jL: "We may not win the Major, but we want to make a deep run"

The Lithuanian rifler says NAVI will play with this five-man lineup for the foreseeable future.

Natus Vincere came into the Europe RMR as one of the favorites to make it through to the Copenhagen Major, and they did so with a 3-1 record. Their only loss came against Virtus.pro, as the Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen-led team showed some solid performances on their way to securing a Legends Stage spot.

Despite all this success, the future of the roster remains shrouded in uncertainty. Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy's future is subject to rumors, and the organization still has Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev on the bench, but Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius said the team intends to stick with this lineup.

After their win against BetBoom in Bucharest, the Lithuanian spoke to HLTV about his expectations for the Major, his individual form, and the future of Natus Vincere's roster.

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How does it feel to qualify for your first Major with NAVI?

It feels fucking amazing. And we also got the Legends stage, and it's truly an amazing experience. [Editor's Note: The seeding will be determined by Valve's Regional Standings, which will be published after March 4, as PGL clarified on Friday]. I don't think the game with Apeks was as important as this because we really wanted to get to the Legends stage. It gives us more time to practice, more time to observe and fix what's wrong. We played super well on Nuke, kept our composure, and there are a lot of great emotions right now.

Talking about this series against BetBoom. Overpass was pretty straightforward for you guys, but the other two maps were a lot closer. What helped you win the match in the end?

I made the speech to the boys, and I think it affected us a lot. I said, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop making excuses inside your own head, because the game is in our hands. It's not going to win by itself, and if you're going to lose, you are the only one to take the blame for it. Stay composed, cold-blooded, hype each other up, and play the game."

You played at a Major before with Apeks, and it went pretty well. Do you think you can do something similar again?

Of course, who's there to stop us? I think we have the right team to do it. We have our slumps, we have our struggles, but the level of CS we can show on our best day, or an average day, is way higher than the team at Apeks. I feel like we can adapt to the lower-tier teams at the Major. We're going into some games as the overdog, but it shouldn't faze us. If we keep the right mentality, we should get it in the bag. Of course, we may not win the Major, but we want to make a deep run and show a really good standing of where we are.

You now have about a month unti the Major. Is there anything specific that you guys need to work on?

There's always something to work on. Improve our map pool and change a little bit, because there's a lot of time to prepare and a lot of data on us right now. You can't go into every single game changing up things, but now we have time to change. We'll have a long bootcamp, and I hope we use it wisely because our first bootcamp was super effective, and we should do the same thing again.

I talked to you at EPL last year, and you told me that you were signed to perform in CS2, not CS:GO. Are you happy with your individual performances right now?

Right now, I don't think they're bad. I think I have averaged higher than 1.10 in the last month. Of course, there's the inflation of CS2 and MR12 and all that stuff, but I'm happy with my improvement. Maybe the stats are not showing it, but I'm thinking way more about the game in better detail and with higher standards. So if I continue [like this], I think I have a bright future.

There have been some rumors surrounding the team about b1t leaving, and you still have s1mple on the bench. Is this on the back of your mind when you play?

Of course, you're always scared the CS:GO goat is going to replace you. [laughs] I'm only joking, there is nothing. We're staying as a five-man core, and we're playing like that. Unless something bad happens or we have an injury, I don't think s1mple is coming back to the roster.