m0NESY on breaking NAVI curse: "I was angry and hungry; I wanted to show we can't lose again"

The Russian AWPer helped G2 end their losing streak against NAVI.

Since adding Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski in the off-season, G2 have been a dangerous title contender. Despite this, the newly assembled team came short of a trophy, with their 0-9 record against Natus Vincere a big part of that.

In Copenhagen at the BLAST Fall Final, however, G2 finally snapped out of the losing streak and took a convincing 3-1 win in the grand final against Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's troops to claim their second title of 2024.

After the win, tournament MVP Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov spoke to HLTV about winning the tournament, finally beating Natus Vincere, and his desire for trophies.

If you cannot see the SoundCloud embed above, listen to the interview here.

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First of all, congrats on the win. A trophy and an MVP medal, how do you feel right now?

This is the best feeling in the world for me. Lifting the trophy and seeing my teammates happy.

You also stopped the NAVI streak. You were 0-9 coming into this, so is this win even more special because of that?

I was very hungry and angry before the game, seeing NAVI in the grand final again playing against us. I was angry and hungry just because we lost against them nine times, and I wanted to show that we can't do that, that we can't lose again. I was just very angry to win, to destroy them.

How important was it for you guys to take the first map? Given the record you had against them before, was that a huge confidence boost for you?

All the maps were very close. It was like 13-11, 11-13, and everything else was very close, even the rounds in the game. I think it's very important to win the first map because you get this extra confidence. When you make the game longer, and you win in the end, maybe they'll also be a little bit frustrated. But it's just good as some extra confidence.

Then on Mirage, you had a 9-1 lead. You probably thought that you'd almost won, but then you dropped the lead. How did that map feel for you guys?

Honestly, when we lost Mirage, I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what feelings I had because we were leading 9-1 on CT. Obviously, it's not a win yet. I didn't really focus on the trophy when we were leading 9-1, I was focusing on every round.

But for some reason, we didn't close some CT rounds we should have. I just know I was a bit empty after the map, trying to come back mentally to the next one. But I didn't stress, we're in good shape and form.

Your 1v2 clutch on Inferno won you the game. It felt like when you killed the final guy, you just let go of all of the emotions and let go of the keyboard. So how did that feel for you?

Honestly, after the last clutch, when I killed the guy planting the bomb, I wanted to write disconnect. I don't know why, I think just because everyone started screaming. But I had to defuse the bomb, and NiKo was looking at me and saying, 'Defuse, Ilya!' And I'm like, 'Okay, okay.'

When I clutched the previous round on B, 1v2 as well, I just closed my eyes because I needed to release this pressure and emotions to start the round again. Obviously, all the clutches gave me an extra boost and confidence, and I think it also gave a really good boost to the team. But yeah, I'm just trying my best.

This is your third MVP, the second one of this year. You're one of the players in the running for HLTV number one at the end of the year. Is that something that you want to achieve?

I don't count MVPs, I don't really focus on that. I just want to lift trophies. I see other teams lifting trophies, and when I see that, it gives me anger. I'm becoming angrier and hungrier because this year, we only won in Dallas. I'm very hungry to win trophies, everything else just counts as an extra bonus.