Valorant
Global Esports graced the international stage for the first time as they took on Team Vitality in VCT LOCK//IN 2023. With all the anticipation surrounding GE in the leadup to their VCT debut, the team certainly delivered as they went the distance against their opponents by pushing them to a third and decisive map.
Despite starting well in Lotus with a 3-1 lead, Vitality’s attacking side proved too much for Global to handle as they went on to win the deciding map 13-6, sending the Pacific league team home after the first round of the event.
Nevertheless, despite the loss, with the team obtaining crucial international experience through their stay in Sao Paulo, Brazil, they are optimistic they will be able to correct the mistakes they made against Vitality and return with a renewed mindset once the VCT Pacific league kicks in mid-March.
Following their series against Vitality, members of Global Esports spoke to the media in a press conference to discuss their experience in LOCK//IN, what went wrong against the EMEA team, and more.
Facing Vitality
(For AYRIN) You guys won six out of six pistol rounds. What are you guys doing right in the pistols that you're not doing in the later stages?
Jordan "AYRIN" He: I wouldn't say we had a ridiculous amount of time to practice. There were just so many small things throughout the match. I'm proud of how we played but it was just the small things. It wasn't like we were completely lost and just getting owned, but to answer your question directly, in the pistols we were playing grouped and we were trading very well. Into the gun rounds, we just forgot that a little bit as a team. That's something we're definitely looking to fix moving into the Pacific tournament for sure.
(To Eraser) Why do you guys think you fell short on the last map? We saw you guys taking the momentum at the start of Lotus. Will you say that a lack of momentum and coordination was the factor of the whole tournament?
Hong "Eraser" Chang-pyo: Yes, there was a little bit of a loss in momentum by our opponents, but I think the last map had to do a lot with the lack of experience with the players here. I think they were super nervous getting onto that stage and performing so they had that little bit of stage jitters. I'm pretty sure that with enough time and experience, GE is going to do a lot better next time.
AYRIN: Just to add to that, for Map 1, I think we got crushed and outplayed. Map 2 was a better showing of what we could do, and although Map 3 was 13-6, there were just a couple of key rounds that we kind of fumbled the bag a little bit. I think that game could have been an easy 13-10 or 13-11 for either team. For sure, there are just a couple of key rounds we lost in Map 3 and I don't think that 13-6 really does justice to what actually happened in the match.
Ganesh "SkRossi" Gangadhar of Global Esports facing Team Vitality during VCT LOCK//IN 2023 (Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)(To AYRIN) On Lotus, t3xture had the OP first but we saw that it was given to SkRossi when he had the initiator role. What was the reason behind that decision and do you think that cost you some crucial rounds?
AYRIN: That's actually a very interesting question. I can't leak too much about what we're going to change in the future but t3xture and Rossi are some of the best OPers I've ever seen in the world. Many times in practice, we would switch up the Operator and Rossi and t3xture would pop off with the weapon. For us, it's not that there was a lack of utility that we lost a round. I think it's more of us just misreading the opponent a bit there. Even if we had the recon drone, it's not something we practiced as much. You guys will be a bit more surprised in the future when we play in the Pacific League when we fix a couple of things and you see both Rossi and t3xture both shining on the OP. I think that's gonna be something very exciting.
Playing in LOCK//IN
(To SK Rossi) We heard about the impact you had on Indian Esports as a result of being here and representing the entire country. What do you think about your performance and if you feel you made the impact you were looking for and what kind of doors you might have opened for the region in terms of VALORANT and Esports as a whole?
Ganesh "SkRossi" Gangadhar: For this game, I think it should be 40% of my potential. I know I can do so much better. It just comes with experience and more games on this big stage. I don't think this was a really good performance. I could have done much better, is what I feel and I know I have the potential. It's just a matter of time before it comes out. It's not over. It was only over when I grew up, and until then, it's never over. We have the rest of the year and we have the rest of the league. We have time and we'll get it.
(To SkRossi) How was your experience playing in a LAN tournament with your new teammates in LOCK//IN?
SkRossi: When we went for the tech check the other day, I didn't feel anything. I was telling Monyet that this was better than the track room. I think this feeling is even better and then today it was completely different. The starting map was completely different for me, the entire map. I wasn't feeling myself and round after round, in between the Split and Pearl game, I was telling my teammates that I was feeling it now and I'm getting better. In the third map, I think we just gave them the momentum and played into their hands. But overall, it was a nice experience and I want to gain more experience and enjoy playing the game.
(To Bazzi) Alongside AYRIN, you're one of the only members that have had prior international LAN experience [as a member of Crazy Raccoon in 2021]. For you specifically, what's it like for you to return to the big stage and how have you helped navigate the rest of your teammates who have not had as much international experience for this series?
Park "Bazzi" Jun-ki: It feels really good to return to such a huge international stage, so I was excited. I want to talk about t3xture because we're both Koreans and I tried to make him feel more comfortable throughout the series.
Looking at the Pacific League
(To Eraser) Given that we have RRQ and T1 who haven't played yet in this tournament, where would you place Global Esports within the Pacific League at this moment in time?
Eraser: Well, I think it's too early to rate any teams and how they'll do in the future. Because there are a lot of things to be worked on for every team in the region. But I hope that you want to argue and play very well. And, you know, hopefully, they earn that extra slot for champions.
(To AYRIN) You obviously have some leadership experience with XSET. Coming into Global Esports, with its global roster, what's the biggest challenge that you foresee in the next few months?
AYRIN: One of the reasons I had the confidence to even take the role and lead a global roster is because I think I have the necessary skills to do so and it's exciting. One of the biggest problems for us right now is just communication but it's gotten dramatically better now that we've gotten everyone at the boot camp. For the next month, it's gonna be a bit of a struggle because we're going to start getting English tutors. We're going to learn Korean as well so if we can get over that little speed bump of making sure we can all be on the same page, a lot of the problems that we saw today it's not going to happen in the Pacific League.
The coaching staff (Eraser, BigTime, and Spin) have done a really good job in building team chemistry and working well together. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it's just about having fun and enjoying the game so we've already gotten past that barrier. The next step is just communication because we have a really good team here. We're working towards being a family. I don't want to say we're a family yet because we just met each other a month or two ago. I just met Rossi at this tournament. I love this kid. We have just got to work on communication and I think all the other things will fall into place.
Global Esports doing a huddle during VCT LOCK//IN 2023 (Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)(To SkRossi) I would like to ask if you've been known for playing Jet and Chamber and specifically the Operator. How was your experience playing on the big stage and walking in and did it limit your OPing abilities in any way?
SkRossi: Not at all. AYRIN gave me the complete freedom of when to select the OP and when I should not. I just couldn't replicate what I performed in practice. I think if I could replicate that, then all the people who were watching would have been shocked. The agent doesn't limit me anymore. I know that and everybody knows that. I just need to replicate what happens in practice on the big stage. I just shouldn't fumble. I should just play the exact same way as I practice. Nothing else matters. I know I'm a really good player and I've seen it myself and it's about time that the world sees it too. I want to do what I can do in the bigger games and on the bigger stages. That's it, nothing else. I think I'm doing really well with any other agents that I have.