iM on reaching semis: "I'm very happy; I'm going to enjoy it"

The Romanian player shared his thoughts on getting to play in front of a crowd after NAVI won a rollercoaster of a match against G2.

Natus Vincere are through to the arena portion of the BLAST Premier World Final following a 2-1 victory over G2 in a high-octane match with plenty of talking points, from Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov's 1v5 clutch to G2's blunder in a 4v1 situation against Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen.

For Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan, that clutch from his teammate was one of the reasons NAVI were able to get back into the game. "If we had lost that round, we would have had to go on eco, and things would have been way harder," he told HLTV after the match. "Basically, G2 gave us a gift, and we took it."

The Romanian player, who posted an incredible 2.01 rating on Nuke, admitted that he is excited to play in front of a crowd again and revealed that he is determined. to stop his losing streak against Vitality: "I’m really looking for revenge."

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How did you bounce back from that 1v5 clutch on Anubis?

We thought it was 1v4. We didn’t mind, to be honest. We knew that we fucked up, basically. We tried to move on and kept saying to forget about it because it happens. Also, for example, on Nuke, I think there was a NiKo round in which we were 2v5, on the CT side, and then we died in 1v1 situations against NiKo. But we kept saying, ‘Forget, forget, forget. We need to play the next round.’

How about that 1v4 clutch by Aleksib on Inferno? How did you experience that? No one expected him to win that, there were two players going after him across the map.

It was very good. I remember that Ihor, w0nderful, said, ‘You have AWP long, just save it.’ And then he killed a guy on the site and just defused it. After that, Aleksi said, 'I knew they were going to chase me.’ And we were like, ‘Nice!’

Do you think that was the turning point in the game? Because G2 had a very strong start to the map. They were up 5-0 at one point. And then it looked like they were a little bit overconfident.

It was maybe one of the reasons why we bounced back. If we had lost that, we would have had to go on eco, and things would have been way harder. Basically, G2 gave us a gift, and we took it. We are glad that Aleksi tried that. If he hadn’t, if he had saved, like Ihor had suggested, we would not have won the round, we would have had to go on eco again, and we probably would have crumbled or something. It was very good on his part.

After that close game on Anubis, you went into Inferno, one of G2’s strongest maps. They had won the last five games on it. Were you confident that you would be able to get a win on the map?

I cannot say how good we are on the map, but it felt like G2 had an advantage because it was their pick and they had beaten FaZe on it yesterday. We had watched the game, so we knew how they played on it. But the fact they didn’t know how we play on it, I think it made it 50-50. I don’t like the map, for me it’s so random. I told them, ‘If they pick it, it’s very good’.

But you never know. If on the T side, you start winning round after round, the CTs cannot do anything about it. I think that’s what happened to both teams: they won a lot of rounds on the T side, then we won a lot of rounds on the T side. It was a close game, and I’m happy that we won it.

b1t had a very strong game on Inferno. You came out very strongly on Nuke. Is this a case of different players stepping up at different times for the team?

We don’t think about this. We just play our game, and if someone has a good game, we take it. We just play our game, we have our game plan. Valeriy [b1t] played very well on Inferno, yes, he was hitting a lot of shots, he was doing mid-round calling really well, he had good comms, that’s probably why he played so well. On Nuke, he doesn’t have an active role. That’s probably why he was more quiet, but in my opinion, everyone on this team can step up at any time. And that’s a good thing to have.

You’re now going to play in the arena against Vitality, a team you’ve already faced in this tournament. What do you think that you will need to do differently tomorrow to get a better result?

We are looking for revenge. Even when I was with GamerLegion, we were losing to Vitality every time. We lost the Major final to them as well. I’m really looking for revenge, in front of a crowd as well, and we will try our best. They are a very strong opponent. We will try to prepare for it like we normally do.

It seems, at least from the outside, that FaZe and Vitality are one step ahead of the rest of the teams. Do you think that’s the case?

I think that’s kind of the case. If you watch this tournament, there are teams with new players. I mean, it’s their case, too, but they have adapted much faster. You cannot practice all the maps, for example. And if the other side is picking a map that you don’t have a lot of practice on, it’s going to be hard because there are going to be many situations that haven’t happened in practice. Maybe you’re prepared for them individually, but as a team, you’re not. Maybe the teammate who is next to me won’t know how I’m going to react. And I think that’s a big problem for most teams. Even FaZe had problems against G2 yesterday. And I bet it was the same thing.

jL did an interview before the tournament in which he said that he’d be happy if the team reached the semi-finals. Are you happy to make the semi-finals?

I’m very happy. It’s the first time since the Major that jL and I get to play in front of a crowd. It’s going to be an amazing feeling. I’m going to enjoy it, for sure.