NAVI player Justinas jL Lekavicius talked to Players reporter Sofiia Pikhalo as part of the media day at IEM Cologne 2024.
The first map against SAW was not the best for the team.
It was very bad.
What was the problem? Maybe there was an underestimation of the opponent?
No, we never go into a game underestimating the opponent. It's just that we were a little surprised that they picked Nuke, because it's one of our best maps. I'd say it's the second best map of our team, and they picked it. I was surprised, but I also knew they were going to be heavy on the anti-shooting part. I didn't think it was going to be that heavy. They anti-shotted me heavily on A side, so they just did whatever they wanted. I feel like we didn't show up on Nuke. We started a little slow, but it was a nice wake-up call to go into map 2 and 3.
iM is showing great form in this tournament. His personal statistics are one of the best. What do you think has changed that your teammate has boosted his performance so much?
Maybe he's feeling more comfortable on the map. He's familiar with the strat book. He knows us well. The chemistry is improving. I think those are the reasons.
Do you think he's not feeling any pressure right now?
I don't think so. I just don't want him to feel any pressure when it gets to the playoff games, when he has to keep up the performance. Or at least he expects to keep up this performance, which is really insane. He has a 1.4 rating, I saw. It's tough to keep up this performance. I just hope he doesn't beat himself up about it.
NAVI players and head coach have repeatedly said that the team has now reached a maximum of 50% of its potential. At this tournament, the whole team is playing with 1 plus rating. Can we say that you are now close to the optimal condition?
I feel like it's not about the rating. It's just that we beat our games comfortably. And if we keep doing that, of course we're going to have a higher rating than usual. But it's all about winning. It's not about dominating your opponent 13-0 or 13-2. It's just about making as less mistakes as possible. And also just improving every single day.
Do you think the performance of the team is better valued than just personal performance?
Yes, the performance of the team is way better. Because you see teams, I'm not going to mention any names, but they have a lot of star players. If they don't drop their usual 1.3 rating game, they're going to lose the game. And you don't want to have any of that. So we rely on the team, not individuals.
Did playing at the Blast Premier Fall Groups help you find your weaknesses and improve your game for the IEM Cologne?
In a way, yes. But in the other way, I don't want to say anything bad. I don't think it was a tournament that holds any value for our future. We just played not to lose. We lost two games to Liquid. Unfortunately, we don't see them in the Cologne playoffs. So we cannot face them and have revenge. It helped us see some mistakes. But also those mistakes come from not being that hungry. Because you're not really playing for a trophy. You're just playing to qualify.
You have potential semi-finals opponents, either MOUZ or G2. Who would be a more comfortable opponent for you?
Both opponents are comfortable. They're both pretty similar to each other.
What about G2 given Alexib winstrike against his former team?
Yeah, I mean for the storyline, yes. G2 would be really nice. Even though we beat them in the grand final of a tournament. We also beat them in a semi-final of a tournament. I want to meet them at a quarter-final of a tournament.
Were you watching yesterday's match Liquid vs FaZe? How did you find it?
FaZe, just FaZe.
Of course, but do you feel that you missed the chance to beat Liquid in this tournament? Or do you still want to have FaZe in this tournament as well?
I want to have FaZe in the tournament. But I also didn't want Liquid to be eliminated. I wanted to face them either in the playoffs or whatever. I just wanted to face them and show them that last groups were nothing.
So you have great mood for next few games?
Yeah.