B1ad3: "I think we did our best at IEM Katowice 2023"

NAVI's coach Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy gave an interview to Players.com.ua in which he shared his thoughts on a number of topics. Among other things, the specialist commented on the team's performance at IEM Katowice 2023.

Gorodenskiy believes that given a weak map pool, which was not well-prepared due to the integration of a new player in Andrii "npl" Kukharskyi, a 3-4th place finish at the concluded event was NAVI's maximum.

I think that npl played well. I even expected him to play a little worse, so in the match against Heroic the problems lay elsewhere. The squad didn't have synergy in the key moments of the game, and we also have a slightly weak map pool, since we did not have time to play all the maps with npl. I think that we did our best at this tournament, reached the semifinals, which was not easy with such a weak map pool. As for npl specifically, I can say that he is already playing well, but there are some other problems, which I can't discuss right now, that need to be fixed too.

B1ad3 also explained why the decision was made to part ways with Victor "sdy" Orudzhev during the winter off-season. According to the coach, NAVI saw no potential in the 25-year-old player and wanted to develop young esports athletes.

First and foremost, sdy wanted to continue this year with a more or less long-term contract. We don't see any potential in him, we see potential in young players. I can't say that sdy is at his zenith now, but he already plays at his level, more or less, at the level he has reached. I don't think he has a lot of room for growth. He may become slightly better at something, but neither his style nor in-game skills were a good fit for us. We still need something else.

NAVI finished their IEM Katowice 2023 run after losing to Heroic in the semifinal. A 3-4th place finish at the prestigious tournament brought the team $80,000 from the total prize pool.

Origin: players.com.ua