After yet another group stage exit, NAVI's Major fate remains undecided.
Navi came into the tournament hungry for victory. So far, they have attended all 24 Majors, and missing the Singapore Major would be a heavy blow. The team remains in a favorable position after securing two wins here, and even after their Pro League exit, they still have a 90% chance of qualifying. But Katowice was an opportunity to make that number unquestionable. Now, if a few results in Bucharest go against this black-and-yellow squad, they will be back in panic mode.
"I don't really feel pressure," Aleksib told HLTV after losing to PARIVISION. "Of course, at the next event, maybe we'll face a do-or-die situation, maybe then it'll be a different story. "But as of now, I don't have that feeling. We need to do our best at the next event, hopefully make the playoffs, and then go from there."
Q: Okay, Aleksib, it's a shame you didn't make it to the playoffs. What do you think went wrong on the last map?
A: On the CT side, we started 0-5 or something. It didn't look good. We ended up losing three rounds in a row where they were down to just one man alive, and I think those were all pretty chaotic situations. So any one of those could have gone our way, and maybe we could have picked up a few more rounds on the CT side. But overall, I think after w0nderful won that clutch to make it 11-10, we should have closed it out. Unfortunately, we didn't. We had one round where we even double-pushed mid in a 5v3 and still lost it. Yeah, I don't know, we need to try our best to analyze this match, but it just feels really tough because we showed a different NAVI at this event. Of course, we didn't beat top-five teams, but I think we should have made the playoffs, but now we see another team there, so it doesn't feel good.
Q: Along this journey, the matches you've lost have always been against quite strong teams. Most of the time the scores were very close, except once or twice. So, what has stopped you from getting over that final hurdle?
A: That's a good question. I hope I can answer it properly, but I think we're fighting hard in every match. We can win the opponent's map pick, or win our own map pick, and then get completely blown out on the second map. But we just need to do better on these deciders. I think we've dropped the ball a few times, yes, we just need to do better. I don't think there's really any magic to it. We understand our situation. We need to take the next tournament as seriously as this one. We need to grind harder, we need to try to get the best result there in order to qualify for the Major. There's nothing stopping us from going further in the last two tournaments except ourselves. But we just need to overcome that and be at our best.
Q: You said two events, that is... So it's Bucharest, will you sign up for any other events?
A: Sorry, three events. I forgot there are two more before the Major roster lock. I mean invites. So we have PGL, IEM Beijing, Major. Possibly another bootcamp once we know our Major stage and the overall situation. But yeah, my point still stands. We need to do our best for the rest of the season, I think we're all hungry to make the playoffs. It's been a while, and right now we're just trying our best.
Q: I also want to ask about Mirage, because I think that's now five losses in a row. Some of the scores were close, but it's been a problem for you for a long time. What do you think the reason is?
A: Obviously, some of the biggest takeaways are that, maybe like a lot of teams, when you're strong on a map you might focus on it a little less than the other maps. So maybe that could be one of the details, but it could also just be the overall confidence of the players, yeah. I don't know. I think a lot of things have just been going really badly on our side. For example, when we start on the CT side, we just get completely destroyed. Sometimes we start on the T side and it feels like we've never played the map before, even though historically the T side has always been one of the biggest strengths in NAVI's entire history. So yeah, there's a lot to unpack, and I think we just need to take all the positives and do our best at the next event.
Q: There are some positives too. You started out 27th in the VRS? Now you're much higher. But the Major must be hanging over you. So what's it like playing under that kind of pressure?
A: Personally, I don't really feel pressure. I think everyone understands that we take it one tournament at a time. Of course, in the next tournament, we may face a do-or-die situation, and maybe then it will be a different story. But for now, I don't feel that way, and I don't think anyone else does either. So I just think we need to do our best in the next tournament, hopefully make it to the playoffs, and then move forward from there, because that's what the whole team needs. I think we need to enjoy the game more and feel the passion more, because all these obstacles and setbacks make you overthink. It makes your mind do things you shouldn't do, so we need to try our best not to let that happen.