Aleksib: "A lot of teams might have crumbled in this spot; I'm happy we came back"

The Finnish captain discussed NAVI's hard-fought victory as the team staved off elimination in Abu Dhabi.

Natus Vincere have secured a spot in the playoff stages of the BLAST Premier World Final following a 2-1 victory against ENCE in a high-octane elimination series. Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's troops seemed to have everything under control after a dominant performance on Anubis and a flying start to Ancient, but then ENCE came back from 10-2 down and equalised the series.

NAVI still pulled through in the end, but Aleksib wasn't entirely happy with how things went. After the match, he lamented that the team abandoned their fundamentals on Anubis. "We played the exact opposite of how you should play T side on Ancient," he said in an interview with HLTV.

The Finnish tactician also touched on Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan's strong showings in Abu Dhabi and said that he remains hopeful that the team can reach the semi-finals, especially if they avoid meeting FaZe. "I think Vitality and FaZe are really tough to handle," he admitted.

If you can't see the Soundcloud embed above, the audio version of the interview can be found here.

---

This was the result that you wanted but probably not the performance that you expected. Can you explain what happened after such a strong first map and a strong first half on the second map?

It’s a good question because we had a lot of things prepared, and I really felt that we did a lot of things correctly. But once we had the space, we hesitated, and maybe we were afraid to die. And we saw some rounds where we committed, let's say, four smokes, somewhere, and we ended up not using them, even though we had the control that we needed. And then what ended up happening was that we hesitated, we fell back, and then we made a really simple call. And if you want to win, this is not the style you play. You need to take the space like we did on Anubis and Nuke.

We played the exact opposite of how you should play T side on Ancient. But, you know, the best thing is that we turned the game around, even though we started Nuke down 0-5, I think. We still managed to win that, and I think a lot of teams might have crumbled in this spot. But I'm happy that we came back.

Looking back, do you think that you could have done something different on the T side of Ancient? You were up 10-2, but you couldn't get anything going on the T side. Do you think maybe you should have done something different?

Of course, after the fact, it’s always easy to think that you should have done something different. But as I said, I don’t actually think that… Yes, you can always do something different in order to win a round, but, to be honest, we got into positions, except for a couple of rounds where they fully owned us towards B, like they insta-pushed us or something.

Apart from those, we had a lot of rounds where we did what we wanted, we even had man advantages, and instead of grouping together or playing like a pair that trades off each other, we went one by one. On a good day, we might win all our duels, but that’s not the system we want to play. We want to play in a way where we can trade off each other and win those man advantages. But yeah, it happens.

I wanted to ask about the attitude within the team. For example, yesterday, everyone was super quiet. Today, during the first map and during the first half of Ancient, everyone was in a good mood, everyone was laughing and making jokes. But when things aren’t going your way, everyone kind of shuts off. Do you think that’s the case? And do you think that you're kind of missing a presence that can lift everyone up?

I think that’s definitely true. And I do think every team struggles with that at times. But I think we just needed to wake up because we had high expectations coming here. We know we faced Vitality in the first game, but the reality is that we lost that. And now we have our backs against the wall and we really want to prove ourselves. Maybe that’s one of the reasons that it felt like we were nervous at times. But yeah, we definitely need to step up and we’ve spoken about it. And I think the more we play, the better we can do about it.

What can you say about iM’s performances here? This is probably his best tournament since he's been with NAVI. What can you say about his resurgence? Are you using him in a different way, or is it just him picking up form?

I think it’s him picking up form, maybe also us understanding things around him better, and him also adjusting to the system. I think he is cautious about his surroundings and asking for help when he needs it. I think the fact that we already have a tournament under our belts with Ihor [w0nderful], maybe he feels a bit more confident in everything because we have been through the situations a couple more times and everything is more fluid to him. So I’m glad he is picking up form.

Talking a little bit about w0nderful, he was a bit more of a passive AWPer before joining NAVI, now he's taking more initiative, taking more space. We already saw that at the Fall Final, we're seeing more of that here. Are you happy with this evolution as a player?

Yes, and I just think he needs to do it more. He needs to experience more. And, definitely, in those situations where we might be on the back foot, he needs to show himself. Because I think he’s a great talent, he’s doing everything great, and especially when we are running hot, he’s doing amazing. He has won a couple of really nice clutches against Vitality and against ENCE on Anubis. That shows his individual talent. He just needs to do the things he is doing, not be afraid, and keep levelling up in every situation.

I read an interview with jL in which he said that he would be happy if the team reached the semi-finals. Considering how you struggled against Vitality and that you struggled today a little bit against ENCE, do you think that’s possible?

Yes, of course. I think Vitality and FaZe are really tough to handle because I feel that their individuals are reacting to a lot of micro-decisions in the best way possible at times, or at least it feels that way when we review. It feels like, when we play, for example, T side and the same exact situation happens, we might not be reacting the same way. And we’re trying to learn. We’re trying to learn from every match, every round and every situation, but I think those two are hard opponents. G2 have insane individual talent, but we didn’t see them at the Fall Final, so maybe FaZe and Vitality have better form, but G2 might have a lot of new stuff with nexa.