NAVI lost 1–2 to 3DMAX in the opening round of the Esports World Cup 2025 and failed to defend their title. After the match, MN spoke with Aleksi Aleksib Virolainen about the reasons behind the early exit, makazze’s adaptation after replacing jL, and the young players from NAVI’s system who could soon reach a higher level.
What went wrong at this tournament? This is the second event in a row where you have suffered an early exit, despite recently making a deep run in Cologne. How would you assess the team’s current form?
After Cologne, we felt good as a team.
— Aleksib
Unfortunately, we then had to play the BLAST qualifier online. It felt strange to go from the stage in Cologne back home, and at the same time we had to sort out many visa issues for the upcoming tournaments.
After that, we had a week of practice because we did not manage to qualify for the event in Malta.
It felt as though we were coming here in good shape: we had prepared some new things and had good practice overall.
So losing the opening match and going out after one series is a huge disappointment. I cannot really describe the feeling.
What are the main differences between makazze and jL, both inside and outside the game?
I played with jL for such a long time. He was, and still is, a very close friend of mine.
I knew him inside out, whereas I am still getting used to talking with Drin and trying to understand who he is as a person.
In the game, I really feel that makazze likes to play very aggressively.
He is still adapting to our system. It also took jL, iM, and me a long time to get used to the NAVI system and understand how everything works.
