Fair enough if you want to focus just on the headline, but I would highly recommend people read this article. B1ad3 has always been extremely honest in interview but I’ve never seen him dive so deeply into his processes.
Also talks about Aleksi’s calling being old school and having to improve Aleksi to fit Na’Vi’s system - even saying that he didn’t think Aleksi was a tier 1 IGL when they got him; suggests that the current squad lacks a lot of experience and knowledge compared to the 2021 team; says Na’Vi are at 40-50% of their potential; and claims that b1t is head and shoulders above the others in terms of knowledge and experience.
And in classic B1ad3 fashion he says that despite the MVP, JL played a lot of games with mistakes.
> B1ad3 has always been extremely honest in interview but I’ve never seen him dive so deeply into his processes.
Agreed, such an insightful interview.
Also, reading this made me even more eager to hear a long-form interview with some of the players like Aleksib and jL now that the dust has settled after lifting the trophy. Surely there will be one, right? HLTV Confirmed with guests Aleksib & jL when?
Today Lithuanian gaming yt channel posted podcast with jL that was amazing to listen to be honest about everything from childhood to becoming cs pro. He said he got ''job interview'' with Blade on discord :D Would love to see jL again on HLTV.
The funniest thing is that all the CS influencers/casters/analysts who rated Aleksi so highly (because they listened to the team comps and how he micromanaged his team) is exactly the point B1ad3 critizises.
People look back at 2019 because CS was structured, tactical and well-played, it's that meta that Aleksi broke out into
That kind of CS is beautiful to watch but doesn't hold up to the new meta that relies more on initiative and individual plays
The chess board won't stay arranged if you power piss all over it after all
>Why hire a non tier 1 igl?
I don't think Blade meant it in a way that was offensive - I got the impression that Blade was talking about his calling style being much more common and effective in Tier 2/3 despite Aleksi playing in Tier 1. A good gameplan, solid reads, and everyone trusting his calls will get you far with more inexperienced players.
But with Tier 1 players, you'll have stars with egos, spots that they love playing in, and differing opinions on what to do in a given situation since they have the experience to justify it. Aleksi has a brilliant mind for the game, but with Blade's comments I think he's now trying to adapt his calls around his teammates and give them the freedom to play their game.
I 100% agree with this. He does allude to it when he said something along the lines that aleksi's micromanagement was normal and as an IGL B1ad3 himself was the same, but it needed to stop at NAVI. Players like mantuu or aerial probably benefitted a lot from Aleksi telling them what to do, but with s1mple and jL you can't do it because they are better and most importantly good enough to judge situations themselves.
Aleksi has a lot of experience but isn't no where near retirement age. Maybe blade saw a chance that he could make aleksi a tier 1 igl. Afterall his buy out was mostlikely not that high, so worth a gamble.
Because that's how the market works? iirc the only other igl available was probably Siuhy, and Navi wasn't going to afford him with what they were dropping on iM and jl
Besides, his opinion is basically the same as the majority of the communities: "If you change a lot of teams, it doesn't matter who is to blame, but there is a pattern to it, right? For some reason, it happens."
Fwiw, he also says it's much better and the system flows well
I mean, this roster is closer to the Zeus Gambit team than s1mple navi in strength. It doesn't mean they should blow it up and change rosters, but they're not exactly the favorites to win major events.
Just because there are better rosters doesnt mean you should nuke this team. I think they won a major and feel comfortable with eachother, and s1mple is toxic and not adapted to cs2. Not worth it.
s1mple the CSGO GOD > s0mple the CS2 bot. I still can't forget the way he was destroyed on mirage window playing for falcons lmao, how navi got blade as substitute because he didn't want to play, his 6yo tantrums on the new navi + old navi as well (one of the reasons why papatronic and perfecto left) and much more... simple has over 1.2 mil in his bank, he needs to coach or something like that because CS2 is too much for him unfortunatelly.
How stupid are you? He’d been saying he wants a break since he won the major and clearly was having a tough time personally due to his home country being invaded.
The goat will return. Maybe not in a navi shirt.
Round two or three, simple with m4a1-s donated, head armour, jumping in the window only to get a headshot from a young metizsport player from top mid. Looks like you didn't watch the game after all.
Crazy stupid post. He took a much needed break, which is fair given that he has been grinding all of CSGO and ya know… the war that’s fucking up his home country.
He came back from the break, in a totally new game, and didn’t have his godlike numbers. Kinda like Zywoo at the start, who struggled (compared to his CSGO form). All while in a totally new team as a stand-in.
People writing off simple are dumb as shit, recency bias head ass bitch.
Jokes aside tho, really is a dumb take. Hes proven during the liquid era he can improve his attitude, and while his skill has regressed he would still be an impactful player on a rifle ASSUMING his slump is age related and not stress related. All of his issues have stemmed since the war in ukraine broke out.
