Given the form of FaZe in CS2, it was a surprise when NAVI overcame them to lift the first CS2 Major trophy.
Since then, the narrative within the community about NAVI has been that they are in a post-Major rut - but do the players see it that way?
Before the team's opening game at BLAST Premier Spring Final presented by Revolut, we sat down with iM to discuss the recent form and their tough opener versus a resurgent Astralis.
NAVI had a massive high winning the Major but people are paying you have been in a rut since then, why do you think that is?
To be honest, I don't think it's been that bad, there have only been two tournaments since the Major.
At EPL we qualified for the playoffs but we lost to FaZe, it was a rematch of the Major final so we knew they wanted revenge and we discussed that as a team. We lost to a better team on the day and they took their advantages well. There was nothing more to be said because they're just a very good team.
After that, in Dallas, we lost to HEROIC, which was a failure. We didn't play well at all and not even at 50% of our level.
Considering the teams you've lost against (FaZe, Spirit, Complexity in a seeding game, and HEROIC) do you think people have been unfairly branding the team as being in a post-Major rut?
Yeah, that Complexity game didn't really matter. But I don't think people are really being unfair either.
Personally, I don't take criticism from anyone outside of the team. They can say whatever they want, because in the team we've spoke about it and we know what we need. Like I said, at EPL we lost against a better team and the only real failure was HEROIC.
We know what to do, we know what we have to fix, and we know that we fucked up in Dallas. That's just it, we have to work more and more and then play every tournament to the best of our ability.
You've been in strong form individually since the Major, what do you think the big difference has been for you?
I haven't played the best individually since joining NAVI, but I've definitely played the best I can as a teammate. I've always said I don't care about stats.
From what I can see now, it's only going to go upwards in terms of individual levels, so I will try to play the best I can and keep helping the team win more and more games.
How are you feeling about playing Astralis in your first game?
After Dallas we've only had five or six games of practice, so we tried to replicate what we would do in a bootcamp and play more so we can get a better feel for the game and fix the mistakes from events.
We'll do our usual anti-strat stuff and try our best to qualify for playoffs.
What do you think about Astralis as a team and their recent form?
I think they're a very good team. They've finally found a five that works for them because I think they had too many voices when blameF was still on the team. That's probably why it wasn't working for them.
Having br0 makes room for others to play, stavn and jabbi are playing really well and device calling means they can do a lot of damage. They're a good team and we need to match them.
NAVI are set to face off against Astralis in their opening game of Spring Final at 14:30 BST - make sure to watch all the action right here on BLAST.tv.
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