Just over a year ago, NAVI lifted the Major trophy in Copenhagen. Now, heading into the BLAST.tv Austin Major, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and his team arrive in a very different position.

The European lineup comes into Texas off the back of a string of underwhelming results and will need a serious turnaround if they want to challenge the likes of Vitality, Spirit, and MOUZ.

NAVI’s role as an underdog is also something captain Aleksib acknowledges:

– We’re now back to being the underdogs. I don’t think many teams are considering us to be in Top 3 even Top 5. Maybe that’s a good thing for us. It’s been a disappointing season, but now we have everything to turn it around and play a good Major.

Big stakes

In our talk with Aleksib on the media day in Austin, the Finnish IGL admits that the Major will serve as a monumental event for the team.

– You could say everything is at stake for us. We have to make sure that all this time in the bootcamp is not a waste of time.

– We have some good discussions and plenty of practice. Now we just need to show what we’re capable of, because everyone knows that one time, we were a title-contender. Now we aren’t. But if we do the hard work and trust each other, then we can still win.

Depsite a tough season, Aleksib assures that he’s super excitied to compete at the Major, especially after watching the initial action at home.

– We had a long bootcamp, and we’re all excited to play here at the Major. I have been watching the first stages and seen all the emotions from the players, just thinking to myself that I really want to be there. So, I’m glad to start playing.

NAVI kick off their Major run today in a Bo1 battle against Nemiga at 20:45 (CEST).

Full interview

You can watch the entire interview with Aleksib below.