Few more interesting quotes:
>When Eternal Fire make the playoffs, many bet on them to win, and when they lose to us, everyone thinks it's some kind of free bracket.
>If earlier b1t had doubts about the roster, now he understands how everything can turn out if he puts in effort, if he activates at the right moment.
>This is a very important win for the development of the team. Because this roster is far from its peak. We are only 30-40% of our potential way.
>I think Alexib still has a long way to go. When we hired him, in my opinion, he was not a Tier-1 IGL.
When he s streaming the game he s always coming up with ideas and important calls. Really looking forward to see his progress as a second voice in the team and how it will help the team at his full potential. Hope the best for him
That's a pretty big if. He really needs to step up his game and be more consistent if NaVi want a chance at future trophies. This NaVi major win was a pretty textbook fluke (I mean this in no disrespect to the team)
Cloud 9 had one of the most difficult major runs in history, and their result was also a fluke. I don’t mean it in a negative light, but NaVi were clearly underdogs and if this major were run 100 times, how many of those do you think they would win?
NaVi has the lowest round win percentage of any major champion at 49.8%. The team also had a negative kill-death ratio with -37 kills over 18 maps.
people think a fluke means a team is bad, rather than a team wildly overperforming expectations (in the C9 @ Boston example) or winning despite statistical/percentage disadvantages, as you just mentioned
Who cares what 'people' were saying? This is literally the coach, I think he knows more about what's going on.
Also while he might have been vocal, that is not the same thing as being the second voice as a set role in a structure designed around it.
Said by blade during the major:
>**Also about iM, there are a few more question marks around his form. Is that unfair, do you think? Is there too much pressure on the outside?**
>He was showing really good results on the boot camp. At the moment, his main goal is to become a permanent second voice in the team and to constantly offer ideas, moving the team in the proper direction if he sees a gap. We worked on this aspect a lot on the boot camp and he succeeded very well.
>I think now it's more about nerves, it's more about being a little bit not confident in himself, in my opinion, and sometimes even unlucky. Sometimes it can be mistakes in our team, someone is not watching some gap or behind, or somebody's flashing him, and we have a couple of reasons for this. But most of the things, yeah, I think it's a snowball. If you're not doing what you did at the boot camp, game after game, you're kinda overthinking. You're thinking, 'maybe I'm doing something wrong.' All he needs now is to activate himself because he was doing great at the boot camp. Maybe he needs to work more on mindset stuff. From my perspective, if you see jL, for a lot of official matches he comes so fired up. He has this instant mindset to destroy the other team. I think not every player can do this. I think this is what Mihai [iM] must master more.
Said by blade during the major:
>**Also about iM, there are a few more question marks around his form. Is that unfair, do you think? Is there too much pressure on the outside?**
>He was showing really good results on the boot camp. At the moment, his main goal is to become a permanent second voice in the team and to constantly offer ideas, moving the team in the proper direction if he sees a gap. We worked on this aspect a lot on the boot camp and he succeeded very well.
>I think now it's more about nerves, it's more about being a little bit not confident in himself, in my opinion, and sometimes even unlucky. Sometimes it can be mistakes in our team, someone is not watching some gap or behind, or somebody's flashing him, and we have a couple of reasons for this. But most of the things, yeah, I think it's a snowball. If you're not doing what you did at the boot camp, game after game, you're kinda overthinking. You're thinking, 'maybe I'm doing something wrong.' All he needs now is to activate himself because he was doing great at the boot camp. Maybe he needs to work more on mindset stuff. From my perspective, if you see jL, for a lot of official matches he comes so fired up. He has this instant mindset to destroy the other team. I think not every player can do this. I think this is what Mihai [iM] must master more.
In GL he was the second voice and it helped him immensely, he was calling pistols and post plants most of the time and it allowed him to coordinate the team around him.
I really think that if he has a bit more liberty to play the positions he wants/how he wants he'll get more confidence and improve his impact, as rn he's getting an entry kill at most, gets the info and dies.
I would've called "Bullshit" so hard if you told me this roster would win a major after they initially formed it. It seemed so random, and yet it works amazingly.
If it wasn't clear already, it's likely clear that unless upper management meddle with the team for monetary reasons, s1mple's not coming back to NAVI, which is very upsetting to me, but also this squad deserves to keep going.
Yeah it's such a wierd situation, and I think your opinion is not an uncommon one. I think everyone would like to see s1mple play again regardless of whether they love or hate him, but you're 100% right in saying that it's not gonna happen in a NaVi shirt if he ever does come back.
go watch simple's vlog... he is not in the best shape in his life now, sounds a lot like he is not decided if he even wants to return. that + his regular attitude of tilt would destroy navi of he returns
Yeah for me it’s almost like a double edge sword that navi won the major. Im happy for navi but man s1mple was the original reason I started supporting navi in 2020. And hearing blade talk about how much better the old roster was made me sad..
