NAVI Junior become first team qualified for Thunderpick WC 2025 Closed Qualifiers

NAVI Junior have become the first team qualified for the Closed Qualifiers of the Thunderpick World Championship 2025, after taking down ECSTATIC 2:1 in the Grand Final of the European Series 1. The win means NAVI Junior will play in the Closed Qualifier later this September, in the hope of eventually qualifying for the LAN Finals in October.

NAVI Junior require reverse sweep to continue impressive year

2025 has been a very impressive year for NAVI Junior, having already won YaLLa Compass Spring 2025 and surpassing the prize money for the year of the organization’s main team. Despite this, they looking in danger in the Thunderpick WC 2025 European Series 1 Final after going a map down to ECSTATIC. The Danes looked all too comfortable on Inferno, and looked set to secure the spot for their own.

However, there’s a reason that NAVI Junior are so well regarded, and they were able to fight back to take the following two maps and complete an awesome reverse sweep in the Final. This included a dominant 13:2 Dust2 decider, where ECSTATIC looked lost at every turn. They’re not quite at the Thunderpick World Championship 2025 just yet, but reaching the Closed Qualifier is a significant step towards their end goal in this event.

Will NAVI Junior go independent?

The rise of NAVI Junior in the Valve Regional Standings has not gone unnoticed. Through grinding online events, the team have put themselves in a position to receive invites to Tier 2 tournaments, which is undoubtedly the next step in this team’s evolution. If they keep winning, the sky is surely the limit.

At a certain point, though, their association with NAVI is going to be a hindrance more than anything else. There is already some suggestion that this lineup has outgrown the “academy” label, and could be picked up by an organization, especially considering the fact that NAVI Junior isn’t allowed to attend any events that the main NAVI lineup is attending. It’s not a problem now, but if this team are as good as they look, it will be eventually.

Personally, I don’t think we’re going to see NAVI Junior signed any time soon, but it’s an interesting conversation to have as they continue to improve.