jL: "I got humbled at Dallas and EPL; I really want to win again"

"At Dallas, I just broke down and couldn't get any fire inside of me. There was no fuel left," the Copenhagen Major MVP admitted.

Natus Vincere and Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius shocked at PGL Major Copenhagen, exceeding expectations with a run to the trophy that culminated in a 2-1 victory over FaZe in the grand final and jL claiming the MVP award.

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

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's side couldn't match that result in the months that followed, exiting ESL Pro League Season 19 playoffs with losses to Complexity and FaZe, followed by a group stage elimination from IEM Dallas by HEROIC without Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov.

Pressure was mounting coming into the season-ending BLAST Premier Spring Final with NAVI's individuals struggling for form. However, the team bounced back with aplomb with wins over Astralis and FaZe to secure a direct berth to the semi-finals, and have a chance to fight for a second trophy before the tournament break.

jL spoke to HLTV about losing motivation after NAVI's Major victory and regaining it after "being humbled at [IEM] Dallas and EPL," as well as the integration of Dust2 into NAVI's map pool and how he thinks the teams they play now "have no idea how to play Dust2 the correct way."

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Back in playoffs after one event out, start by telling me how that feels.

Feels good. But I don't think it's all about playoffs, it's about us playing correctly, well, and together, that's what I'm happy about.

What's it like within the team, with a coach like B1ad3, is it more about performance than results? Even at the Major, it was heroic moments. How was it today?

It felt good today. I felt like we were a step ahead at all times. Okay, not all times, but most times, most of the game. And that helped us stay composed. I feel like we were composed even when we were losing 6-0 on Mirage. We knew it only takes one round to get momentum rolling, take the game back into your hands, and we finished the half 5-7. Mirage is CT sided.

Was it the Major energy? I think it was 4-9 on Nuke vs Astralis, 0-7 today. What is fuelling these comebacks?

It's all about being composed. Not letting yourselves go down that rabbit hole of negative thoughts. If you make a mistake, next round you have a chance to fix it, and next round you also have a chance to win. It's just about thinking about your past mistakes.

What about yourself, obviously Major MVP, we all remember those huge rounds, how has it been since then in your own words?

Honestly, I lost a lot of motivation after the Major. I'm such a young player in the game, my only goal was to win the Major and then we did. I got an MVP on top of that, I didn't have any other goals besides that other than to play quality CS. But that wasn't enough for me to get going.

Now I got humbled at Dallas and also EPL, I really want to win again, I want to perform, I want to kill my opponents, I want to dominate them inside the server, and that's probably my motivation coming back.

It's the impactful plays, right? You are the X factor. But this tournament, b1t especially has been stepping up with the starpower and that gives you some room. How nice is that to have the rest of the team firing?

It feels great. You don't have to go for star plays, you just play your game, you help your teammates, go round the map together and you get the win.

One thing on Dust2, you've picked it twice and won both pretty convincingly. How do you feel on the map?

I feel like the teams we play now have no idea how to play Dust2 the correct way, and it shows on the server. It gives us a lot of confidence when they don't have the reactions that are supposed to be there. It seemed pretty easy to play those Dust2s actually.

What do you mean by that, specifically? It's such a played out map, 25 years old or something, how do you get an edge on a map that's so old?

Understand the rotations, understand how the map works, where are the gaps, where are the overpowered positions you can play, plays. Basically just understanding the map, and if you hit your headshots you'll win the game. There's not a lot of stuff the opposing team can surprise you with.

Does it suit NAVI as a team? Is there anything about your playstyle?

It suits us really well as a team. We have a few play lurkers, anchors, great AWPer, in-game leader. We understand the map well. b1ad3 has been behind a lot of this Dust2 development, he has known the map since I wasn't born probably. It feels good to have good players and a good coach who understands the map. It makes it very simple.

Going into playoffs, it's probably Astralis or one of VP and Spirit, likely VP. Is it that chance to get back to a trophy, maybe a weaker side of the bracket?

[laughs] We've been in the weaker part of a bracket before. But yeah, it's a good chance for us to win. It would be a great chance for us to finish the season and go on vacation, enjoy our bubble tea at Dubai.

I feel happy playing good CS. It's not all about the trophy, because as we've noticed with me when you get the trophy you lose a lot of motivation. Right now we just want to play good CS, and fuck the trophy.

How was that post-Major hangover? You probably spoke about it immediately after winning the Major, but actually going through it, what do you even do?

I don't even know. Nothing changed. We practiced, but our practice quality was bad. I was playing a lot, playing individually, with the team, trying to improve the game, but the fire within the server was not with me at that time.

At EPL, I was having a lot of thoughts of 'what's going on,' and then at Dallas, I just broke down and couldn't get any fire inside of me. There was no fuel left. It's all because of me, and I had to find new goals to keep myself going.

Did that come from the team, or were you left on your own, to find out how to get that fire back?

A bit of both. I've been open to a few players that I've been experiencing motivation issues, and they've been helpful. it was also a part of me because... how can I put this? No one can fix your problems besides you. They can give you direction, help, whatever, but it's you who has to fix the problem and live with the decision: You either want to play, or you don't want to play.