iM: "I obviously cared that I won the Major, but it's just another trophy"

iM believes that getting caught up on the Major win would hinder efforts to succeed in later events.

After stunning the world with a victory at PGL Major Copenhagen, international side Natus Vincere have so far struggled to recapture the form they displayed to secure CS2's first Major trophy in the two events they have played since.

Following a group stage exit in IEM Dallas, Natus Vincere now look to the BLAST Premier Spring Final in London as the team's last opportunity of the season to put together another strong result before the player break.

Ahead of NAVI's start to their London campaign, Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan spoke with HLTV to discuss the team's season following their Major victory, his contributions in secondary calling, and how the squad is aiming for consistency as a new goal.

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Last event of the season. The season has to be a success because of the Major, but what are you looking for at this event?

We are looking to play the best we can, to end the season on a good note. I would say that it'd be very good to play on the stage, to qualify for the playoffs. From there, we take it step by step.

The narrative is an easy one. There's no more post-Major hangover, so what has it been like from within the team? You exceeded expectations to win the Major, so is it more like a return to your average, or have you been disappointed since the Major?

We don't call it a disappointment because, after the Major, we only played two tournaments. In one tournament, we lost against FaZe, which was the Major finalist, so we don't have to be sad about it. They were a better team that day.

The only failure was in Dallas because we lost against HEROIC, and we didn't play our game at all. B1ad3 said that we didn't even play 50% of our game. That was not us.

In an interview after, B1ad3 said that you were struggling in the mid-round. That was his analysis. That was one of the big stories at the Major, you stepping up as that second caller. How has that been going?

It's going pretty well, I would say. We try to get people to hear me because sometimes, when I say something, it needs to be fast, and if people are focusing a lot on their crosshair or whatever they have to do in their areas, they might not hear me. Then I have to say it two or three times, and then it goes bad — like, very bad.

Maybe I die because I have to wait a bit more or... you know, there are a lot of details that can go wrong. But we're working on this more and more because we are also working for everyone to speak because it's needed. Maybe Aleksib can't see what jL sees or I can't see what jL sees or what w0nderful or b1t see. That's what we're working on: communication, and then mostly our reactions.

Do you think it suits you? Was it something you pushed for yourself, or was it something that B1ad3 said suits your roles and positions?

I would say that I have the position to make these calls, to speak more because I have an active position and I can see more. I can see what people are doing, you know? For me, it's fine. I was speaking a lot in GamerLegion, and in NAVI before we decided to make me a second voice. Maybe I wasn't trying to focus on this, but I was speaking because I like to speak a lot in-game.

In terms of the team as a whole. It's hard to say who the star player is because everyone has spots on certain maps. Since the Major, your performance has come up a bit, and others have come down. How is the firepower balance working out? If B1ad3 could pick, what would be the ideal firepower hierarchy?

I cannot speak for him, but usually, I think our strength is in all of us. We don't have a star player. We don't have a guy to play for. I can pop off, jL can pop off, w0nderful can pop off, b1t can pop off. Even Aleksib can pop off sometimes. We just don't care about one guy doing crazy stats and stuff like that. We just play for the team, we try to win as a team, and that's all that matters.

It's always so hard to tell from the outside what's going on in the server. You have these active positions that it's hard to get stats from, so how do you see your performance? The Major is the blip, stats-wise, and you have a lot of impact outside of that, but since then, you've been the second-highest-rated player for NAVI at the last two events. Is that where you want to be, or is it more about the team changing since then?

I'm not sure what the reason is, but obviously, after every tournament, I try to be the best that I can even though I play maybe a bit... not bad, but not like how I wanted. I just try to play the best I can from tournament to tournament, and that's it. Calling, shooting, stats, or whatever you want to call it.

It's hard to frame your season. I think B1ad3 said that it's still a long-term process for you guys and the Major doesn't change that. There's all of these different cultures coming together and everything. How hard is it to keep yourselves on this trajectory as a long-term thing when you've won the game's biggest prize in the middle of it?

B1ad3 and b1t already won a Major and they know how it feels to win a Major, so we had a discussion about how we're going to react after. After that, we all just tried to react the best we can because, like you said, everyone has different cultures.

We're coming from tier 2, tier 3, and winning the Major... I don't think either me or jL expected it because we're coming from tier 2, tier 3, and we expect to maybe win a trophy sometimes, but for me, jL, and I'm pretty sure w0nderful, as well, our first trophy on HLTV is the Major. That's crazy, you know?

After that, I'll speak only for myself. Personally, I just moved on. I obviously cared that I won the Major, but it's just another trophy. If you want to win more, you need to forget about that and play for the next tournaments, as well.

What has it been like for the team in terms of preparing for events? Have you still been going at the same pace, or has there been a bit of a cooling off?

It's the same pace, it's 100% the same pace. Even when we won the Major, we made a lot of mistakes. Then we tried to fix them. When we win, we make mistakes, and when we lose, we make the same mistakes, maybe, but we just practice the same way as before.

We didn't have a bootcamp after the Major, which was not that good for us because we could fix a lot more in a bootcamp than at home, but we just try to do our best the same as we were practicing before.

You think of NAVI as one of those prep-heavy teams. You've got the notebooks. Do you think that teams know your tendencies more since winning the Major?

I have no idea, to be honest. I will say that maybe after that Major, because we didn't have that bootcamp and couldn't go into the details of our mistakes that much, probably that's why we didn't update our game and why maybe it's easier for opponents to read us or counter us or whatever.

You have a bit of a tricky group, but you're expecting playoffs, that's what you're aiming for. Maybe also revenge over FaZe after Pro League?

Yes, we expect playoffs, but our goal is consistency. If you have consistency, you will get into the playoffs, and then you go step by step into the finals, eventually. Maybe. Then we play from there.