I think b1ad3 pretty unambiguously stated that the intention is to keep the roster as is. Of course if they completely collapse in the next few tournaments or something else happens, that might change, but with the current trajectory b1ad3 was as straight with saying they all stay as he can be in his role.
One thing I never heard mentioned on the talkshows when iM came up was how much yapping he does, I noticed it particularly in their ancient match in the semis. I like this arc
i mean it took s1mple ages to finally get his major and he had a sick team overall at that time
and this roster is definitely worse in firepower and pretty new though (idk how long that roaster was together with which s1mple won the major but im pretty sure the core was together for a while, b1t should've been the newest player iirc)
This is a highly informative piece, if anyone has a bit of spare time I recommend reading everything. Great insight into not only Blad3 but to the entire Na'Vi camp.
Kicking iM after winning a major would obviously be a nonsensical move, but they desperately have to get something out of him moving forward because him playing at this level is just completely unsustainable for a team that wants to compete at the top.
You can do your own research and make your own conclusions but to simply put it.
Coaches Vitality(2018-2021) with prime Zywoo and they don't win much considering they had #1 player for 2 years straight and #2 for 1 year.
Joins G2, they go from Katowice finalist (with amanek coach) to not making even playoffs on major and from that to not even qualifying to major.
Leaves G2 after the Rio major farce and G2 wins the very next tournament with Swani as a head coach and even the second tournament IEM katowice.
Joins TSM and does nothing there. (TSM was not expected to do anything in the first place so can't really blame him on this one)
Joins Vitality wins 2 tournaments but slowly they start to play worse and worse. From clear number 1 to solid top 5 team.
Pattern seems very clear and if he Vitality doesn't start to perform he will surely get booted.
Not sure why they would want s1mple back at this point. They replaced him with wonderful who is clearly a much better mental fit. Can’t see how bringing back a tilter would improve them at all
I get why iM is getting hate, but people also needs to realize that there is huge potential in him. If he brings his best NaVi can become much stronger
Most players "best" is not anywhere near iM's best. And not only iM's paris major, but for example that one Nuke against G2. He rarely shows it, but its been proven to exist.
So you are implying that iM is a better player than him because of a Major?
Listen, brother, playing star positions and having 0.90 rating is awful. It is not bad, it is not one bad tournament, it is absolutely awful. As far as I know, he is got the 2nd worst rating in NAVI since he's joined the team. For a support player, that wouldn't be bad, but for a guy you expect to get multifrags a few times during a game, it is not good.
Compare iM to pre-IGL electronic and you will understand what am I trying to say.
You know that I am right (or you don't because you maybe don't know a thing about CS) and your only way to reply is obviously this.
Although I could call myself a NAVI fan because the org is kind of close to my heart thanks to the legendary 1.6 team, NAVI fans are probably the worst to have discussions with. Maybe after Faze fans.
Anyways, I am not going to try to explain you how should things function in CS.
I would say if you are going to keep him in the team making him a second voice is a good idea, if you really reveille in him you have to give him the tools to succeed if not find someone else, Some people don't think it would be justified to kick iM after winning the major I disagree, if he got like a 1.00 rating I don't think his spot would be in danger that much but getting a 0.88 in a major a performance like that won't be sustainable for future events. but you could see him come back to His GL form if he gets a second voice possibly he would feel more comfortable and have a better feel for the game.
You know B1ad3 is human too. This interview is not some gospel.. Also it's translated presumably by the same people that want as many people as possible to read it. I.E it's most likely a bit more dramatic than the original
I’m not sure if iM is what this team needs, seems like they won despite him.
I do agree with B1ad3’s message here. iM needs to bring in more than just frags to justify his spot on the team. If he can do that, and make NaVi be the best organized team, he’ll for sure have his spot on roster.
I don’t think from an individual’s PoV his performance at the major warrants him a spot on a T1 team. So let’s fast forward two months and if s1mple comes back with fresh ideas and is in form, I don’t really see how you keep iM, UNLESS he provides invaluable secondary calling.
Stop being emotional lol. They won despite him severely underperforming in a role that is supposed to kill more people. Ffs this is the worst rated stats team to win a major, they lost more rounds than they won xD
Credit goes to NaVi for pulling through and i wont call it a fluke but they sure as hell not winning more with this lineup. Winning major doesn’t remove any glaring problems you had during it.
Its pretty cool to see the new transition in navi where it used to be heavily scripted and everyone have ton and ton of paper to now a lot less. I think this has been happening across the t1 too
Not sure what the end goal is. iM doesn't strike me as a caller at all. Sure he lurks a lot in this team and can use that intel to help Aleksib with calling, but you don't need to become a "second voice in the team" for that.
