NAVI to start competitive season with sdy as stand-in

In an interview with NAVI's YouTube channel, the team's head coach Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy said that the next tournaments in the coming season would be played with Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev as a stand-in. According to him, the Ukrainian did not have time to fully prove himself following two tournaments, so the club plans to consider his candidacy for a permanent spot in the team after the next Major, which is scheduled for early November.

We've produced some pretty good results with sdy, placing second in Cologne and winning BLAST, which is not too shabby. That's why we decided it makes sense to keep going with him as a stand-in, giving him a chance to prove himself even more since he's making a lot of mistakes and he's not fully comfortable in the game. So the idea is to make him reveal more of his potential and get comfortable. We'll see how he does in the competition going forward. The next tournaments are BLAST, EPL and the next Major and we're planning to keep Vitya for these and then decide what to do.

B1ad3 also revealed the reason for such a long trial period of sdy. He noted that he is already a developed player, which makes him a slow learner, despite his own desire.

I can't say he's a fast learner because he's at the age where he's already developed a lot of in-game skills and a solid knowledge base, like reacting to plays, his playstyle, and so on. Adaptation isn't an easy process, so he needs to play according to the situation. He has a job he needs to do in a round but he should play according to a situation rather than the task he's given. He needs to find a way to implement a specific idea in the overall picture. This is how we're trying to play as a team. It certainly requires tier 1 competition experience and flexible thinking. It's possible to adapt and get better but it takes time. His main issue is probably his reaction to certain plays in-game - it's different both in terms of decision-making and speed. It's only up to him whether he'll be able to adjust. It'll be about his self-improvement and how he can prove himself on the team in the best way. I don't know how things will unfold but he's got the drive and motivation and you can tell he's putting in a lot of effort. All in all, I can say that he does a really good job in some in-game situations, and if he can make it happen consistently, then it's going to be great. He needs consistency.

sdy was brought in to NAVI as a stand-in in early June and before the off-season he managed to play at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 (1st place) and IEM Cologne 2022 (2nd place). According to the team stats published by HLTV.org at the end of July, Natus Vincere's performance with him on board is better than before the replacement of Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov.

Origin: youtu.be