Passion UA fall to makazze and NAVI at StarSeries Fall
After a terrific opening win against Gentle Mates yesterday, Passion UA lost decisively today to NAVI, though their journey at StarSeries Fall 2025 isn't over just yet.
The top-ranked NAVI roster was propelled to victory by the young Drin "makazze" Shaqiri, who had one of his best overall series since being called up to the main roster. NAVI was not deterred on Passion UA's Train pick, claiming 10 rounds in a row on the CT-side to build an insurmountable lead. Makazze closed the door on Train after switching side, leading NAVI to a 13-6 win.
Passion UA struggled in the first half of Inferno as well, trailing 10-2 at the half again after a porous CT-side that makazze regularly picked apart. But unlike on Train, Passion UA showed far more life on the second half of Inferno, propelled by yesterday's bright stars in Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli and Nicholas "nicx" Lee. They reduced the lead from 10-2 to 11-9, but after a much-needed timeout NAVI finally secured their first gun round to reach 12. Inferno ended in heartbreak though, as Passion UA's B execute fell apart at the hands of an MP9 and a Five-Seven, with NAVI closing out the series with a 13-10 win.
Passion UANatus Vincere| Passion UA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nick 'nicx' Lee |
28 - 29 | -1 | 71.5 | 66.7% | 1.01 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
24 - 32 | -8 | 74.3 | 73.8% | 0.96 |
 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli |
27 - 28 | -1 | 69.9 | 64.3% | 0.88 |
 Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol |
26 - 31 | -5 | 68.6 | 73.8% | 0.80 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
21 - 29 | -8 | 52.3 | 64.3% | 0.66 |
| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri |
34 - 24 | +10 | 112.0 | 83.3% | 1.54 |
 Mihai 'iM' Ivan |
30 - 27 | +3 | 66.3 | 78.6% | 1.20 |
| Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy |
32 - 25 | +7 | 74.0 | 73.8% | 1.20 |
| Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov |
28 - 25 | +3 | 60.9 | 76.2% | 1.08 |
 Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen |
23 - 26 | -3 | 58.9 | 78.6% | 1.05 |
While the result stings, Passion UA at the very least showed they could hang with top teams, frustrating NAVI and making them sweat on the second half of Inferno.
The NA core playing for the Ukrainian org will face an all-Ukrainian roster tomorrow when they play B8 in the lower bracket.
