B1ad3: "The Major will be our exam"

The NAVI coach stressed that winning trophies isn't the primary goal as the team ramps up preparations for the Major.

Natus Vincere head coach Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy has said that his team is not yet at a stage where it can challenge for trophies, adding that the Budapest Major will be the litmus test on whether the current roster has a future.

NAVI underwent a roster change during the summer break, promoting academy player Drin "⁠makazze⁠" Shaqiri to replace Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius, who stepped down from the roster to take a break from competition.

The team began the new season with a semi-final run at IEM Cologne, but results have been poor since then. NAVI won only two of the following six matches as they crashed out of BLAST Bounty and Esports World Cup in 9th-16th place and of BLAST Open London in 9th-12th place.

"We are in the process of building something," B1ad3 said in a video posted on NAVI's YouTube channel. "We don't focus now on trophies at all. We don't need trophies. You can clearly see that we cannot win them. Why should we even be bothered by this, stressed, or constantly frustrated?

"It's hard to always dream about something and not achieve it. It's better to take some steps back and slowly start going up again."

makazze has averaged a 1.05 rating across 31 maps since joining Natus Vincere, a far cry from the numbers he used to put up on the academy roster.

For B1ad3, the Kosovar player still needs time to "find his comfort and strengths" at the highest level.

"I don't see any obstacles," he said. "He is in the right direction. He is in a stage of progress. You cannot do it like this [snaps fingers]. He needs time to build new knowledge of tier-one."

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Natus Vincere are currently ranked 10th in the Europe VRS, on track for a Major Stage 2 invite. This week's StarLadder StarSeries Fall and the Thunderpick World Championship (October 15-19) will provide Natus Vincere with the perfect opportunity to end their trophy drought, but B1ad3 is focused on the process, rather than the end result.

"StarLadder will be a very good opportunity for us," he conceded. "It doesn't matter if we win or lose. It's just experience. Thunderpick, too.

"The status at the moment is pretty positive, in my opinion. I see the positive dynamic, that we are moving and improving, day by day. We just need some time.

"We just need to go to the Major. [By then], we will be a team that you can criticize and analyse. After the Major, you can make a conclusion. It will be our exam. After this, you can say: Do we need a change? Do we not need a change?"