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Guild Esports made their way to Copenhagen to compete in the VCT 2022 Stage 2 Masters as one of EMEA's top representatives. After defeating OpTic Gaming in their opening match and following it up with a victory over KRÜ Esports, Guild became the first team to qualify for the tournament's playoffs.
Guild, along with three other teams from the group stage, will join Fnatic, XSET, Paper Rex, and Leviatán in the playoffs of the VCT Masters: Copenhagen. Thereon, they will compete in a double elimination bracket to decide the tournament's winner.
Guild Esports' koldamenta talks about qualifying for VCT 2022 Stage 2 Masters: Copenhagen playoffs
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Esports' Adarsh J Kumar, Guild Esports' in-game leader, Jose Luis "koldamenta" Aranguren Herrero, shared his thoughts on the team's success at the VCT 2022 Stage 2 Masters: Copenhagen so far, talking about his expectations for the remainder of the tournament.
Q: It was a gripping match against KRÜ Esports, with two maps going to overtime. How do you think Guild performed in that matchup?
koldamenta: I'm not happy. I'm never happy with the results. This was like a clear 2-0. So in my opinion, I'm not that happy with the performance. We finished last night (vs. OpTic) at 12:30 am. Considering we had just one day, or not even one day, to prepare, I think I'm satisfied.
The last map was pretty rough because I think they could have prepared against us from yesterday, and I guess we didn't do as much. I feel like we should've won Bind also, so I'm not happy with that; we made a lot of mistakes. So overall, I guess I feel normal, but I'm not happy with the result.
Q: KRÜ Esports has the most VCT experience among all the teams here in Copenhagen. How do you think they performed compared to the expectations you had for them?
koldamenta: They are exactly how we expected them to be. They played really well, and that's something we already knew. They have all the experience from previous international events, and they played a LAN event to qualify as well. That's something in their favor, and they've shown it because they're a team that is constantly growing and evolving, in my opinion. I expect them to qualify as well.
Q: This was your second encounter against a Latin American team. What would you consider as the key difference between teams from LATAM and EMEA in terms of playstyle?
koldamenta: I played them before last year in Berlin. I can say that there are many different playstyles in our region as well. You can't just take one for all of the teams. But they (KRÜ) don't play similarly to any of us.
I think they like to play very straight and have clear ideas of what they want to do, so that's a big difference from a lot of the EMEA teams we've played against.
Q: Leo and trexx are two of Valorant’s most promising talents and are among the youngest players here at VCT Masters: Copenhagen. How are they coping with the pressure of playing in a major international tournament?
koldamenta: As you must have seen in the match, I don't think they have any pressure. Honestly, those two don't have any pressure. They're both 18 and are very calm and chill, so I don't think they feel any pressure. It's very good to be a pro player and have no pressure.
They're only 18 right now. Considering that they have a very long career ahead of them, they're only going to get better.
Q: Leo, in his first ever LAN tournament, is in conversation as one of the best Initiators in the tournament. As the IGL of the team, and after seeing him play for so long, how good is he on an international level?
koldamenta: He's way better than what people think about him. If people already think he's good, he's even better because they don't know what he can bring to the team. People often miss a lot of things that happen inside the team. He brings a lot of things apart from his key individual skills.
Q: How was your scrimming experience here at VCT Masters: Copenhagen?
koldamenta: We played against DRX and Xerxia. I really liked scrimming against DRX. I've done it in the past as well when they came to Europe for international events. I like how they scrim. They take it very seriously. That's something that we also know. They really give it their all, and it's really good to practice against a team like DRX, so I love it.
Q: Split is one of Guild’s most played maps. What are your thoughts on Split being replaced by Pearl in the near future?
koldamenta: I have mixed feelings, honestly. Split was a map that I always hated so much that it was my least favorite map. But recently, I started to like it a lot. Unfortunately, now that I've started to like it, they've removed it.
I haven't played Pearl yet. I'm so focused on these tournaments that I haven't even played a single run on the map. I've seen some streams, but I don't really know much about the map other than what I saw from those streams.
Q: Guild Esports is the first team to qualify for the playoffs of VCT Masters: Copenhagen. What do you think is the unique quality that sets Guild apart from the rest of the competition?
koldamenta: We like to prepare heavily as a team for any match, and we like to constantly evolve. Throughout an event like this, it's important to keep coming up with new ideas and evolving, and that's a quality that will hopefully help us make it far.
Q: Guild is looking strong ahead of the VCT Masters: Copenhagen playoffs. Which other team do you think is strongly in contention for the Masters title?
koldamenta: Fnatic, I think. Probably OpTic as well. I know I said that KRU might make it, but now that we have three teams left, only one team from LOUD, KRU, and OpTic will make it to the playoffs. It's just crazy to think about.
If OpTic makes it out of the group stage, they are one of the favorites, along with XSET. I would like to say FPX, but they're playing with a stand-in, and I don't know how much that's going to affect them. Otherwise, I would say FPX as well.
Q: Despite being your first VCT Masters as a team, Guild is off to a great start in the tournament. How confident are you in continuing your success all the way to the Grand Finals?
koldamenta: We're very confident now. Now that we've made it (to the playoffs), it's kind of good that we had to play those two games. We have some players without LAN experience. So these two games gave us some experience. We had to show some of our strategies, but it was beneficial for us. We're now more confident than ever about winning it.
Guild Esports will kick off their Upper Bracket Quarterfinals matchup against Paper Rex on Thursday, July 14 at 5.00 pm CEST / 8.00 am PDT / 8.30 pm IST. Valorant enthusiasts can tune into VCT's official YouTube and Twitch handles to catch the VCT Masters action live.