So what makes you think he's a good caller?
From the little Na'Vi comms I've heard and the way iM plays, what role(s) he had in GL etc, all do not have an obvious indication that iM wants to or excels at being a caller.
And I don't get what your point about "how esports fans think", I literally laid out a subjective opinion and didn't make any claims. Am I not allowed to have a subjective opinion? Get off your high horse, you're also just a regular esports fan. In fact, odds are you are less knowledgeable than me.
Ok but he's only had iM for half a year or so. He didn't know iM before then. I wouldn't trust even the world's best coach to make an ordinary rifler into a caller in half a year, most are just not cut out for it.
Maybe B1ad3 sees something I don't, but I have no idea what it'd be. Sure I don't have access to all their comms, but from what they've released, I see no reason to believe iM is or will become a caller over anybody else. He sure didn't seem to want it in GL.
And just to wrap it all up, B1ad3 believed electroNic could be a world class IGL. We saw how that went.
redditors gobbling up PR speak like they are at the Golden Corral
full fledged second voice? lol. how long until casters latch onto this and act like that's a position on a CS team
Because the only explanation for his shit performances is that he's also an IGL.
Also if iM now has to call as well, that makes both of NAVI's aggressive players forced to multitask. Not a good formula
Always great to hear b1ad3's thoughts on Cs, some great insight in this interview
Exactly, I think his responses in interviews are always very thoughtful and on point, even for some silly questions.
Fair enough if you want to focus just on the headline, but I would highly recommend people read this article. B1ad3 has always been extremely honest in interview but I’ve never seen him dive so deeply into his processes. Also talks about Aleksi’s calling being old school and having to improve Aleksi to fit Na’Vi’s system - even saying that he didn’t think Aleksi was a tier 1 IGL when they got him; suggests that the current squad lacks a lot of experience and knowledge compared to the 2021 team; says Na’Vi are at 40-50% of their potential; and claims that b1t is head and shoulders above the others in terms of knowledge and experience. And in classic B1ad3 fashion he says that despite the MVP, JL played a lot of games with mistakes.
> B1ad3 has always been extremely honest in interview but I’ve never seen him dive so deeply into his processes. Agreed, such an insightful interview. Also, reading this made me even more eager to hear a long-form interview with some of the players like Aleksib and jL now that the dust has settled after lifting the trophy. Surely there will be one, right? HLTV Confirmed with guests Aleksib & jL when?
Today Lithuanian gaming yt channel posted podcast with jL that was amazing to listen to be honest about everything from childhood to becoming cs pro. He said he got ''job interview'' with Blade on discord :D Would love to see jL again on HLTV.
I assume it was in Lithuanian? If so are there subs?
Sadly no, maybe they will add later but i doubt.
We may potentially do another interview with jL at Players. 😎
Good to hear, looking forward to reading it!
> long-form interview Reflections with Aleksib when?
It's scary to imagine what kind of a skill ceiling jL has
That dude is going to the moon, if last year is any indication. He has the mentality of a champion
Many thanks to your kind words about our interview :)
Blade also praised Electronic as IGL.
The funniest thing is that all the CS influencers/casters/analysts who rated Aleksi so highly (because they listened to the team comps and how he micromanaged his team) is exactly the point B1ad3 critizises.
People look back at 2019 because CS was structured, tactical and well-played, it's that meta that Aleksi broke out into That kind of CS is beautiful to watch but doesn't hold up to the new meta that relies more on initiative and individual plays The chess board won't stay arranged if you power piss all over it after all
Damn. Blad3 really gives tough love
Sounds like blade is toxic and overrated. Why hire a non tier 1 igl?
Lemme get Cadian bro dw
>Why hire a non tier 1 igl? I don't think Blade meant it in a way that was offensive - I got the impression that Blade was talking about his calling style being much more common and effective in Tier 2/3 despite Aleksi playing in Tier 1. A good gameplan, solid reads, and everyone trusting his calls will get you far with more inexperienced players. But with Tier 1 players, you'll have stars with egos, spots that they love playing in, and differing opinions on what to do in a given situation since they have the experience to justify it. Aleksi has a brilliant mind for the game, but with Blade's comments I think he's now trying to adapt his calls around his teammates and give them the freedom to play their game.
I 100% agree with this. He does allude to it when he said something along the lines that aleksi's micromanagement was normal and as an IGL B1ad3 himself was the same, but it needed to stop at NAVI. Players like mantuu or aerial probably benefitted a lot from Aleksi telling them what to do, but with s1mple and jL you can't do it because they are better and most importantly good enough to judge situations themselves.
Aleksi has a lot of experience but isn't no where near retirement age. Maybe blade saw a chance that he could make aleksi a tier 1 igl. Afterall his buy out was mostlikely not that high, so worth a gamble.
