NAVI’s loss to Aurora once again brought back the discussion about whether the club worked actively enough on the transfer market. Former NAVI coach Kane believes that during the last off-season, the team should have considered kyxsan and Jimpphat more seriously — two players around whom Aurora later built their updated international roster.
Kane pointed to two missed opportunities
In Kane’s opinion, both kyxsan and Jimpphat were realistic options for NAVI during the transfer window. At that time, both were in a situation where their move looked possible, but in the end it was Aurora who took advantage of that opportunity.
In this transfer window, both Jimpphat and kyxsan are players whom NAVI, in my opinion, definitely should have considered.
Especially since both were fairly available, considering that their clubs no longer needed them. But in the end, Aurora made that move.
This assessment sounded especially telling after the head-to-head match between NAVI and Aurora. The opponent’s updated roster has already directly shown that switching to an international model did not prevent it from remaining competitive against Aleksib’s team.
Aurora risked switching to English
One of the most important details of Aurora’s rebuild was the switch to English communication. Signing kyxsan and Jimpphat effectively meant abandoning a fully Russian-speaking structure in order to build a stronger international roster.
This was quite a serious risk, because a language change affects not only basic calls, but also the speed of mid-round communication, reactions, and mutual understanding in difficult situations. So far, Aurora’s results show that the team has managed to go through this adaptation period without a critical drop in level.
kyxsan gave the team a new structure
kyxsan’s arrival is important not only as an individual upgrade. He received the opportunity to influence Aurora’s game structure as an IGL, while the roster itself became much more oriented toward an international approach.
For NAVI, such a transfer could also have potentially meant significant changes. The team already has Aleksib in the captain role, so signing kyxsan would have required a review of the system itself, but judging by his words, Kane believes the club should at least have considered such a scenario.
Jimpphat could have added individual strength
Jimpphat was a different type of opportunity. Unlike kyxsan, his main value lies not in controlling the game, but in stability, a strong individual base, and experience in high-level matches despite his young age.
This kind of profile could have been interesting for NAVI while trying to update the roster around b1t, w0nderful, and Aleksib. But the club chose a different path, kept most of the structure, and integrated makazze, while Jimpphat ended up in Aurora.
The loss only strengthened the discussion
One series by itself does not prove that Aurora had a better transfer window than NAVI. However, the head-to-head defeat made Kane’s words much more noticeable, because the two players he calls missed opportunities now represent a direct competitor.
For NAVI, the problem is broader than one match. The team has recently lost some of its stability, dropped in VRS, and is already at risk of being left without some direct invites to tier-1 tournaments, so any discussion about possible roster changes automatically carries additional weight.
Aurora changed, while NAVI kept their course
During the rebuild, Aurora took a serious structural risk: they changed part of the roster, switched to English, and brought in players with different backgrounds. So far, this model allows the team to remain competitive and already produce results in matches against strong opponents.
NAVI, meanwhile, bet on a more gradual development of the current system. Now the results of the next tournaments will show whether this approach pays off, but after the loss to Aurora, Kane’s argument about missed transfer opportunities looks much more relevant.
