iM denied underestimating G2, even though NAVI has a 9-0 record against them

Natus Vincere is in excellent form, having reached 2 consecutive finals at 5 recent major events and accumulating a winning streak of 9 consecutive matches in recent weeks. They also showed impressive resilience during that time, most notably overcoming a 4-10 deficit on the second map of the BLAST Spring Final semi-final against FaZe, where a loss would have ended the game. their journey at the tournament.

Much of Natus Vincere's success was achieved during a busy schedule, as the team immediately went from winning the ESL Pro League to the BLAST Spring Final campaign without a day off. However, Natus Vincere still shows no signs of fatigue in their play, something Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan mentioned in this interview.

The Romanian gunman gave an interview to HLTV after his team's semi-final win over FaZe, discussing not only the team's packed schedule but also the upcoming semi-finals and finals against G2.

First, congratulations on making it to the finals. It was quite a long and tiring series. What are your thoughts after this victory?

Thank. It was quite a difficult match, because in both the first 2 maps, if I remember correctly, we had a very bad start on the T side, which hindered us. But I'm happy because we played the T-side very well on the third map, and that's the most important thing.

You guys came here right after the EPL, but at least when I watched you play, it seemed like you weren't tired. How does the team feel at the moment?

No, trust me, it's like... How do I say it? It's like we're a touring band, playing over and over again. It's crazy because we don't have any days off. The only day off we had was after we beat the Falcons, because we had the game in the morning, so we had more than half a day free.

But other than that, things aren't very good. We finished the EPL, then the next day we had to travel, a total of about 8 hours, maybe more, because we were also delayed, which was very bad. Then we had a media day, and it was the worst day ever. We had something very small to do, took about 10 minutes, then had to wait 2 hours, had another small thing to do in 10 minutes, then waited 2 hours again, then took pictures at the end of the day. It's really not good at all.

I want to ask about today's series of matches. You lose the first map, get down 4-10 on the second map, then suddenly it feels like the team flips a switch and starts winning rounds. Did anything change in the team at that time?

Like I said, we got off to a really bad start on the T side, and then we tried our best on the CT side to get back into the game. We started really bad on the T-side and then lost the pistol round, because I think the score was 8-4. We talked about winning the pistol round and coming back from there, but we lost the pistol round.

We gradually came back, but still lost due to a few small mistakes. We don't understand each other, like 'go A, go B, go A, go B.' That's not like us at all. But after that, we came back with a better spirit.

That better spirit was evident on Anubis. Seems like it was a pretty easy win for you guys, right?

The Anubis match went well because we showed the T-side we needed to play on both of the first two maps, being completely in control, completely trusting each other, and just doing one thing. Don't do things like, 'Okay, let's go there, no, let's go do that, do that.' Everything is very clear and calculated, so that's good.

Tomorrow is the best format final of the year, but now that you guys have broken the EPL curse, there's nothing left to worry about, right?

It will be a very difficult match because it is the best match of the year against G2. We will probably go into the match with the mindset of not caring about pressure or anything, we just need to play like a normal match. They are a very strong team, and we cannot underestimate them at all. We just have to do our best, play our way, execute what we practice, and hope for a good match tomorrow.