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Acend was successful in taking down G2 Esports on Day 7 of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers 1.
Both Valorant teams gave each other some tough competition, but Acend came out victorious. The series ended with a 2-1 scoreline, with Acend losing their strongest map, Bind, to G2 Esports.
After their match against G2 Esports, Acend's Valorant coach, Laurynas "Nbs" Kisielius, opened up about the team's preparations for the VCT 2022 after winning the Valorant Champions 2021 to Sportskeeda Esports' Pratiti Dhang.
He further discussed their performance against G2 Esports in VCT 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers 1 Group Stage.
Acend's Nbs on the team's preparation and performance against G2 Esports at Valorant Champions Tour 2022 EMEA Challengers
Q: It has been over two months since Acend won Valorant Champions 2021. Can you describe the feeling of entering the Valorant Champions Tour 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers as the coach of the reigning world champions?
Acend Nbs: I think that the main thing is starting again after winning like the biggest event, after winning anything, honestly, and especially after winning the Valorant Champions, is quite tough.
Like, it's a very big mental barrier you have to overcome because, well, first of all, of course, you're going to have a target, like the target on your back. Everybody is going to be watching you. Everybody is going to look at your stress, all the things that have been working. We saw that, for example, when Gambit Esports in Valorant Champions Tour 2021 Stage 3 Masters. nAts was performing insanely, bringing in new stuff, and shortly after, everyone was playing his stuff as well, obviously knowing how to play against that as well.
I think a little bit of that is happening now as well. People are copying a lot of stuff, so obviously they know how to play against it and all that. So, yeah, it's rougher in that way. And then there is also another thing - it is quite hard to start over again, if that makes sense. Like you just win the biggest thing with all the hype, with all the adrenaline, and you have a break, and then after the break, you have to start from pretty much like from zero. I mean, not technically not zero, but you have to start the season and all that stuff.
So it takes quite a lot of good mindset, especially for younger Valorant players, to keep the motivation going, to keep the hunger for the win. So we've been working on that as well. And I think those are the main two things.
Q: Can you tell us about the team's preparations for Valorant Champions Tour 2022?
Acend Nbs: We basically decided that we want to keep the stuff that is working and we're very confident in obviously improving it, do not leave it, keep improving it as much as possible. And then things that have not been working too well. We wanted to experiment because after the Valorant Champions, we can now play with Chamber, and we can play with Neon.
The maps are being reworked as well. So there's like a lot of new stuff that the game itself has to provide us. And on all of the other maps except like our best ones, we're experimenting a lot, bringing new stuff, bringing new ideas, trying to stay innovative, to still stay ahead. Because if we stay in the same spot, if we get stale, people will catch up to us and they will overtake us. And that's not what we want. We're not going to keep leaving the pack, we're going to keep fighting for the number one spot.
Q: Most of the Valorant players in Acend have versatility when it comes to agent pick. How does this put the team at an advantage?
Acend Nbs: I think the versatility of players is something that goes all the way back from when I made this team. I had in mind that I wasn't looking for a Sentinel, a main Duelist, a second Duelist, or a smoker. I was looking more for players that have a lot of very good traits in their characters, in their gameplay as well, like good communication, good mentality, and all that important stuff.
And then the agents are just something that comes along the way. Like, if the guy is a full package - if he's a universal, communicative, good mindset, with enough work, they can learn the agents. So I think that's how we arrived at this point. Now, I'm really happy with our players. I think all of them are quite versatile.
And I mean, it goes to say when we have the star player, cNed playing on Jett everywhere, but then when we go to our strongest map on Bind, and then he's pulling off with Sage and performing very well.
Q: Bind is considered one of Acend’s strongest maps in Valorant. However, in their match against G2 Esports, they lost the map to them. According to you, what went wrong for the team?
Acend Nbs: Yeah, historically, everyone was starting Bind because I think we had like an insane win streak, like close to 20 or something like that. And of course, it hurts to lose it, but I think the main thing that went wrong, we had like a little bit of a slow start and we didn't adapt, and honestly just played as good as we could. So basically, just like a slow start to the day.
It's been like two weeks since the last officials. I am a hundred percent certain that if we play it again, we will win it, maybe on a different day. We just underperformed on that map. I'm still very confident in it. I still think it's one of our best maps easily, so we're not really worried about that.
Q: What are your thoughts on G2 Esports’ performance against Acend in Valorant Champions Tour 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers 1 Group Stage?
Acend Nbs: I think they performed pretty well. It was really hard to expect anything, really, because of their constant roster changes between mixwell and keloqz. We as a team, highly prefer to play against G2 with Mixwell, not because he's worse or anything, but because he's like a very smart player.
But with Mixwell on the roster, they're playing in a more calculated and strategic style. It's sometimes very hard to predict what they're going to do. So it's kind of hard to play against it in a way. It's like a player who plays a with lot of instinct and is very hard to predict. So this iteration of the roster is the one that we like to play againsy, but it's still very hard.
As you saw, nukkye had some insane game performance. Some of the plays were one of a kind, honestly. Like the Raze duels where he dodged zeek's ultimate with his satchel was something that people will remember for a long time. So, I think they did play well.
However, I think that the map for us, like Bind, Ascent and Split are really good maps. We liked the map selection. I think it went well for us and we were confident. Even though we lost Bind, we know that we can easily come back to the next.
Q: As a Valorant coach, do you think there is any room for improvement for the team currently? If yes, what are those?
Acend Nbs: I don't think any major changes need to be made to improve. I think it's like just small little things that are happening to every team when they play officials. It's a little bit of pressure and a little bit of nerves that make you play, like sometimes you get butterflies in your stomach, you get a little bit excited and all that. So, it's honestly just like small little fundamentals, small little mistakes we do, which we usually don't do in scrims.
We just need to play more. Need to rewatch the things we did wrong. We're going to rewatch the bots, see what went wrong and try to improve that. The formula never changes. Mistakes happen all the time. It's impossible to play like perfect violence. Valorant is such a diverse game. So there's always something you can learn from.
Note: This copy has been lightly edited for better readability.
