Now that the MRQs have wrapped up, things have been a bit light on stories.

So, we’ve decided to dive into the choppy waters of online tier 2 CS and take a closer look at YaLLa Compass Spring 2025. Despite its tier 2 label, this tournament featured a hefty $300K prize pool. Pocket change.

But what really made the event stand out were its winners, and the dominant way they pulled it off.

NAVI Junior, NAVI’s academy squad with an average age of just 18, steamrolled the competition. Facing very solid teams like 9Pandas, Nemiga, and ENCE, they went undefeated on their way to the $75K first-place prize.

They started by cruising through group play, securing a Playoff spot. From there, they took down ECLOT in the semis and swept ENCE in the grand final to bring home the virtual trophy.

Now, we’ve got to talk about makazze, NAVI Junior’s brightest star.

Everyone’s been buzzing about kyousuke - and rightfully so, don’t get us wrong - but please don’t sleep on this kid. He’s been carrying NAVI Junior all season. Just to give you a glimpse, he wrapped up this tournament with a 1.36 rating.

Overall, this is incredibly impressive from the squad, who’ve now put themselves in a prime position to secure invites to tier 1 events. The only issue? If NAVI are present in those, the Junior team won’t be able to accept the invites. A real shame, considering their huge potential.

Inevitably, this opens the door for some members of the squad to be picked up by other teams looking to strengthen their ranks – or even for the entire lineup to be snatched up, should a very wealthy org decide to make a move and invest in a VRS-proven roster.

There’s also the strong possibility of promotion. Things haven’t been looking great recently for NAVI’s main team, and if that trend continues, B1ad3 might start eyeing some of these young talents as the solution to their problems. And that wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened.

Honestly, at this point, they might just be better than the main team.