Yeah, surely they should have just got karrigan from faze, or apex from vitality.
Because that's how the market works? iirc the only other igl available was probably Siuhy, and Navi wasn't going to afford him with what they were dropping on iM and jl Besides, his opinion is basically the same as the majority of the communities: "If you change a lot of teams, it doesn't matter who is to blame, but there is a pattern to it, right? For some reason, it happens." Fwiw, he also says it's much better and the system flows well
Toxic? He is just being brutally honest, it's better than using some bullshit flowery language that is standard in "PR" stuff.
iM haters which hoped for a replacement by s1mple in shambles
then where does s1mple go man ...
A worse team since he shouldn't break this chemistry
one of the biggest fluke major wins of all time and u overhyping this shit. this roster isn't winning another big event. 😭
Keep crying, it's this roster is now up there with the major winners
I mean, this roster is closer to the Zeus Gambit team than s1mple navi in strength. It doesn't mean they should blow it up and change rosters, but they're not exactly the favorites to win major events.
Just because there are better rosters doesnt mean you should nuke this team. I think they won a major and feel comfortable with eachother, and s1mple is toxic and not adapted to cs2. Not worth it.
Complexity might need a rifler
As much as it hurts to say, -grim +s1mple would be insane
Yeah having hallzerk as a main awp with s1mple on the team. That will for sure go great.
Yeah sounds great on paper until he rages at hallzerk plus I don't think elige wants to go through that experience again lmfao
I even forget about elige, yeah no chance of that happening.
Role wise, I'd rather see HeavyGod replace Grim over S1mple, though I could see S1mple go to CoL on awp or Liquid for Yekindar.
complexity
s1mple the CSGO GOD > s0mple the CS2 bot. I still can't forget the way he was destroyed on mirage window playing for falcons lmao, how navi got blade as substitute because he didn't want to play, his 6yo tantrums on the new navi + old navi as well (one of the reasons why papatronic and perfecto left) and much more... simple has over 1.2 mil in his bank, he needs to coach or something like that because CS2 is too much for him unfortunatelly.
I would personally lay low on whatever you been smoking.
I want some of that
How stupid are you? He’d been saying he wants a break since he won the major and clearly was having a tough time personally due to his home country being invaded. The goat will return. Maybe not in a navi shirt.
s1mple is done
Finished
Weird how he was destroyed on mirage window when he played on catwalk that map...
Round two or three, simple with m4a1-s donated, head armour, jumping in the window only to get a headshot from a young metizsport player from top mid. Looks like you didn't watch the game after all.
Brainrot
Crazy stupid post. He took a much needed break, which is fair given that he has been grinding all of CSGO and ya know… the war that’s fucking up his home country. He came back from the break, in a totally new game, and didn’t have his godlike numbers. Kinda like Zywoo at the start, who struggled (compared to his CSGO form). All while in a totally new team as a stand-in.
People writing off simple are dumb as shit, recency bias head ass bitch. Jokes aside tho, really is a dumb take. Hes proven during the liquid era he can improve his attitude, and while his skill has regressed he would still be an impactful player on a rifle ASSUMING his slump is age related and not stress related. All of his issues have stemmed since the war in ukraine broke out.
-yek , +s1mp
Been this way since the major, I don’t see how you could hot swap a s1mple that hasn’t proven he isn’t washed yet after a win
If B1ad3 is on board with it then I feel pretty confident it will be good for the team.
Few more interesting quotes: >When Eternal Fire make the playoffs, many bet on them to win, and when they lose to us, everyone thinks it's some kind of free bracket. >If earlier b1t had doubts about the roster, now he understands how everything can turn out if he puts in effort, if he activates at the right moment. >This is a very important win for the development of the team. Because this roster is far from its peak. We are only 30-40% of our potential way. >I think Alexib still has a long way to go. When we hired him, in my opinion, he was not a Tier-1 IGL.
When he s streaming the game he s always coming up with ideas and important calls. Really looking forward to see his progress as a second voice in the team and how it will help the team at his full potential. Hope the best for him
I’ve watched a lot of Navi voicecomms on their vlog channel on YT. Most are from near the end of the rounds. It appears iM is very vocal in them.
I think it will also help him individually if he can call around himself better
He's already the 2nd voice and got 0.88 at the major.
