Aleksib: All these setbacks make you overthink; we need to focus more on enjoying the game.

After another group-stage exit, NAVI's Major fate is still not sealed.

NAVI came into the event hungry for victory. So far, they have attended all 24 Majors, and missing the Singapore Major would be a major blow. After picking up two wins here, the team remain in a favorable position, and even after being eliminated from ESL Pro League, they still have a 90% chance of qualifying. But IEM Katowice was an opportunity to make that number a certainty. Now, if a few results in Bucharest go against the black-and-yellow side, they will be back in panic mode.

“I don't really feel any pressure,” Aleksib told HLTV after losing to PARIVISION. “Of course, at the next event, we might be in a do-or-die situation. Maybe that will be a different matter by then. But for now, I don't feel that way. We need to do our best at the next event, hopefully make the playoffs, and then take it from there.”

Q: Alright, Aleksib, unfortunate that you didn't make the playoffs. Where do you think the last map went wrong?

A: On the CT side, we started 0-5 or something like that. It didn't look too good. We ended up losing three rounds in a row when they had only one player alive, and I think those were all pretty chaotic situations. Any one of them 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 been able to close it out. Unfortunately, we didn't. There was even one round where we had a double push in mid and were up 5v3, but still lost. Yeah, I don't know, we need to do our best to analyze this match, but it just feels bad because we showed a different NAVI at this event. Of course, we didn't beat any top-five teams, but I think we should have been able to make the playoffs. Now we're seeing another team there instead, so it doesn't feel good.

Q: Throughout this run, the matches you've lost have all been against pretty strong teams. Most of them were very close, apart from one or two. So what's stopping you from getting over the line?

A: That's a good question. I hope I can answer it properly, but I think we're fighting as hard as we can 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. We just need to be better in these deciders. I think we've dropped the ball a few times, yeah. We just need to do better. I don't think there's really any magic solution. We understand the situation we're in. We need to take the next event as seriously as we're taking this one. We need to grind harder and do our best to get the best possible result there so we can qualify for the Major. Nothing is stopping us from going further in the final two events except ourselves. But we need to overcome that and be at our best.

Q: You mentioned two events, so that would be... Bucharest. Will you be signing up for any other events as well?

A: Sorry, three events. I forgot there are two before the Major roster lock. I mean, invitations. So we have PGL, IEM Beijing, and the Major. There might also be a boot camp once we know which stage of the Major we're in and what the overall situation looks like. But yes, my point still stands. We need to do our best for the rest of the season, and I think we're all hungry to make the playoffs. It's been a while, so right now we're just trying to do our best.

Q: I also wanted to ask about Mirage, because I think this makes it five losses in a row. Some of those scorelines were very close, but it's been an issue for you for a long time now. What do you think the reason is?

A: Obviously, one of the biggest takeaways is that, maybe like a lot of teams, when you're really strong on a map, you might give it a bit less attention than the others. So maybe that could be one of the details, but it could also just be the players' overall confidence. Yeah, I don't know. I think a lot of things have been going really badly on our side. For example, when we start on the CT side, we just get completely blown out. 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 been one of NAVI's biggest strengths throughout the team's history. So yeah, there's a lot to unpack, and I think we just need to take all the positives from this and do our best at the next event.

Q: There are some positives as well. You started out at No. 27 in the VRS, right? Now you're much higher. But the Major is still definitely hanging over you. So what does it feel like to play under that kind of pressure?

A: Personally, I don't really feel any pressure. I think everyone understands that we're taking it one event at a time. Of course, at the next event, maybe we'll be in a do-or-die situation, and maybe that will be a different question then. But right now, I don't feel that way, and I don't think the others do either. So I just think we need to do our best at the next event, hopefully make the playoffs, and build from there, because that's what the whole team needs. I think we need to enjoy the game more and feel more passion, because all these obstacles and setbacks can make you overthink. It can make you do things in your head that you shouldn't, so we need to do our best to stop that from happening.