Matthew ‘Ari’ Walker’s loan home, Na’Vi, have qualified for the PGL Wallachia Season 5 playoffs after defeating BetBoom to set a 3-1 record in the Swiss Stage of the competition. The Brit is currently on loan from OG, who exited the event with a 1-3 record.
PGL Wallachia Season 5 is the roster’s final event as the active roster of the Na’Vi organisation, as Na’Vi have previously announced that the Na’Vi Junior academy roster will become the main roster on July 1st.
Only dropping one Bo3 to ESL One Raleigh 2025 runners-up, Team Spirit, Na’Vi have looked unusually strong in Bucharest, defeating Nigma Galaxy, Liquid (albeit with a stand-in), and now BetBoom. With the roster already being deprived of their positions, perhaps the lack of pressure has allowed Ari and co. to take off their shackles.
Yet the event has still shown why the roster has struggled, with previous demons haunting them against Spirit, and BetBoom as their late-games fell apart. Thankfully, after losing the middle match against BetBoom, having been up 17 kills and 11k gold, they mentally reset for the third and got the job done in 2-1 fashion. This time, Ari truly put BetBoom to the sword, finishing 6-0-19, in a ruthless 33-minute victory.
It is unclear where the Brit’s future lies with demotion looming while he is still on loan, but the Support player now has the playoffs to look forward to, starting on Thursday. This event cannot save the Na’Vi roster, but could be a vital showcase for the roster and Ari specifically, going into the second half of 2025.
The kids are alright
A rare positive result, the Na’Vi roster has struggled throughout 2025. Ari and his teammates missed out on The International following defeats in the Eastern Europe Closed Qualifier to Aurora and Cyber Goose. By contrast, Na’Vi Junior’s young Ukrainian roster defeated OG’s senior roster in the Western qualifier to make TI and EWC 2025, securing them their promotion to the main roster.
The TI qualifiers were not the only time the young guns overshadowed the senior roster, defeating their organisational seniors at the Wallachia Season 4 qualifiers.
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Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
