Insider and scout Alexey "OverDrive" Biryukov believes that regardless of their level of preparation, the current NAVI lineup could not have defeated Team Spirit in their current form. OverDrive criticised the coach of the "Born to Win" team for not being able to acknowledge losses. Alexey expressed this view on his Telegram channel.
"Why does B1ad3 never admit that he lost to a stronger team, like Aleksib did, for example? Why talk about a lack of preparation time? It's simple – Team Spirit's lineup is stronger. This year, it's already 4-0. Even if NAVI had a month to prepare for the prime 'dragons', they would still have lost. NAVI has a great structure, which is why they achieve results, but to go further, they need changes, they need real star players."
Biryukov's words were a reaction to the following statement by Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodensky regarding the reasons for NAVI's defeat in the final of the recent BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 in London.
"We made mistakes and controlled the situation on the map very poorly. We lacked experience. Perhaps the bo5 format was a hindrance because we had to prepare many maps. We spent 4.5 hours preparing for the match. On the day of the final, we had only two hours because we finished late in the evening. And then we had to be at the arena by one in the afternoon.
We lacked time. Everything we came up with was flawed. We couldn't execute our strategies, there were mistakes. Things didn’t go smoothly, someone would forget something. [Is it a matter of experience?] Yes, but there were still five maps, and that’s a lot of information. Everything needs to be precise, you need to be one step ahead. It was difficult to achieve that," said Overdrive.
To recap, NAVI lost to Team Spirit with a score of 1:3 in the final of the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024. The championship took place from 12th to 16th May in London, United Kingdom. The "dragons" won $200,000 in prize money.