“It’s gut-wrenching in the middle of the season”: AleksiB lays out NAVI’s next steps after EWC crash

NAVI’s captain Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen didn’t sugar-coat the mood after the team’s campaign at the Esports World Cup (EWC) ended in the round of 16. In a candid HLTV interview, he called the situation “gut-wrenching,” stressing that the abrupt pivot to a new lineup mid-season demands patience as much as urgency. The Finn also argued that despite the exit there are foundations worth keeping—and that the group must “embrace the pain” that comes with fast-tracking roles, protocols, and mid-round decision-making with a debutant in tow. 

The defeat that set the tone for those remarks came against 3DMAX, who stunned the reigning EWC champions 2–0. NAVI never found the sustained T-side pressure they displayed at IEM Cologne, and once 3DMAX wrested early-round control, NAVI struggled to convert late-rounds where spacing and flash-timing broke down. The French-European mix capitalized on those gaps and closed the door on NAVI’s title defense. 

Context matters. The roster arrived in Riyadh just weeks after introducing 19-year-old Drin “makazze” Shaqiri for Justinas “jL” Lekavicius. In Cologne—their first big-event outing with the rookie—NAVI produced their most convincing Counter-Strike since spring: they beat FaZe twice, swept The MongolZ in quarter-finals, and pushed eventual champions Spirit to three maps in the semis. That run, under pressure in front of a demanding crowd, hinted at a formula: star-level rifling from b1t and iM, a more involved w0nderful on the AWP, and makazze willing to shoulder space-taking jobs on the T side. 

AleksiB reiterated that Cologne was not a mirage but a baseline to return to, highlighting the rookie’s temperament. Even HLTV’s flash-interview during Cologne noted how the IGL praised makazze’s “resilience” after a shaky Inferno start versus The MongolZ—a trait NAVI expect to draw on as the schedule tightens. 

So what went wrong at EWC? Virolainen pointed at two intertwined issues: discipline in late rounds and the mental shock of switching from the high of Cologne’s stage to Riyadh’s knockout slog with minimal prep. On the server, NAVI lacked the clean layering of utility that carried them through Cologne’s lower bracket; on Dust2 and Mirage, their mid-rounds drifted into individual attempts rather than the structured, two-wave trading they rode to success in Germany. When 3DMAX broke the pace with contact bursts, NAVI were slow to adapt their CT re-takes and gave up site space before rotations were in place. 

The captain’s comments also spoke to a broader, seasonal picture. NAVI closed the first half of 2025 with uneven form, then spiked in Cologne once roles were simplified—iM leaned into entry and late-round clutching, b1t took more star rifle real estate, w0nderful resumed primary calling on the AWP in defaults, and makazze absorbed the “dirty work” on both sides of the map. Maintaining that clarity while integrating a rookie mid-season is a known balancing act; the IGL’s message was that the learning curve is unavoidable, and short-term pain shouldn’t obscure structural progress since the break. 

Looking ahead, NAVI’s next checkpoints are StarLadder’s StarSeries Fall and the remainder of the fall circuit, where the same pressure points will be stress-tested: early-round assertiveness without giving away picks, mid-round spacing behind AleksiB’s calling, and consistent impact from the triple-rifle core. The Cologne sample suggests the ceiling is real; the EWC stumble shows how fragile it can be when comms fray and protocols slip under time pressure. 

“I know how this looks from the outside,” AleksiB said, reflecting on the loss and the timing. But he underlined that NAVI intend to protect what worked in Cologne, harden their late-rounds, and keep betting on the rookie’s growth. Given the speed of the reshuffle and the volatility of the summer bracket, the message to fans was straightforward: there’s no shortcut through the “gut-wrenching” phase—only more reps, a tighter playbook, and better poise in those coin-flip rounds that defined their EWC exit. 

Key takeaways

• NAVI’s EWC title defense ended 0–2 to 3DMAX; late-round cohesion and reactive utility were key pain points. 

• The lineup with makazze debuted strongly at IEM Cologne (wins over FaZe and The MongolZ; semi-final vs Spirit), establishing a blueprint the team wants to restore.

• AleksiB emphasized patience with a mid-season integration and pointed to makazze’s resilience as a positive sign for the fall run.

If NAVI can bottle the structure from Cologne and pair it with sharper late-rounds, the captain’s “gut-wrenching” week may age as a necessary course correction rather than the start of a slide.