From the coach’s chair, the IEM Atlanta 2026 grand final wasn’t as comfortable as a 3-0 scoreline suggests. Andrey ‘B1ad3’ Gorodenskiy told the press the second and third maps were ‘very nervous’ — and that the difference was NAVI’s composure when it mattered.
The reading from the bench
‘Very nervous series on the second and third maps, but we kept fighting, showed our desire to win and handled the decisive moments. Proud of the team. Thanks for the support,’ B1ad3 said after the trophy lift. Mirage opened with a dominant 13-3 NAVI win, but Anubis tightened to 13-9 and Nuke required overtime after GamerLegion reached match point.
The Vitality blueprint that worked
B1ad3 had revealed earlier in the playoffs how NAVI’s veto plan against Vitality was specifically designed around Inferno — a map Vitality hadn’t played since IEM Rio. NAVI exploited that gap with a 13-3 Inferno closeout that ended the nine-series losing streak. Composure under pressure was the through-line of the entire tournament run.
The MVP and the Major
w0nderful’s first HLTV MVP medal was the individual story, but B1ad3’s read on the team is the structural one. With Cologne next, NAVI enter the Major cycle with two 2026 trophies, the Vitality matchup decoded, and a coach who specifically praised the team’s high-pressure decision-making — the area that defined the gap in previous years.