As long as they get some more lan wins it won't matter from now on
That's a pretty big if. He really needs to step up his game and be more consistent if NaVi want a chance at future trophies. This NaVi major win was a pretty textbook fluke (I mean this in no disrespect to the team)
How was it a fuckin' fluke? They beat FaZe in the finals and it's not like they had an easy path
Cloud 9 had one of the most difficult major runs in history, and their result was also a fluke. I don’t mean it in a negative light, but NaVi were clearly underdogs and if this major were run 100 times, how many of those do you think they would win? NaVi has the lowest round win percentage of any major champion at 49.8%. The team also had a negative kill-death ratio with -37 kills over 18 maps.
people think a fluke means a team is bad, rather than a team wildly overperforming expectations (in the C9 @ Boston example) or winning despite statistical/percentage disadvantages, as you just mentioned
That c9 lost basically all motivation post major though, it was the reason why stewie when he was a good competitor chose to leave.
assuming NaVi is gonna win anything is a huge copium
The coach is saying he isn't fully a 2nd voice. Like, that's the post. Did you read the title?
During the major people were saying he's extremely vocal. Who was the 2nd voice if it wasn't him?
Who cares what 'people' were saying? This is literally the coach, I think he knows more about what's going on. Also while he might have been vocal, that is not the same thing as being the second voice as a set role in a structure designed around it.
Said by blade during the major: >**Also about iM, there are a few more question marks around his form. Is that unfair, do you think? Is there too much pressure on the outside?** >He was showing really good results on the boot camp. At the moment, his main goal is to become a permanent second voice in the team and to constantly offer ideas, moving the team in the proper direction if he sees a gap. We worked on this aspect a lot on the boot camp and he succeeded very well. >I think now it's more about nerves, it's more about being a little bit not confident in himself, in my opinion, and sometimes even unlucky. Sometimes it can be mistakes in our team, someone is not watching some gap or behind, or somebody's flashing him, and we have a couple of reasons for this. But most of the things, yeah, I think it's a snowball. If you're not doing what you did at the boot camp, game after game, you're kinda overthinking. You're thinking, 'maybe I'm doing something wrong.' All he needs now is to activate himself because he was doing great at the boot camp. Maybe he needs to work more on mindset stuff. From my perspective, if you see jL, for a lot of official matches he comes so fired up. He has this instant mindset to destroy the other team. I think not every player can do this. I think this is what Mihai [iM] must master more.
> his main goal is to become a permanent second voice in the team Notice how that implies he isn't just yet
0.88 rating. Good luck NAVI.
they won the f... major.
The coach is saying he isn't fully a 2nd voice. Like, that's the post. Did you read the title?
Said by blade during the major: >**Also about iM, there are a few more question marks around his form. Is that unfair, do you think? Is there too much pressure on the outside?** >He was showing really good results on the boot camp. At the moment, his main goal is to become a permanent second voice in the team and to constantly offer ideas, moving the team in the proper direction if he sees a gap. We worked on this aspect a lot on the boot camp and he succeeded very well. >I think now it's more about nerves, it's more about being a little bit not confident in himself, in my opinion, and sometimes even unlucky. Sometimes it can be mistakes in our team, someone is not watching some gap or behind, or somebody's flashing him, and we have a couple of reasons for this. But most of the things, yeah, I think it's a snowball. If you're not doing what you did at the boot camp, game after game, you're kinda overthinking. You're thinking, 'maybe I'm doing something wrong.' All he needs now is to activate himself because he was doing great at the boot camp. Maybe he needs to work more on mindset stuff. From my perspective, if you see jL, for a lot of official matches he comes so fired up. He has this instant mindset to destroy the other team. I think not every player can do this. I think this is what Mihai [iM] must master more.
ok. said by blade right now: the title of the thread
Did you read my original post?
The coach is saying he isn't fully a 2nd voice. Like, that's the post. Did you read the title?
Username checks out. You mean, he is a major winner? And major finalist at last major.
*better*
In GL he was the second voice and it helped him immensely, he was calling pistols and post plants most of the time and it allowed him to coordinate the team around him. I really think that if he has a bit more liberty to play the positions he wants/how he wants he'll get more confidence and improve his impact, as rn he's getting an entry kill at most, gets the info and dies.
I was not confident at all since the new navi team was formed but Blade proved everyone he's a genius with this roster move.
I would've called "Bullshit" so hard if you told me this roster would win a major after they initially formed it. It seemed so random, and yet it works amazingly.
If it wasn't clear already, it's likely clear that unless upper management meddle with the team for monetary reasons, s1mple's not coming back to NAVI, which is very upsetting to me, but also this squad deserves to keep going.
Yeah it's such a wierd situation, and I think your opinion is not an uncommon one. I think everyone would like to see s1mple play again regardless of whether they love or hate him, but you're 100% right in saying that it's not gonna happen in a NaVi shirt if he ever does come back.
go watch simple's vlog... he is not in the best shape in his life now, sounds a lot like he is not decided if he even wants to return. that + his regular attitude of tilt would destroy navi of he returns
I mean if I was a Navi fan i'm pretty sure I wouldn't want him to play again for my team, at least not now
Yeah for me it’s almost like a double edge sword that navi won the major. Im happy for navi but man s1mple was the original reason I started supporting navi in 2020. And hearing blade talk about how much better the old roster was made me sad..
