Natus Vincere's CS2 roster successfully returned to the competitive scene, defeating 3DMAX with a score of 13-9 in the opening stage of the Esports World Cup 2026. This was the team's first official game since being eliminated from the IEM Cologne Major.
In a comprehensive interview with HLTV, the team's head coach Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy talked about why the team didn't change their roster during the off-season, how he convinced management to skip BLAST Bounty, and how the updated map pool will work in NAVI's favor.
According to B1ad3, NAVI were indeed close to roster changes during the summer break. The management and coaching staff considered various options for reinforcement and held negotiations with agents and players.
"There were opportunities to change the roster. We spoke to the players about making changes if we saw the potential to get stronger. We conducted several negotiations, but they didn't succeed — there was high competition for those players, and we couldn't do anything," B1ad3 explained.
In the end, the team came to the conclusion that the decision to keep the roster, which has been playing together for over a year (since makazze joined), was much smarter:
- Preserving the foundation: The accumulated knowledge base, team protocols, and synergy represent a real advantage over other teams that shouldn't be underestimated.
- Motivation reset: The players are starting the new season with a complete understanding of past mistakes and a high level of enthusiasm, rather than simply due to a lack of alternatives.
NAVI became the only top team that stayed away from official matches for almost two months, deliberately skipping BLAST Bounty. B1ad3 admitted that he had to convince the organization's top management for about two hours to take this step.
The coach's main arguments were:
- A full reset: The players needed quality rest to recover energy before a long season.
- Quality of preparation: A few days of practice after vacation is not enough for a full return to form. The team needed to hold a high-quality bootcamp in Barcelona and systematically work through every map.
- VRS rating risks: Online single-elimination tournaments right after a vacation carry high risks of losing ranking points in the event of an accidental defeat against lower-tier opponents.
Changes to Valve's official map pool proved to be extremely advantageous for the Ukrainian organization. The removal of Overpass, which was NAVI's permanent ban, significantly eased the team's map veto.
Furthermore, the return of Cache became an additional trump card for NAVI. According to B1ad3, the team practiced this map for a long time during the bootcamp and plans to use it as a surprise for opponents in upcoming tournaments.
Currently, the team feels no excessive pressure, as the roster is stable, and the season's main favorites (such as Vitality or Falcons) are under significantly more scrutiny.
NAVI's main goal for the new season remains unchanged: to continuously improve their game in the process, build up their map pool through a series of two consecutive tournaments, and reach peak form ahead of the upcoming Major.
As a reminder, James Banks expects a strong performance from NAVI at EWC 2026 after skipping BLAST Bounty.