To be honest, we don’t think anyone was expecting NAVI to take home the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 crown. But now that they have, it does make sense, doesn’t it? And not just because they faced a FaZe team in the final that was still very much cursed in those grand final appearances.
NAVI is a team that, ever since it’s formation following the BLAST.tv Paris Major, has been no stranger to playoff appearances. It was always an inevitability that if that was their floor, a peak would see their ceiling rise to championship-winning levels.
However, that doesn’t mean that their winning is a fluke, and here’s why.
Solid leadership
Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen might be one of the most divisive in-game leaders in Counter-Strike, but he does boast a respectable record. He had been in a Major final before with ENCE, and also made the final of IEM Katowice 2022 with G2, he made the final of ESL Pro League Season 18 in one of his first events with NAVI, too.
This doesn’t mean he was the complete package when he joined the Ukrainian organisation. In fact, the opposite was true and may still be true, as revealed by coach Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy in a recent interview with Players.
“I think he still has a long way to go. When we hired him, in my opinion, he was not a Tier-1 IGL… I think the way he saw Counter-Strike was a little bit old-school…Now it is much better than it was, it is 100%, but we still need to work on it. Because in our system, as I see it, we need to be able to make sure that players in 10 out of 10 cases have the opportunity to decide on their own. In a very short time, in a second. Because if he has a request and needs this answer, it changes the system completely. It will collapse from the inside. Therefore, not everything is perfect now, but we are moving in the right direction.” - B1ad3, via Players
This quote, in its entirety, suggests that Aleksib is an IGL with a very solid foundation. However, from the extract we have taken, you can also see that B1ad3 can see that there is a long way to go for the Finnish IGL until he can be considered to be on a similar level as someone like Finn “karrigan” Andersen.
This shouldn’t be seen as a negative though, especially with someone like B1ad3 guiding Aleksib, and especially after Aleksib emotionally told the Copenhagen crowd after winning the Major that B1ad3 “has made me a better IGL.”
A continued plan
From the same interview, we can also see that B1ad3 has a continued plan for the evolution of NAVI into a consistently championship-calibre team.
“What we want to do now, and this is the main emphasis, is to make Mihai a full-fledged second voice in the team. Then the system will be complete and effective.” - B1ad3, via Players
The player in question, Ivan “iM” Mihai has been heavily criticised since his move to NAVI. It isn’t entirely unjustified, given his performances for GamerLegion at the BLASt.tv Paris Major, although it can be excused considering some of the roles he now finds himself in.
With Aleksib being told not to micro-manage players as much, another voice that can be assertive and relied upon will be necessary, and it seems B1ad3 has decided iM is the perfect candidate for that.
This new evolution of the NAVI gameplan will do two things: Firstly, it will give iM a greater impact on the team even when his fragging is lacking, secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it will bring NAVI more in line with the teams that they are hoping to beat on a more consistent basis.
Second voices are incredibly important in modern Counter-Strike, and B1ad3 recognising that his team needs one in order to consistently compete for trophies as they did is in Copenhagen is a testament to why he is such a great coach.
Now a two-time Major winner, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that B1ad3 is one of the greatest coaches of all time, and for as long as he continues to be the coach of Natus Vincere, there should be no reason to think that their victory in the first Major of Counter-Strike 2 was a fluke.
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