s1mple: We have stopped doing stupid mistakes
Natus Vincere has only lost one Bo3 out of their last 12 games.
After a long period of mediocre results, uncertainties with the lineup, and a seemingly tense atmosphere within the squad, NAVI now aim for better days.
A flawless 3-0 campaign at the RMRs, which secured the CIS giants a legend spot at the Paris Major, and two opening victories at IEM Rio, seem to help on the mood for star player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev who spoke with the broadcast desk yesterday.
- The last couple of months have been great. We have stopped doing stupid mistakes, and I feel like our new player [npl], as he said himself, feels more what b1ad3 and electronic want from him. Overall, we just feel that we’re stronger and it gives you confidence, s1mple said and continued:
- We just need to step up on our individual level because I feel like everything is working right now in terms of strategies, and preparation, and we also have a really strong map pool.
- Our worst maps are Mirage and Nuke, but back in the day they were our best maps – now we have another map that we have practised for such a long time. All of us just feel like we have a really good team now.
electronic
s1mple also touched on his captain and long-standing teammate Denis “electronic” Sharipov, who he praised for his IGL duties.
- electronic always did good numbers on scrims and practice – also at some tournaments when he started IGL’ing, all the time, just as before. He was never dropping 10 kills as the IGL, he was always doing a lot of individual training. He wants to put these numbers because people know that if it’s electronic then he should do this.
Favourites in Rio de Janeiro
When desk host Freya Spiers asked s1mple about who’s the favourite to win IEM Rio, the Ukrainian AWPer pointed towards NAVI and himself but also highlighted two strong European teams.
- Heroic and Vitality are both in really good shape. I feel like Cloud9 and FaZe are exhausted – it was a hard route for FaZe to qualify for the Major. I just want to face good opponents again because I can’t remember the last time, we played Vitality. It’s always interesting games against them.
You can watch the entire interview with s1mple down below.