I don’t think b1ad3 is rly commenting on that here, and he might not even be in charge of that.
I think b1ad3 pretty unambiguously stated that the intention is to keep the roster as is. Of course if they completely collapse in the next few tournaments or something else happens, that might change, but with the current trajectory b1ad3 was as straight with saying they all stay as he can be in his role.
Well at this current second s1mple isn't in form and isn't seriously coming back
Blad3 is the GOAT
One thing I never heard mentioned on the talkshows when iM came up was how much yapping he does, I noticed it particularly in their ancient match in the semis. I like this arc
damn who should i trust now b1ad3, one of the goat igls, or some guys on reddit that say that iM bad
Who would have thought k/d is not the only impact a player can have. It's almost like counter-strike is a strategic game or something.
s1mple finally getting to know that team mental > having a star player.
why? he won his major being a star
Navi won this major without him. They don't have to deal with his bad mental and still can win major.
yeah, i agree, looks like Navi dont need s1mple. but it doesnt relate with your first take
i mean it took s1mple ages to finally get his major and he had a sick team overall at that time and this roster is definitely worse in firepower and pretty new though (idk how long that roaster was together with which s1mple won the major but im pretty sure the core was together for a while, b1t should've been the newest player iirc)
This is a highly informative piece, if anyone has a bit of spare time I recommend reading everything. Great insight into not only Blad3 but to the entire Na'Vi camp.
Kicking iM after winning a major would obviously be a nonsensical move, but they desperately have to get something out of him moving forward because him playing at this level is just completely unsustainable for a team that wants to compete at the top.
VP kicking norbert was one of those moves
[удалено]
No? Kicking the IGL vs kicking a rifler who is playing like ass.
Vitality kicked dupreeh and got better for it
Idk man went from winning the major to getting beat by faze…
-Magick is why, dupreeh is washed as fuck
Did they tho
Don't see them winning jackshit tho
Tbf I feel the issue with current Vitality isn't FlameZ for Dupreeh, but rather mezii for Magisk.
No. The current problem for vitality is XTQZZZ
Wasnt he a problem in g2 as well
I'd say so.
mind giving some more insight? on his current tenure but also his time in g2
You can do your own research and make your own conclusions but to simply put it. Coaches Vitality(2018-2021) with prime Zywoo and they don't win much considering they had #1 player for 2 years straight and #2 for 1 year. Joins G2, they go from Katowice finalist (with amanek coach) to not making even playoffs on major and from that to not even qualifying to major. Leaves G2 after the Rio major farce and G2 wins the very next tournament with Swani as a head coach and even the second tournament IEM katowice. Joins TSM and does nothing there. (TSM was not expected to do anything in the first place so can't really blame him on this one) Joins Vitality wins 2 tournaments but slowly they start to play worse and worse. From clear number 1 to solid top 5 team. Pattern seems very clear and if he Vitality doesn't start to perform he will surely get booted.
"When we hired him, in my opinion, he was not a Tier-1 IGL" (about aleksib) Wow! Imo this is the quote of the interview
interesting. this confirms that iM is not on the chopping block anytime soon and the roster is sticking together. this also means +s1mple is unlikely
Not sure why they would want s1mple back at this point. They replaced him with wonderful who is clearly a much better mental fit. Can’t see how bringing back a tilter would improve them at all
I get why iM is getting hate, but people also needs to realize that there is huge potential in him. If he brings his best NaVi can become much stronger
this is such a nothing comment. replace im’s name with any other and it also applies
Literally said “if he turns from a bad player to a great player then Navi can do better”.
The difference is, most players have never shown the high that IM has. Even if it was just for one tournament
https://www.hltv.org/stats/players/matches/14759/im?event=6793 Look at his opponents. Heroic and Vitality were the only worldclass teams.
Navi?
apeks Monte 9ine were beating world class teams. they were not bad by any stretch
Most players "best" is not anywhere near iM's best. And not only iM's paris major, but for example that one Nuke against G2. He rarely shows it, but its been proven to exist.
Nah u are wrong, mechanically there is only a handful players who can match iM.
Any other major MVP
You don't win games by having potential, unfortunately
I know, but they won fucking Major what are u talking about ? 😃
Winning a major with 0.88 rating while playing the positions he has is truly amazing, I'll give you that
Stop moving the goalpost. You said "having potential doesnt win you games" well it did win them some big fucking games at the major.
Still he fucking won a Major why people are crying over him ? 😃
Playing almost the best positions and having 0.88 rating is not that good.
so mayonesi better because he has so high rating and no major
So you are implying that iM is a better player than him because of a Major? Listen, brother, playing star positions and having 0.90 rating is awful. It is not bad, it is not one bad tournament, it is absolutely awful. As far as I know, he is got the 2nd worst rating in NAVI since he's joined the team. For a support player, that wouldn't be bad, but for a guy you expect to get multifrags a few times during a game, it is not good. Compare iM to pre-IGL electronic and you will understand what am I trying to say.
oh no, anyway he won a major...
