B1ad3: “Even when we lost to Liquid, I knew that we can still win this event”

Natus Vincere have had a tough road at the IEM Rio Major so far. The Ukrainian squad battled through triple overtime against Vitality before losing consecutive 14-16 matches against Cloud9 and Liquid, unable to capitalize on sizable leads on the latter two maps.

On day three of the Legends Stage, NAVI looked unfazed as they swept Bad News Eagles in their first elimination match and entered the 2-2 pool, where they will fight for a playoffs spot on Tuesday.

After the match against the Kosovar squad, B1ad3 spoke to HLTV.org about his team’s road so far. The Ukrainian coach said that even after their early struggles he believes NAVI still has a good chance to go all the way at the Major, highlighting a productive bootcamp the team had had.

“Even when we lost yesterday to Liquid, I knew that we can still win this event,” B1ad3 said. “I know our team, how we played Cologne, how we played Malta, and I see the difference after the bootcamp. We just need to go deeper in the tournament and then we can win this event easily.”

The skipper discussed the issues the team faced on the opening two days and spoke about the difficult Cloud9 match, in which NAVI gave up a 13-7 lead on the Terorrist side of Mirage.

“I think we could win Mirage easily. It was a little bit influenced by our physical state and lack of preparation, because we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for the map.”

“I think they play a really good CT side because it looks like they discussed a lot of variations, situations, and they react really fast,” he said. “I think they play really strong, they can go to the finals, easily.”

Watch the full interview above, or you can read the complete transcript below:

Speaking about this Bad News Eagles game, it seemed like business as usual. What did you think about facing them after they beat FaZe yesterday?

We knew that they’re not a strong team, that we’re much better, much higher level. But we also knew that you must not underestimate them and you must know their game style to adapt from the beginning. In that case, I think it’s very easy to play against them.

Were you surprised to see them beat FaZe?

I didn’t expect that. FaZe won Nuke very confident and I thought that they would also win Mirage also confident. I don’t know why it happened.

Did you expect today to be a little bit more difficult after that, or did it just go according to plan?

For me, I just watched their previous results. If they’re losing to some teams like Enterprise, PALOMA, I think it’s a defining factor for me. I knew that if we play our game, not overthink yourself, we’ll win easily.

I wanted to go back to the first couple of days, the triple overtime against Vitality and a couple of really close losses to Cloud9 and Liquid. You dropped some big leads, especially in the latter two games on the T side – can you tell me about what happened there and what you had to address going forward?

I think we need more tournament experience when we played only practice for a long time. We had a really good bootcamp, I see the difference and I see the results of how we progressed because of the bootcamp, but now we need to convert all this knowledge to the game. When you play the tournament, it’s different, you must have another mindset to make more precise decisions, to think faster. The teams that played the stage before, I think they have an advantage, for sure. Also the time difference, the jetlag, it’s not bad for us, but still, I think it’s better to play the stage [before].

I think the schedule also was not good at all. We played one game, really tough game versus Vitality, and then we had to wait here in the arena, we could not go to the hotel to lie down, to have a reset. We were a little bit exhausted and I think it also factored, that you play two best-of-ones in one day, I think it’s not a good idea. And the next day we played in the morning. We finished at night and we had to wake up to discuss and prep for the match, and this was like 30 minutes, because we were focused more on giving more sleep to the players so that they were more focused. This factor is very important, and the one that I told before, that we didn’t play a lot of official matches.

It was the first time you played Cloud9 this year, but obviously you had a lot of experience playing the same lineup from the previous year. What was it like? Was it still the same team? What do you think generally about how they performed so far?

We didn’t feel any difference. We were focused on our game, it wasn’t like before when we had a rivalry and played a lot of times against each other. This time, I didn’t feel anything at all. We were just facing an opponent, a strong opponent. I think they play a really good CT side because it looks like they discussed a lot of variations, situations, and they react really fast. But I think we could win Mirage easily. As I said, it was a little bit influenced by our physical state and lack of preparation, because we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for the map. For example, today, best-of-three, we knew who we play, we had good preparation, everyone knows what to do, we had a good discussion. These are little details. But I think they play really strong, they can go to the finals, easily.

I wanted to lastly talk about the competition in general. Still quite a few teams are left, but you’re not going to play Vitality anymore. What are the confidence levels like going into the last round and being able to go to the playoffs?

Even when we lost yesterday to Liquid, I knew that we can still win this event, because I see the difference, I know our team, how we played Cologne, how we played Malta, and I see the difference after the bootcamp. We just need to go deeper in the tournament and then we can win this event easily.

But I think the scene overall is now much more competitive than before. The beginning of the year was pretty easy, FaZe was winning, we won one tournament, one was by Cloud9, but still, if we look forward now, it will be more competitive. Astralis will become stronger, absolutely, if they find the last piece for the squad. G2 can also do some damage. All teams are now much much more experienced, they have more knowledge, they are more professional. The scene is getting bigger, I think it will be tough to create an era for somebody.