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The announcement of the Valorant Conquerors Championship and the sudden renaming of Velocity gaming has left questions in the Indian Valorant community.
Since the formation of Velocity Gaming’s Valorant roster, the team has gone through several notable changes. Last year, the roster’s name was changed to Team Mahi to bring it under the banner of Mahi Industries.
But yesterday, i.e., May 30th, Team Mahi suddenly reverted their name to Velocity Gaming.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Esports’ Subhradeep Mukherjee, Velocity Gaming manager Adarsh “Euphoria” Singh Sikarwar shed some light on their recent decision to revert to their old roster name.
He also added his thoughts on the upcoming Valorant Conquerors Championship and how the team aims to adjust around it.
Here’s an extract of the conversation.
Q. What was the decision and thought process behind reverting to Velocity Gaming as your Valorant roster’s official name?
Euphoria: It might sound a bit weird, but it was a vibe that was calling for a rename. One fine day, we were all sitting, all the players and me, and we were discussing that 2020 was so good, Velocity Gaming did so well.
On top of that, VLT was an emotion, not only for the audience but for us also. And suddenly, it just came as a thought to ask what the community’s point of view is towards VLT. I made a post on Instagram, and it blasted! Everyone wanted VLT back, so we just did it.
Q. How do you feel about the recent announcement of the Valorant Conquerors Championship for the South Asia region?
Euphoria: The Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) coming to India has two perspectives, in my opinion.
Riot Games has not considered our region as significant, so we have a long journey to cover. We have to qualify regionally, and then we have to compete against Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and then there’s another slot for Wildcard.
After competing among all the neighboring countries, we qualify for the APAC, and then if we take down the Southeast Asia teams, we might get a slot to the finals, which is the main event.
While it is good that they are considering us, but then again, we are yet to prove that the skill-set we possess is good at the international level. So I look at it as an opportunity, and if we perform well and leave a good mark, we might even convert ourselves into a major region. This might be the grand opening the Indian esports scene has been looking for.
Personally, I want my team to work as well as all the other teams, who are looking forward to the event so that they give their absolute best in the coming 50 days. These 50 days are going to be a breakout for our nation.
I want Indian teams to represent us at the VCT, taking down international teams.
Q. As the VCC approaches, what would you say is the aim of Velocity Gaming for the upcoming Valorant tournament?
Euphoria: Our aim is very simple right now. We currently have a fresh roster, and it is not like we have our original line-up with which we began our journey.
We had Vibhor “Vibhor” Vaid, who was not playing on the active roster until March. After both Karan “Excali” Mhaswadkar and Sabyasachi “Antidote” Bose left, we recruited Agneya “Marzil” Koushik and brought Vibhor back onto the roster.
It is our understanding that this new roster shuffle right before the VCC may affect the performance. But I believe that this has only made us stronger, and I have total faith in the new roster.
As for the aim, it is simply to work hard utilizing all the days available. We even aim to set up our Bootcamp as soon as possible, preferably this week, and bring the synergy back and work hard to give our best at the VCC.
Q. Marzil being a new face in the Valorant esports scene of India and VCC being his first major tournament, how are you incorporating him into the roster?
Euphoria: Even though Marzil was aware of Valorant, he was not in the professional scene actively since the game launched. That already puts him in an 8-9 months lag from all the other faces currently competing in the Indian Valorant esports scene.
This lack of experience indeed is a disadvantageous factor for him. But I know he is a very hard-working player who will put in 10 times the labor to catch up with the already existing pros.
It is going to take some time. But the other four roster members are cooperating with him as much as they can, helping him understand the game mechanics and the agent tool. He is putting in the effort to learn new ways to be more impactful in-game to help the roster flourish.
Yes, it will take some time, but then again, it is possible. We all here in Velocity Gaming believe in Marzil’s capabilities to deliver his best.
Q. Antidote recently took a break from the Valorant esports scene, leaving the active roster of Velocity Gaming. Can you shed some light on what was the reasoning behind this decision?
Euphoria: Antidote wanted to explore a new role, maybe an in-game leader or some other role, apart from his usual role as a Sniper.
He just wanted a new start in Valorant, a new role for which he needed time. Even though he was already on a break when he came back to play with us, he made his decision clear this time. We, as a team, respect his decision and wish him well in his future endeavors.
