NaVi have announced that Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavičius has been moved to the inactive roster due to “his wish to step away for now” from competitive Counter-Strike. The announcement follows the promotion of NaVi Junior’s Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri to the main Counter-Strike roster.
In the statement, NaVi thanks the Lithuanian for all they achieved together before adding that they “wish him to take all the time he needs to find his inner balance, rest, and recharge.”
jL was the tournament MVP as NaVi won the Copenhagen Major in March of 2024. The Lithuanian had previously mentioned losing motivation immediately after winning the Copenhagen Major; however, jL and NaVi recovered after the 2024 summer break to win three more trophies in that calendar year.
2025, on the other hand, was described by jL in his reflections video as “a year of failure” as the roster slipped further and further away from their competitive goals. 2025 has been a year where NaVi have merely participated in events rather than contended for them.
NaVi’s quarter-final loss to Vitality at the BLAST.tv Austin Major would prove to be jL’s last in this stint. Despite the match having positive aspects for NaVi, it was another playoff bracket where they failed to do damage, echoing Katowice, Pro League 21, BLAST Open Lisbon, and PGL Astana.
jL reveals his reasons for stepping away
jL shared his perspective in a YouTube video entitled “I am benched and here’s why”, in which the Lithuanian listed his reasons for stepping away from competition, including focusing on being a good husband to his recently wed wife, physical and mental health, and the desire to create content.
“If you want to be a tier 1 competitor, at the very top, you really have to sacrifice a lot. That’s what I did for the last couple of years, and I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot.”
The Copenhagen Major MVP intends to step away for six months while he focuses on other aspects of his life, but there is no confirmation from NaVi in terms of what that means for his place in the org or roster.
jL will be co-streaming NaVi’s, playing CS and making other content, presumably on his Twitch channel, where he is often active, co-streaming along with content creators like Mark ‘ohnepixel’ Zimmerman.
Will one move be enough for NaVi?
While NaVi’s announcement ends with “NAVI CS2 roster for the upcoming reason” before listing the names, many analysts and community members expected NaVi to make more changes in this player break. The roster has notably fallen behind in firepower, while lacking the tactical synergy of the previous season.
While makazze will be viewed as a firepower upgrade, the remainder of the roster, whose rifling core is separated by only 0.2 HLTV rating in 2025 from best to worst, raises questions about their ability to compete with teams like Vitality, Falcons, and now Spirit, who have also bolstered their rosters. For NaVi, one move may not be enough to recover that firepower deficit.
If NaVi are to compete without further changes, they will be hoping that B1ad3 can conjure his magic once again, as he did when he took tier two talent into NaVi and made them Major winners and team of the year. With the scene looking stronger, that may be wishful thinking.
NaVi’s roster is now:
Valerii ‘b1t’ Vakhovskyi
Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen
Mihai ‘iM’ Ivan
Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov
Drin ‘Makazze’ Shaqiri
Andre ‘B1ad3’ Gorodenskyi (Coach)
Benched: Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavičius
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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.
