Aleksib displayed true faith in his team’s ability to win and prepared to take off his jersey to celebrate their victory, hours ahead of the match against FaZe Clan in the Grand Final of the CS2 PGL Copenhagen Major.
NAVI’s victorious IGL Aleksib told ls.fi after winning the CS2 Major that he wore an extra shirt under his NAVI jersey, just so he could take it off while celebrating his win in the Grand Final, proving how confident he was heading into the match
Right after winning, Aleksib took his shirt off as planned and jumped over NAVI’s desk, swinging his shirt and encouraging the fans to celebrate with him. “That is the cherry on the cake on top of my career. I’ve been in teams where people didn’t believe in me or the management didn’t believe in me,” Aleksib explained when asked why this win meant so much to him after being blamed for his failures with Ninjas in Pyjamas and G2 Esports.
After an impressive run as IGL for ENCE between 2018 and 2019, which included a Grand Final defeat at the IEM Katowice 2019 Major against the dominant Astralis, Aleksib was surprisingly benched from the active roster and spent a couple of years with OG, ultimately being kicked from the team.
While OG never had any noteworthy performances, he was picked up by G2 Esports and NiP, getting benched from both teams in a few months. After being a fan favorite in 2019, Aleksib was feeling the brunt of his previous team’s failures in 2023. When asked what the B stands for in his name, he jokingly replied, “benched for life.”
Most CS2 fans had Team Spirit, MOUZ, or FaZe as their favorites to take home the trophy, and there were doubts about Aleksib’s ability to call against the top teams after his stints with G2 and NiP. With s1mple stepping away from the active roster in October 2023, Aleksib only had a few months to prepare with the new NAVI roster.
While this was the second Major win for b1t and NAVI as an org, it was the first Major title for Aleksib, jL, iM, and w0nderful. NAVI will be back in action in the ESL Pro League Season 19, starting April 23.
