will step in for the CIS side. The organization has stated that the academy player will compete from isolation after traveling to Düsseldorf at the last minute.
The news comes in the wake of a shaky start to the year for the CIS giants, who scraped through their BLAST Premier Spring group and exited IEM Katowice at the semi-final stage, the latter result coming shortly following the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Oleksandr "?s1mple?" Kostyliev and co. would have been hoping for an upswing of form in a very winnable group at ESL Pro League, with HEROIC likely the toughest opposition on offer, and this substitution will undoubtedly hamper their preparation.
With their RMR starting a mere seven days after ESL Pro League finishes, now is the time for the team to start working back towards their peak ahead of the PGL Major Antwerp.
HEROIC #5 Casper 'cadiaN' M?llerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck 
Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov 
Age: 23 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1049 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68 
Natus Vincere #1 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy 
Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitov 
Age: 17 Team: NAVI Junior Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 61 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.64 NAVI Junior Daniil 'headtr1ck' ValitovVladislav 'lattykk' VydrinDmitriy 'fen2k' GladskikhMark 'UNBR0KEN' VarakutaAndrii 'npl' Kukharskyi Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev 
Age: 24 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.25 Maps played: 1502 KPR: 0.86 DPR: 0.64