NAVI’s captain, BoombI4, is going to miss at least the first games of the tournament due to COVID-19. The organization already found a sub.
Kirill "BoombI4" Mikhailov was tested positive for COVID-19 and won't be able to play the first matches at EPL Season 15, according to NAVI themselves. Daniil "Headtr1ck" Valitov, a player of the NAVI Junior team, will take his place until IGL's recover.
headtr1ck has been listed as an official substitute for the team. The young player has already flown to Dusseldorf and joined the team.
However, following COVID safety protocols, he will play isolated from his teammates. And as soon as BoombI4 recovers, the academy player will make room for the captain of the squad.
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NAVI also highlighted that for now team didn't make any decisions about the roster and will focus on the upcoming championships. In a recent interview with the Washington Post NAVI's CEO Yevhen Zolotarov declared a strict position of the organization.
Zolotarov stated that NAVI is not willing to work with players who live in Russia and pay taxes to the Russian goverment. Kirill "BoombI4" Mikhailov is one of the players on that list along with electroNic and Perfecto.
After them being held, all personnel decisions will be made together with the players. We shall report about this in separate post.
It's not the first time when a positive COVID test may shake NAVI's positions. At IEM Katowice BoombI4 had to play group stage from his hotel room due to the virus. That said, it didn't affect the team's performance. NAVI got out of the group in 1st place, eventually losing to G2 in the semi-final.
Matches of Group D at EPL Season 15 will start on March 30th. In the fight for the play-off, NAVI will face Heroic, Astralis, Complexity Gaming, Evil Geniuses, and EGO. Follow our reports to know how NAVI's sub is going to perform at the highest level ahead of BoombI4's return to action.
