Natus Vincere repeated their opening victory over Falcons at IEM Beijing 2026 and secured the final playoff berth. A flawless T side on Mirage, led by Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy and Mihai “iM” Ivan, sealed the series.
So why does this result matter? NAVI have had a dismal start to the Fall season, and iM has been under fire from the community. Now he has spoken to HLTV after the team’s second straight playoff appearance, and he was all smiles.
How NAVI Came Back Against Falcons
NAVI lost the first map, Ancient, but iM did not see it as a collapse. He felt the team dropped some crucial rounds through bad luck rather than mistakes. In addition, he believed he could have helped more by landing his shots.
However, the team stayed calm and changed the series. NAVI then won two maps in a row, and Falcons had no real chance to respond. According to iM, even he did not expect the comeback to be so strong.
read more
w0nderful Shines on Inferno
Inferno was a turning point, and Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov was the main reason. iM praised his AWP play, his calls and his reads on the opponents. He also noted that nothing changed in NAVI’s plays for w0nderful. Instead, he believes the AWPer simply grew more confident.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, okay (laughs). On Inferno, we were like four kids in his backpack. I don’t think he ever missed a shot, and he was also speaking a lot, which is very good to have: a very confident AWPer and then not missing everything, and also reading them. And yeah, he was amazing.
A Dominant T Side on Mirage
On Mirage, NAVI swept the T side. The team had no time to prepare new ideas for this map. Therefore, it used the rounds it had planned for the first Mirage game, and they worked perfectly.
From there, NAVI snowballed. Everyone felt confident, even when the team missed some entries or a Window smoke. Moreover, double kills, triple kills and clutches fixed those disadvantages, and that led to the lopsided score.
Proof That the Comeback Is Real
NAVI have now reached the playoffs in two tournaments in a row. For iM, the quality of the opposition makes this run special. The team mostly faced top-five and top-seven sides, and it beat them.
I think it feels amazing only because we also faced, in both cases, very good teams. I don’t want to say it like a bad thing, but we played only the top five, top seven teams, let’s say. Every time we faced very good teams, very good opponents, and then we showed that we could be back. And yeah, it felt good only because of this, because we beat very good teams, and then we showed that it was not a one-time wonder.
He pointed out that NAVI beat Falcons twice. Meanwhile, he linked the improvement to good preparation and a good coach. In his view, a strong team learns from mistakes and cannot fall down for long.
iM Ignores the Criticism
The Romanian player has faced a lot of community criticism during NAVI’s rough spell. However, he made it clear that it does not bother him. He learned a year ago that people judge him the same way, whether he plays well or badly.
I don’t care about it. I learned, like, even one year ago, that if I’m playing good, I’m still -iM. If I’m playing bad, I’m still -iM. What’s the point of caring if, whatever you do, winning, losing, you are still -iM? And yeah, I don’t care that much. There is this quote: “It’s good that they talk about you because you are here.”
Next Up: PARIVISION in the Quarter-Finals
NAVI will now face PARIVISION in the quarter-finals. iM expects a good match between two teams that know each other well. Last time, PARIVISION beat NAVI 2:1, and he remembers that series as very close.
Still, he believes NAVI can win if they repeat their level against Falcons. In addition, he pointed to their displays against FURIA, despite the loss, and at the last tournament. At the same time, he warned that NAVI must not underestimate PARIVISION, because they are also in the playoffs.
