Zayac talked about joining NAVI Junior and preparing for Riyadh Masters 2025

13.07.2025

130

4 min.

Natus Vincere support player Bakyt Zayac Emilzhanov shared insights into the key moments of his career over the past year and reflected on his experience at Riyadh Masters 2025 in Riyadh, in an interview on the club’s official YouTube channel.

He revealed that the idea of joining NAVI Junior began forming back in 2024, after a successful stint standing in for the main roster alongside Yurii pma Prots. Zayac said that the strong synergy in lane and belief in young talent were the main reasons behind his move. In addition, Zayac emphasized his desire to become a full-fledged captain and build a roster around a shared vision of the game.

Young players are easier to teach. They absorb new information quickly and are open to change. What matters most is a unified understanding of the game within the team.

He also discussed the arrival of coach Maksym TheHeartlessKing Fadeev, with whom he had previously worked at HellRaisers and HYDRA. According to Zayac, the coach’s involvement was key to structured preparation and working on drafts, especially after the first bootcamps.

Zayac highlighted that his addition to NAVI Junior brought noticeable improvements to team discipline:

We brought in more order: less TikTok and Reels, more Dota talk. The team started discussing strategy and hero choices more.

Ahead of Riyadh Masters 2025, the squad held an eight-day bootcamp, with six days of scrims. Emilzhanov noted that while more time for preparation would’ve been ideal, he was overall satisfied with their progress. The new patch released shortly before the tournament didn’t significantly affect their prep.

As a reminder, Natus Vincere finished second in their Riyadh Masters 2025 group, narrowly losing first place to Team Spirit. In the second phase of the tournament, Zayac’s squad was close to making playoffs but fell to Team Falcons and ended up in 9th place, earning $75,000 in prize money.

Earlier, CyberScore reported that Quinn Quinn Callahan had commented on the departure of Anton dyrachyo Shkredov from Gaimin Gladiators.