Natus Vincere started PGL Masters Bucharest with a tight win over G2, and Mihai “iM” Ivan said the point of pushing through the event is simple: get to playoffs and make the Major run easier. HLTV said both maps in the series were decided by the narrowest of margins, with NAVI surviving a match that went deep on Dust2 and forced the team to work for every round.
The result handed NAVI 83 Valve points and moved them up ten places to 23rd in the global VRS. HLTV’s latest projections put their chances of qualifying for the Major at 98 percent, which explains why the conversation around Bucharest quickly turned to points, placement and what comes next on the calendar.
iM says the pressure is not changing how NAVI play
When asked whether the Major race was adding pressure, iM said it was not. “I will say no, because we know how we can play,” he said.
He pointed back to NAVI’s ESL Pro League run as the proof. The Romanian rifler said the team showed their level there, even if the results were uneven. NAVI lost to Vitality, PARIVISION and Falcons in that event, and he singled out the PARIVISION defeat as the one that stung most because he felt it was a match NAVI should have closed out.
That loss still seems to sit with him. iM said NAVI should have won that Cache and blamed the dropped game on too many rounds slipping away. Rather than treating it as a setback that could damage the Major chase, he described it as a lesson that carried into Bucharest.
“We should have been 2-0 on that Cache,” he said. “We learned from that.”
He then connected that learning directly to the goal in Romania, saying NAVI are trying to make playoffs so the Major race becomes less complicated. The result against G2 matters because it gives the lineup a better base in VRS and another chance to turn one win into a fuller run, but iM kept the focus on the next step rather than the ranking picture alone.
A close series shaped by preparation, mistakes and overtime
The G2 match was not a clean opening statement. iM said NAVI went into Nuke “kind of blind” because they expected G2’s permaban to stay off the table, which meant they entered the map knowing it would be their pick if it appeared. He added that G2 had prepared for the map as well, and NAVI needed a few rounds before they worked out the opponent’s positions.
Dust2 was even more demanding. iM said it is not NAVI’s strongest map, but the team are ready to play it when opponents choose it. He described the early stages as encouraging before the T side began to slip. G2 then put together a late run to drag the map into overtime.
He recalled one key moment on Long that swung the momentum. In his account, one player was watching cross while he covered the other side, and G2’s HeavyGod managed to get two kills while full blind. That sequence forced the game into overtime and turned the finish into a test of nerve rather than a straightforward closeout.
That is where NAVI found the win. The team had to survive the pressure created by the overtime stretch and finish the map in a series that never gave either side much room to breathe. For NAVI, the value of the result was not just that it opened the tournament with a victory, but that it came from a match that demanded adjustment after the veto and after the early rounds on both maps.
iM’s comments also make clear that NAVI do not want the G2 result treated as a sign the work is done. The team had already been through a patch of mixed results in previous events, so the main challenge now is keeping the level from dipping after a difficult opener. In that sense, the match against G2 served as a reminder that Bucharest can still go either way if the team lets focus drift.
HyperX Retake is the fallback if Bucharest slips away
HLTV’s interview also touched on NAVI’s planning beyond Bucharest. iM said the team know a little about what comes next, but not everything has been laid out publicly. He did, however, confirm one fallback event if the Bucharest run does not go their way.
“After this, if we fail, we have this LAN in Portugal,” he said, referring to HyperX Retake. He would not go into detail about Beijing or the rest of the calendar, but he made it clear that the team have a rough plan and that the immediate priority is to secure a playoff place in Bucharest first.
That approach fits with the way he framed NAVI’s objective throughout the interview. The team are not treating Bucharest as a side note to the Major race; they are treating it as a chance to stack results now so they do not need to rely on later wins. If that does not happen, they still have Portugal on the schedule, and iM said NAVI need LAN victories wherever they can get them.
He also warned against reading too much into one good result. After NAVI’s rough spell at StarSeries and a better showing at ESL Pro League, the G2 win looked like another sign that the team are settling, but he did not want the group to get ahead of itself.
“I think it was good, but we started the same in EPL, so let’s not slip up,” he said.
That line sums up the mood around NAVI after their first Bucharest match: pleased with the win, aware of the ranking reward, but still focused on the next match rather than the numbers alone. The team gained ground in the VRS, and HLTV’s projection gives them a strong chance at the Major, yet iM’s message was that the job becomes easier only if the team keep turning close wins into a playoff run.
For more on NAVI’s recent CS2 results, GAMER2GO previously covered HLTV’s ESL Pro League awards coverage in our report on the tournament’s EVP and All-Star teams. This Bucharest opener is a different kind of story: less about individual awards, more about keeping the Major path from becoming crowded later in the season.
What the G2 win changed for NAVI
- NAVI opened PGL Masters Bucharest with a win over G2.
- Both maps in the series were decided by the narrowest of margins.
- The team earned 83 Valve points from the victory.
- HLTV said NAVI climbed ten places to 23rd in the global VRS.
- HLTV’s current projections place them at 98 percent for Major qualification.
- iM said NAVI’s goal is to make playoffs and reduce the pressure of the Major race.
- He also confirmed HyperX Retake in Portugal as a fallback if Bucharest goes wrong.
The opener did not settle NAVI’s season, but it did give the team a better place to stand in the VRS race and another result to lean on as the Major picture develops. iM made it clear that the focus is still on the next rounds in Bucharest, not on celebrating the ranking swing for its own sake.
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