Aleksib on Natus Vincere’s CS2 roster: “We need to work on consistency.”
Natus Vincere captain Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen commented on his team’s loss to M80 in an interview at BLAST Open Porto 2026 and reflected on the structure and reasons behind the slump of the “Born to Win” squad.
On the loss to M80
We started the match off great by winning Anubis. Our set plays worked perfectly. Then, on Mirage, everything just fell apart. I think we just lost our rhythm and couldn’t get back into the game. There are things we do really well, but at the same time, the team can completely fall apart. We need to work on consistency.
On Natus Vincere’s structure
We have a clear structure—NAVI has always played this way. The problem with our system is that things can fall apart on the server due to a variety of factors, since everyone has to make an impact. Nevertheless, we’ve shown time and again that we’re capable of winning—but for that to happen, the players need to be in top form. Right now, we need to get stronger and overcome this slump.
On the team’s slump
I think our team is going through a bit of a slump right now. We spend a lot of time preparing, but we still fail to execute our game plans well, as was the case in our last match, for example. We’re definitely lacking confidence… Of course, it’s always easy to make excuses when things aren’t going well. Today, we need to beat paiN Gaming and move forward.
Natus Vincere lost to M80 in their first match at BLAST Open Porto 2026 with a score of 1–2. Now, the “Born to Win” are facing off against paiN Gaming—the losing team will finish the LAN tournament in last place.
Photo by Sophie Barrowclough, BLAST.
