"Natus Vincere always want to win and win every tournament they come across." — sdy about NaVi's ambitions

What are your emotions after winning BLAST Premier: Spring Finals?

In general, it is an incredible feeling when you get such a chance and you reach your goal. Of course, I'm very happy about it, very happy that I have another chance to play with the guys (Natus Vincere).

How did you join the team, how did the adaptation process go?

Of course, I did not join right away, this is a completely different level of Counter-Strike, understanding of the game, and in general the team plays at a level higher than other teams that I played for and against which I met. I'm still adapting to the guys, I have a lot of new roles in the game. Probably the most difficult moment was to catch up with the rest of the players in understanding the game exactly at the moment of the middle of the round and the end of the round. Because I learned scripts and roles, forgot something, but they always helped me. There are no such problems with this as with mid-calls, let's say. And at first I had to catch up with the guys a lot, to adapt to them. In general, I played the way I was supposed to, or at least I tried.

How do you assess your status inNaVi? Together with the team you will go to the second tournament, how many championships do you need to play in order to know for sure whether you will continue to play with the team or not?

I'm still on trial and to be honest, I don't know for sure myself. I look at it this way, I need to play better than I played in the previous tournament, first of all individually. Winning a tournament is one thing, but playing close to perfect is another. If I play well in the next championship, the chances of staying in Natus Vincere will be high.

Tell me, did you play Counter-Strike after the war started in Ukraine?

When the war started, I didn't play for the first month. Mad Lions gave me time, if I couldn't play, I would have had the opportunity not to play. But I spent myself the Internet, settled in a new place. As the month of the war passed, I continued to play, trained with the Mad Lions, played official meetings, and then the line-up was disbanded. In general, I played all the time, not counting the first month.

After joining Natus Vincere, you didn't replace all the positions that BoombI4 played in, did the whole team rebuild a bit?

It depends entirely on the cards. There are maps where I completely replaced Kirill, and there are maps where we rearranged the way Blad3 sees it.

Does the club have goals for you and the squad as a whole?

First of all, you need to understand that this is Natus Vincere, they always want to win and win every tournament on their way. This is the philosophy of the club, about the Born to Win, let's say there. And for this, of course, there are expectations for the results of the tournaments, I have not talked about this with anyone, but you can feel it.

When you were invited to NaVi, with the potential that you could stay there, would Mad Lions bend the price of your buyout? Will you become a hostage of the contract?

Mad Lions proved to be very professional people. They gave me every opportunity, even after the club closed, they let everyone go, and Woro2k helped me and Woro2k throughout the war and paid a salary. When the request came from NaVi, they let me leave for free, and I think if there is a need for me in Natus Vincere, I am sure that they will not interfere with this in any way. They are just good people who understand how things work and that you need to help others.

What do you think makes NaVi tier-1 a team?

I think that their system, which is very well-established and works as it is intended. This does not happen often, it is a huge number of factors that need to be put together. Game factors, not game, psychological, everything that makes up the career of a professional athlete. And it is during the matches that the system that the guys created works and it’s not so difficult to enter into it, even though I have problems with this. I noticed this thing when we played in the tournament, some of the teams we played against, they are afraid of NaVi, they are afraid of the tag, they can't kill you, visit. They have extra stress.

Tell us about your experience with Mad Lions. Why did they decide to close their club?

They decided to close the roster and go to other disciplines, because Conter-Strike does not bring money, like the discipline and the game from Valve, everyone knows this. As for playing Mad Lions, it was a very positive experience for me, first of all, I spoke English. Secondly, it is a European organization with its own professional approach. The team often got together in the evening to have an interesting time, we loved to play mafia. I liked how they work, so I was very upset that it happened, because the team and I just started to gain momentum.

How do Counter-Strike esportsmen feel about the Dota2 scene?

First of all, we envy The International tournament. But I think that The International breaks the whole eco-system of the game and everything that happens in Dota2. It's as if the game doesn't exist all season long, and only at the main tournament of the year you can see an exciting game on a completely different level.

On the Twitch channel of Olsior, a well-known Dota2 commentator, there was a podcast where sdy answered questions related to the CS:GO scene, Natus Vincere, Mad Lions. He also answered other equally interesting questions. You can watch the full version of the podcast here.