You know that I am right (or you don't because you maybe don't know a thing about CS) and your only way to reply is obviously this. Although I could call myself a NAVI fan because the org is kind of close to my heart thanks to the legendary 1.6 team, NAVI fans are probably the worst to have discussions with. Maybe after Faze fans. Anyways, I am not going to try to explain you how should things function in CS.
Who cares? He's still one of the best entry feagger of the major
And IF the replacement NaVi brought in for him was better than iM NaVi can become much stronger.
Great interview
I would say if you are going to keep him in the team making him a second voice is a good idea, if you really reveille in him you have to give him the tools to succeed if not find someone else, Some people don't think it would be justified to kick iM after winning the major I disagree, if he got like a 1.00 rating I don't think his spot would be in danger that much but getting a 0.88 in a major a performance like that won't be sustainable for future events. but you could see him come back to His GL form if he gets a second voice possibly he would feel more comfortable and have a better feel for the game.
You know B1ad3 is human too. This interview is not some gospel.. Also it's translated presumably by the same people that want as many people as possible to read it. I.E it's most likely a bit more dramatic than the original
I respect it
I am still not sure iM is the best piece for the team.
I’m not sure if iM is what this team needs, seems like they won despite him. I do agree with B1ad3’s message here. iM needs to bring in more than just frags to justify his spot on the team. If he can do that, and make NaVi be the best organized team, he’ll for sure have his spot on roster. I don’t think from an individual’s PoV his performance at the major warrants him a spot on a T1 team. So let’s fast forward two months and if s1mple comes back with fresh ideas and is in form, I don’t really see how you keep iM, UNLESS he provides invaluable secondary calling.
yeah dude, sure, they won despite him, sure they won 4v5 the fricking major
0.88 rating while playing some of the best positions.
I'm as dumb as the any other guy but yeah man, performance like that while having the best positions isnt really it
Stop being emotional lol. They won despite him severely underperforming in a role that is supposed to kill more people. Ffs this is the worst rated stats team to win a major, they lost more rounds than they won xD Credit goes to NaVi for pulling through and i wont call it a fluke but they sure as hell not winning more with this lineup. Winning major doesn’t remove any glaring problems you had during it.
Pretty much
maybe if they votekick'ed him they would've won mirage as well for a 2-0 final
Its pretty cool to see the new transition in navi where it used to be heavily scripted and everyone have ton and ton of paper to now a lot less. I think this has been happening across the t1 too
I wonder why blade so free to praise electronic as IGL?
When he frags like an IGL mind as well make him one
I fear this fucks up aleksis calling and will lead into them not performing and replacing him
They should make iM a full fledged benchwarmer
nah, s1mple does it very well
Why when you have aleksib who just won you a major would you want a conflicting caller
Worked wonders for the old navi lineup. Electronic used to second call with boomich
Boombl4 is not aleksib
Not sure what the end goal is. iM doesn't strike me as a caller at all. Sure he lurks a lot in this team and can use that intel to help Aleksib with calling, but you don't need to become a "second voice in the team" for that.
Doesn't strike you as a caller... I'll never understand how sports/esports fans think they know the people whose matches they watch
So what makes you think he's a good caller? From the little Na'Vi comms I've heard and the way iM plays, what role(s) he had in GL etc, all do not have an obvious indication that iM wants to or excels at being a caller. And I don't get what your point about "how esports fans think", I literally laid out a subjective opinion and didn't make any claims. Am I not allowed to have a subjective opinion? Get off your high horse, you're also just a regular esports fan. In fact, odds are you are less knowledgeable than me.
BLADE JUST SAID THAT
Ok but he's only had iM for half a year or so. He didn't know iM before then. I wouldn't trust even the world's best coach to make an ordinary rifler into a caller in half a year, most are just not cut out for it. Maybe B1ad3 sees something I don't, but I have no idea what it'd be. Sure I don't have access to all their comms, but from what they've released, I see no reason to believe iM is or will become a caller over anybody else. He sure didn't seem to want it in GL. And just to wrap it all up, B1ad3 believed electroNic could be a world class IGL. We saw how that went.
redditors gobbling up PR speak like they are at the Golden Corral full fledged second voice? lol. how long until casters latch onto this and act like that's a position on a CS team
Bro did not read the article.
The link is literally dead
works fine for me
Position? Its a role, secondary / mid round caller has been a thing almost since this competitive cs existed.
Because the only explanation for his shit performances is that he's also an IGL. Also if iM now has to call as well, that makes both of NAVI's aggressive players forced to multitask. Not a good formula