On the All About Counter-Strike program, the current predicament of Navi was discussed — let's take a look at the analysts' perspectives:
The training camp we were just talking about lasted about three weeks. I remember it was roughly two and a half weeks, right? They were in training until before they went to EWC. Back then, we were always praising Blade and his work, praising what they could accomplish, and praising their strong comeback. But you also mentioned yourself that they might have started slow. So, for me, that training camp schedule didn't work out. They might have arrived feeling very exhausted. Sometimes I think they might actually have needed more rest in between.
Perhaps they seemed more weary of each other than when they emerged from the intensive training.
I feel sorry for them too, because I recognize that pain. When you're at your lowest point, like at the end of a tournament, nothing seems to work. It's almost as if you've been together for so long that you accept too many flaws made during the matches. You think, yeah, we've talked about this 15 times already, so bringing it up again is pointless. It'll only make things worse. And that's pretty much what happens to lineups that eventually fall apart. If you look at Vitality, the way you praised them, we see them talking after matches—even when they win, they're still quite direct and harsh in pointing out issues with each other, saying we need to improve this, we need to improve that. And I don't see that in Navi. That kind of leadership, someone being able to tell those guys, you need to step it up, bro, we're playing the next map. It feels like everyone's just doing their own thing.
Before they later achieved results, found success, and won all the trophies, people would say, 'Oh, this is B1ad3's system,' as if B1ad3 were a problem. One thing I don't agree with: B1ad3 isn't the problem, because he can always make something work with the right pieces in place. It might take some time, but he's a coach who has done it before. Now, every time people are ready to give up on him, he somehow manages to do it all over again. Like when no one expected them to win in Cologne—everyone said it would be a fluke, and then they went on to win multiple trophies. Are we really going to criticize B1ad3 at this point?
I tried talking about this like an analyst would—it's almost impossible for us to determine how much value a coach truly brings. The only scenario we can really be sure about is when a team changes nothing except the coach, and then you see how they perform afterward, and you say, "Oh, that must have been the coach." But when you're talking about their performance on the server, I don't know if it was the in-game leader calling the shots or the coach, or if some random player had an idea and called it. It's really hard to assign responsibility for what you see on the server. Obviously, B1ad3 has had a lot of success as a coach in his career. He'll be remembered as one of the historic figures in this scene. But I do wonder if maybe at some point—I don't know if this is true, I'm just guessing—but maybe at some point you have to realize, hey, my usual approach isn't working. Maybe I need to try a new method. Maybe I need to see things from a different angle. Something like this happened recently. It didn't go well. It's actually a bad example, but we remember those interviews. Remember when dustan sat on the couch with us? Was that earlier this year in Bucharest? He openly criticized all his players on stream. But then in a follow-up interview you did later, he said, I realized I need to talk to these guys a little differently. (meaning he should be a bit
dastan's coaching style is known for its strictness
Perhaps the player needs to be treated a bit differently. Maybe he has been given too much of the 'stick.' He could use a bit more of the 'carrot,' so to speak. Perhaps a little more medicine or sugar to make the pill easier to swallow, something like that. Maybe the way he interacts with people does bring others down. I'm not entirely sure; I'm just grasping at straws, but perhaps there's some truth to it. And then they lost their sports psychologist Ursula, who likely helped them in many different ways. So maybe there are issues on the support team side, I don't know.
I think when you build a team, you look at different qualities. I believe that's also the baseline we see—what players excel at on the server, and so on. But when it comes to building a team that truly works together synergistically, I think it requires a lot of personality and the different aspects that people bring into it. You know, if we look at someone like B1ad3, I don't think he's—or maybe I'm wrong—but I don't think he's the type to be a cheerleader.
B1ad3 Overheat Compilation
I feel like, just as I don't see B1ad3 as the cheerleader type, or someone who motivates everyone in some way, he leans more towards being structural. He points out what they need to do, he can be quite strict, and has that impact, but I think then you have to look at it—some players need to adapt and have that motivating quality, you know, to lift people up when they're down, push them further when they doubt themselves, and make plays on the server. And I think Navi is missing this, honestly, I really believe that. They need a vibe coach, they need to bring in a vibe coach [laugh]
The public fans consider zonic (nowadays) and TaZ to be atmosphere coaches.
I think this is a trait that many people underestimate when you talk about teams, because you have to remember that these individuals need to play together for two or three years, every day, for 8 to 10 hours, or even up to 12 hours. There needs to be someone who can say, alright, we focus, we really get into this, we enjoy it, and let's have fun.
I wonder if that strict coaching style will eventually wear down someone who stays with you long enough. Like eventually, man, I've heard you yell at me enough times. I don't know if that's really what's happening. I think at this point, things are so bad that you have to look in every direction. You can't just look in one direction, blame one person, and find a scapegoat. It's a failure of the entire system. And I'm sure different people might bear varying degrees of responsibility for the failure. But I do think pointing it in one direction or something like that is wrong, especially when so many of your star players are performing poorly. If only one person were playing badly, you'd say, 'Oh, that's the problem, this guy isn't playing well. I need to figure out how to involve him better or find a way to utilize him more, or whatever the case may be.' But it's like everyone's level has dropped.
To wrap up on Navi, one thing that could be extremely beneficial for them is that their organization performed very well at EWC. I believe they ended up taking home around three million dollars. Maybe it was two million, but considering other esports titles, this is a substantial amount of money for the organization to invest more into CS, since buyout fees in CS right now are simply off the charts. Some players demand ridiculously high buyout numbers, and there aren't many of them.
I think that will come down.
We are going through changes, an esports winter. The situation is slightly shifting. I've even heard that some teams here have had to cut salaries to align with what's happening in the ecosystem—like if your pay is too high and you're not performing. These things are becoming a bit more normalized. I've talked to some people before, but for Navi, perhaps they can now spend a bit more to bring some players over. I know how Navi operates; they've mentioned this before. In the coming months leading into the Major, that's when they'll be looking at who will be available, who might be interested in joining them. The issue is that only B1ad3—and maybe b1t—can attract others to the team. Beyond that, there aren't many things that can truly draw the top talent, but perhaps they can pick up some young players.
（After discussing some content about other teams in between）
Navi's youth academy eventually became FUT, so they did continue to do their own thing in the end. Would Magic become the kind of "youth academy" that others poach from, or would they grow together and figure things out together? I don't know.
Not a bad idea, I like the way he conducts.
I don't want to delve too deep into a discussion about Navi, but when I look at it, it's like Aleksib is still one of the best IGLs you can have right now, and then I think w0nderful is obviously still one of the best snipers you can have, in my opinion. If you can keep b1t, I think he's still one of the best anchors you can get, in my opinion. So it's like they're just that tiny bit away from being really good. Almost like you'd say they want to make two changes—you'd want to kick makazze and iM.
I don't know if I'll kick makazze. I think that's a bit too early.