"We're still far from top 3" — GotoOne on NAVI's playoff exit and the tiers above
After NAVI’s elimination against Karmine Corp in the LEC Spring playoffs, Adrien “GotoOne” Picard did not look for excuses. Speaking to RFT.GG, the assistant coach reflected on the limits of a still-young roster, its gap in fundamentals, an identity that has naturally leaned too heavily around Rhilech, and a Worlds ambition that remains alive despite a frustrating end to the split.
The split ends here tonight for you. What's the first thing going through your head after this match?
Happy to have won a game, but we still didn't show a sufficient level — that's really what's going through my head.
We're still far. If you define KC as top 3 right now, we're still far from top 3.
And let's be honest, it comes down to the three games we lost — it's everything cumulative from the last months of work and the results, which are obviously disappointing.
On the results side, I would have preferred to win, but losing to KC for our second split is okay.
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On the way we lost, though, it's always the same thing — that's not okay.
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What's the main reason for today's loss, in your view — lack of experience, execution, decision-making?
The positive: our in-game communication, for a team with an experience gap compared to bigger teams. We stayed proactive, we kept looking for solutions, we didn't resign ourselves. No big silent moments.
The negative: we got outplayed in early game, in laning phase. That's just fundamentals where we weren't strong enough. Mid game I think was fine — but since we were behind, you can't really see it. In the game we won, we managed to play mid game with them. So on the team aspect, we had good ideas, we knew what to do. But on the execution side, we completely messed it up. Our macro wasn't perfect, far from it, but it's really execution where we were behind.
Your team has gone three weeks without an official match on stage. Did the calendar make things harder today?
Clearly. I thought about it before the match. Put yourself in our shoes: we're a young rookie team, not much experience, and our last match was against G2 three weeks ago. EWC gave us a few games, but that was online. Not seeing the studio for a month and then arriving straight into a Bo5 — lose and you're out — is obviously hard. And it didn't give us that much experience because it's only one Bo5. If we'd been in winner bracket thanks to seeding, we'd have had at least two Bo5, and I think that would have been good for the the team. Here we only get one — so it's a brutally dry calendar.
Photo Credit: Elliot Le Core/Riot Games
Many think the LEC top 3 are a clear cut above the rest. Do you agree?
Entirely. They're teams with a long-term project — apart from GIANTX, who should be at that level and aren't. The top 3 is clear, it's a level above. Not much to argue. You can even say there's a top 2 — that'll depend on KC, if they can stand up to MKOI and even beat them.
As things are, for me there's a clear top 2, then top 3, then 4 to 6 it's pretty much the same. We're at roughly the same level as GIANTX or Vitality. There are clear tiers in these playoffs.
There are things you can't catch up on, even with a lot of work.
What exactly are you missing to close that gap?
The main point is playing in unison, always being on the same wavelength, on the same page. That's all execution. If you look at today's skirmishes, the 2v2s, 3v3s, how we click together — we were always less decisive than KC. Let me give you an example: we get to a moment where we want to contest a wave or a drake. We arrive, we have the plan, but at the moment of execution, we're not decisive. On the other side, it goes fast. If you're not as fast or as efficient as the opposing team, you take big slaps every time. That's what happened on repeat.
Skewmond told me, right after he faced you in the regular season, that you play a lot around Rhilech. And that could make your gameplay quite readable. Do you find your game plan is sometimes too one-dimensional, or is it the only gameplay that wins you games?
It's really an individual identity that arrived in the team naturally. When you start with new players, an identity imposes itself gradually. But it's not the identity we work on. And I think that's also why we lack strength in these playoffs.
You don't tell yourself "NAVI, that's a very good team that does that."
Right now, we've shown nothing — we've shown a bit of everything, but nothing really good. It's our natural, instinctive identity, and Rhilech's strength. But it's not the identity we work on in scrim, not the one we want to build long term — especially to win Bo5s, you can't be on that identity.
So we worked on a lot of other things — maybe a bit too many things. We didn't scatter, it was conscious on our part, but we lost some efficiency on that aspect. We need other elements, other complementarities — and that hasn't clicked yet.
But I agree with what Skewmond said. Naturally, we snowballed through the leads Rhilech took, through skirmishes on jungle camps. But against the top 3 junglers — Yike, Skewmond, Elyoya — you can't do that to them. They get it immediately, they have the reaction, they know how to communicate, they know where to click faster. You can't abuse them.
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
There's a feeling that when Rhilech is behind, the team plays worse. Does that block you?
On the first identity, sure, of course. But like I said, it's not something we work on — so even when he's behind, I don't think it blocks us completely. I don't think it's not the core of our gameplay. When he's ahead, it makes everything easier. When he's behind, we're more in restraint. But I don't think it's the primary factor. It's definitely impactful.
Looking at Summer, what's the main axis of progression?
I need to think about it — I need to analyse today's BO. The first thing that comes: our practice over the last two-three weeks wasn't good enough. We've acquired a lot of knowledge on how to play mid game, macro, all that. But we haven't consolidated anything solid. We're not clear on what we want to do — and that's what we're missing.
We're missing cohesion. We have a good group outside the game, good group on in-game communication. But we lack that good group in the moments of confrontation, in fights. We lack synergy — because it's not clear enough in the players' heads: who do we play for, who engages first, who launches first… All the small interactions. We lack confidence and synergy. A group that goes to bat for each other in-game. That's what we need.
Photo Credit: Elliot Le Core/Riot Games
For Summer, Worlds is at the end of the road. Is that a concrete goal, or first about banking experience to build for the future?
Both, clearly. NAVI is a two-year project, pseudo long-term. The goal is to bank as much experience as possible — so the further we go, the better. That's why I mentioned the playoff seeding: with two Bo5, it would have been much better.
We'll go as far as possible, the objective is still Worlds. Your first year, if you make an international tournament — like I did with BDS — it's incredible. There's no equivalent. Nothing else can match it. You see it again with teams like G2 or MKOI: they have rough season starts, moments of doubt, but normally experience makes up for everything. So it's still a very concrete objective we'll try to reach. Right now we're not favourites, but we'll give it everything to be in the running.
