jL: "I don't think we've ever had this strong of a scene going into a Major"

NAVI's Major MVP thinks five teams are on an equal footing going into Shanghai.

Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius has qualified for his third Major after Natus Vincere eased past SAW in Shanghai.

The Lithuanian rifler was the MVP in Copenhagen as NAVI surprised the world by charging to victory, and their squad will likely enter the second Major of the year as most people's favorites.

"We're the only CS2 Major champions but it's a very competitive game," jL told HLTV. "Even the six-event streak of grand finals, there was a little bit of luck, a bit of outplay, a mixture of things. I wouldn't say we are the favorites, I'd say there's a lot of teams on equal terms."

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Europe RMR A
17/11/2024	Natus Vincere Finished 13:9 fnatic	Match
17/11/2024	Natus Vincere Finished 13:5 SINNERS	Match
18/11/2024	Natus Vincere Finished 1:2 MOUZ	Match
19/11/2024	Natus Vincere Finished 2:0 SAW	Match
19/11/2024	FaZe Finished 2:1 Cloud9	Match

"There was a lot of chaos at the bootcamp," jL admitted, after the team were hit by a brutal virus. As a result, NAVI will be relieved to qualify early with a 3-1 record and Elimination stage invite, which gives them time to prepare properly for the Major's second stage.

Step one of their task is complete, and attention now turns to the next goal: Being the first team since Astralis in 2019 to retain a Major title.

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Your third Major, does it ever wear off?

I cried at the last one, when we qualified. With Apeks, at the first RMR, I didn't cry. With NAVI, 3-1, Legends stage, I cried. This one, I didn't cry, because there's one more game before we get into the elimination stage, if the favorites win, we have to play a decider. It feels good, but the job's not done yet. [Editor's note: NAVI will advance to the Elimination stage automatically after results went their way]

How are you feeling coming into this? We all know what happened in Singapore, and the MOUZ game yesterday, are you at 100%?

No, we are not at 100% right now. But it's fine, we made it to the Major. We have a lot of time to prepare, fix mistakes. As long as you know what the problem is, you can find solutions for it.

You mentioned it on broadcast, about having a 'bad' bootcamp. Can you expand on what you meant by that?

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say, but we got hit by a virus. It was quite strong, it really fucked me over, it screwed w0nderful, there was a lot of chaos at the bootcamp. It was a short one, and it didn't go as planned.

The first few days were really good, good practice, winning the games, implementing the new stuff that we talked about. But once some of your players, kind of, take a step back it was a different game.

Are you glad you were in group A of the RMR then, and if you do get to the elimination game, then there's a lot of time for the classic long NAVI bootcamp? How important is that?

It is really important, we reshuffled the whole stratbook. We don't scratch it off, and then add new things. We improve on the things we have already. It's not easy for teams to read us, and we have a lot of new stuff that we trust and have confidence in. When you don't have a lot of practice, you forget the things that are working for you, and why they are working for you.

So if you have a strat, let's call it 'fnatic,' if you just see your role and you don't know the idea of the round, of course it's not going to go as well. You just go, 'smoke there, flash there.' CS is not supposed to be played that way, it's good to refresh the things that you have.

Is it more important for a team like yourselves who are based on the strategy side mainly, especially after the run of tourmaments where you're playing every week, final every week, no time to prac, how hard is it to keep the playbook refreshed?

It's hard. Of course, we refresh it before every official. We have theory time, game prep. We try to refresh it as well as we can to mix up the opponent, but sometimes you get lost as well. You can make a new round, and maybe you don't understand it that well, maybe it was towards the end of your game prep so you didn't pay as much attention. It's hard.

Ideally, for me, it should be, you play a tournament, you have a couple of weeks' break, you prepare, you re-focus, and then you play the next tournament. That way, you can have really good bootcamps, really good preparation, and you would see the best CS that could ever be played in those tournaments. But if you go from tournament to tournament, you're not going to see the best CS, you're not going to see the best players. You're tired, you're fatigued, you're focusing on other stuff. Real life is also there. Best case scenario, I would like a couple of weeks' break between each tournament.

As a quick tangent, how will you guys approach next year? Do you know yet?

I'm probably not the best guy to ask that. I haven't paid a lot of attention to the schedule. I know what events we are going to play but I'm not sure about the schedule. For me, I think it will be better because we can pick and choose events and you can have some skips. If you really want to have a good run, you can prioritize tournaments. But maybe I'm very wrong, and you have to go from tournament to tournament to tournament, and in that case, it's bad. Good for the viewer, for the sponsors, but it's not good for the teams. You will rarely find the best CS being played at every tournament.

And, I wanted to ask as well about the RMRs more generally. With Apeks, it was the RMR system that helped you get your break, what do you think about the RMR system now it's going?

It's going quite well for the favorites, not a lot of upsets happening. Even MR12, BO1, the teams that are supposed to win are winning. There have only been a couple of upsets, SINNERS nearly beat C9 today but it didn't work out — it would have been really good for us, we could have skipped the decider match for the elimination stage.

I more mean, will you miss the RMRs themselves since they won't be here next year? Do you think they're good or bad for the scene to have the invites off ranking instead?

I think it's bad. It benefits us as a top team, but the pressure, the nerves, of playing an RMR, I like it. It's very dangerous. Every single day, you're stressed, you're not panicking but you're a little anxious until you make it. We made it to the Major now, but our goal was to make it to the Elimination stage. If it was next year, we would be in Legends because we were top 1. So I like this feeling, it gives a lot to the grind. I like it.

It's having that one moment, right? You know you've made the Major, it's going to be weird next year checking the ranking points and things like that. Even this fourth-place decider tonight, do you miss having that one round moment where you get up and you've done it?

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Next year, I feel like, checking the points and ranking isn't going to matter to us. But, for example, you're a team that's this close to qualifying and you don't make it, because you skipped a tournament, or didn't perform as well. It feels out of your hands. The RMRs are in your hands. You can play the games, you can actually qualify for your own game and not the points. I think it's going to be a little sad for people that barely won't make it.

Back to NAVI yourselves, everyone knows you're the most studied team and I wanted to ask about your map pool. Mirage, for example, you lost three in a row and then this event you smashed MOUZ on it. Is it one of those things where you didn't have time to work on it while you were dominant on it, and you have now. Where do you see your pool going into the Major?

It's one of those things, when you're dominant you don't put as much attention to it. You go from tournament to tournament, and you focus on your weaknesses and not your strengths. Mirage was our top map, but it dropped and we have to work on it like a usual map. We put some work on it at the bootcamp, we put some work on it here, and the result showed. We played really well.

On yourself, how do you see your own year, in terms of top 20 and other individual things, how important is the Major for you on that note?

I just want to play a good Major for the team. I'm not thinking about individual performance as much. Of course it's good to perform well, but I know that if I focus on my individual too much, I will drop off. I tried it before, I had a couple of bad tournaments, I was turning a bit too egoistical at times.

Now I'm just focusing on the team, and if the team is winning I will also be performing as well. That's my main focus, and that's why you also see me trying to lift the mood, shouting, because I know that helps the team, and it also helps me. Other than that, I'm still going to put 100% into my individual preparation. And yeah, feeling good about the Major right now.

Do you see yourself as Major favorites still? What's the attitude going in?

We're the only CS2 Major champions but it's a very competitive game. Even in the six-event streak of grand finals, there was a little bit of luck, a bit of outplay, a mixture of things. I wouldn't say we are the favorites, I'd say there are a lot of teams on equal terms. A lot of teams can win it, G2, MOUZ, Spirit. I'd say there are five championship contenders. I don't think we've ever had this strong of a scene going into a Major.