As the Copenhagen Major playoffs are about to begin, Natus Vincere coach Andrey Gorodenskiy | B1ad3 spoke with a foreign media outlet.
Q: NAVI entered the playoffs with a 3-2 record. What was your initial reaction?
A: I think we should have made it to the playoffs. For me, the minimum goal is to reach the semi-finals. I believe that would be a great result for us. But who knows? Majors have their magic moments, and maybe we’ll do even better. We know we didn’t play our best against teams like Spirit and Cloud9, but you can always analyze your mistakes, improve, and identify the issues. With a solid game plan, anything is possible.
Q: You struggled against C9. How does it feel to survive in the Swiss stage despite not being at your best?
A: That’s not something I think about. We had a fantastic bootcamp, we prepared for the Major for two weeks, so we expected to make it to the playoffs as a bare minimum.
Today is Sunday, and we have a match next Friday, so I didn’t expect such a long break of four days. You kind of lose the competitive edge, but on the other hand, you have more time to prepare. I know we’re facing Eternal Fire. We’ve played against them four times before and won, so maybe they’re an easier opponent for us. But EF isn’t the same anymore; they’re motivated and constantly improving, so it will be a tough match.
Q: Looking at NaVi’s performance after Oleksandr Kostyliev | s1mple left, it seems like everyone’s level has risen, and the team’s overall strength has increased. Do you agree with this perspective?
A: Yes. If s1mple leaves any team, you will feel the difference — I’m mostly talking about peak s1mple, because when he played for Falcons, you could see that he hadn’t trained for a long time (around six months without official matches), and his form wasn’t great. But when he played with us in EPL, he performed fantastically. After he left, a lot of adjustments were needed.
Individual skill can create a significant impact in matches. Players use their abilities, information, and in-game ideas to stretch the map in certain ways. I think that’s crucial. If you consider a team as a whole made up of five players, replacing any one of them makes a big difference. If someone has influence in the server, the entire team changes. Many internal details shift, sometimes not immediately apparent until high-pressure situations expose weaknesses, as we’ve seen recently. But we’re trying things out.
Q: How is your collaboration with Aleksi Virolainen | Aleksib going?
A: It’s a 50-50 situation. In my opinion, he’s still learning, but we’re moving in the right direction. We’re refining everything, including his ideas and mine. Right now, we’re establishing the NaVi system.
Based on my experience, I think Aleksib had a lot of control in his previous teams, while now we’re trying to build a system where players have more independence in making key decisions. I don’t think that’s a problem for him; it’s just a matter of adaptation. Before, it was maybe 20-80% deviation from his previous style, but now we’re definitely heading towards a more positive 60%. Each self-initiated decision becomes more natural without teammates’ direct supervision.
Q: The community perceives Aleksib as a master of micro-management. Have you seen this in-game, especially with rookies like Ihor Zhdanov | w0nderful, whom Aleksib seems to help develop?
A: I think Aleksib gives him a lot of freedom. Of course, there are some minor details in match tactics and zone preparation. But regarding overall decision-making, Aleksib always emphasizes being more proactive and roaming the map more. So, I think that’s great.
Q: There are now many doubts about iM; do you think this is unfair? Is the pressure on him too much?
A: He had excellent results during the bootcamp. His main focus right now is becoming a secondary caller and consistently contributing ideas to push the team in the right direction when he sees opportunities. We worked a lot on that during the bootcamp, and he delivered well.
I think he’s mainly nervous and lacks confidence in himself sometimes, and maybe bad luck comes into play. Sometimes it’s our team’s mistakes, like someone not noticing a gap or flashing him, etc. But most of the time, it snowballs. If you don’t act as you did in the bootcamp, thoughts start creeping in. You might wonder if you did something wrong. What he needs now is to activate himself because he performed well in the bootcamp. Maybe he needs to work more on his mindset. From my perspective, jL gets very excited in official matches. He has this mindset of instantly destroying opponents. Not every player can do that. That’s precisely what iM needs to grasp more.
I don’t know what the atmosphere was like in GamerLegion, maybe he’s used to that environment. He spent two years in his comfort zone there, so he still needs time. He also told me that playoffs are a different environment, and I believe he wants to perform better. He’s been putting in the effort, and I think he can succeed with hard work.
Q: Justinas Lekavicius | jL is known as Mr. Nice Guy outside the game but can get intense, like slamming tables. How do you see his role in the team?
A: As I said, his main strength lies in preparing mentally for battles, being confident, aggressive, and decisive. He doesn’t have much experience; you could say he’s still a young player, but he’s learning a lot. His strong point is aiming. Over time, he needs more experience to understand game situations, make better positioning, execute maneuvers, and control everything in matches. That’s what all top-tier T1 players do.
Q: Lastly, let’s talk about the playoffs. You face EF, avoiding Spirit. Your initial goal was the semi-finals; what’s your take now?
A: Seeing the bracket yesterday felt like a bonus. The opponents we’re facing are strong but perhaps not the strongest. We’ve beaten G2 multiple times, and even though they’ll be hungry for revenge, it’s better than facing Vitality or Spirit.
I hope to play against C9 again because that Overpass loss was unfortunate. FaZe also lost to EF. We didn’t showcase our true strength on that map.