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Crazy Raccoon lost to Team Vikings in their first match at Valorant Champions 2021 Berlin with a 0-2 score.
Crazy Raccoon is the only team at Valorant Champions that is representing Japan. This puts the weight on the shoulders of the players. The team has played in all the Valorant LAN tournaments since the beginning of VCT, but has barely made an impact in the LANs.
Furthermore, the team couldn’t get out of the Group Stage in the VCT Stage 3 Masters Berlin. As such, Valorant Champions is the last chance for Crazy Raccoon to prove its worth before the year ends.
The Japanese Valorant team is a 7-man roster that allows players to play alternatively depending on their strengths and the map. In its last match against the Vikings, An "Medusa" Min-cheol replaced Park “Bazzi” Jun-ki in the second map, Haven.
The Valorant player is known for picking up Sova and Cypher for most of the matches, but interestingly he picked Killjoy in the team's last match against Vikings.
Crazy Raccoon’s Medusa talks about the team's performance and change in his agent pick in Valorant Champions 2021
In a recent exclusive conversation with Crazy Raccoon’s Medusa after the team's match against the Vikings, he opened up to Pratiti Dhang of Sportskeeda Esports. During the talk, he spoke about the team’s performance and the reason behind picking up Killjoy in the last match, instead of his favorites like Sova or Cypher.
Here’s an excerpt of the conversation.
Q: Today we saw an intense match between the two Valorant teams. Crazy Raccoon tried their best to make a comeback by winning a few rounds in Icebox but was defeated. Almost a similar scenario happened in Haven. Where do you think the team failed to secure certain rounds today even after trying to give their best?
Medusa: We're actually a team that tend to start an event with a little bit of nervousness. And so I think the first few rounds of both maps, we were quite nervous. And then once we got into the groove, we started catching up. But then we just didn't have enough rounds to catch up all the way. So I think that's pretty much what happened with both maps.
Q: This was the first time Crazy Raccoon went against a Brazilian Valorant team. What are your thoughts on their playstyle?
Medusa: We knew going into this game that they were going to play in a very aggressive style. I think if we had just played as we do during scrims or practice, we could have defeated them. But like I said earlier, we were quite nervous as it's a Valorant LAN event. And so I think we just fell short for this game.
Q: You are mostly seen playing Cypher or Sova, but today you went ahead with Killjoy. Are there any specific reasons behind picking her in Haven?
Medusa: Cypher is an agent that I really enjoy playing, and I'm very strong on. Whereas Sova my confidence in playing Sova has dropped down recently. So I've transitioned into focusing on playing Sentinels, and so I've practised a lot of Killjoy. And because we chose to play Breach, we decided Killjoy and Breach would be a good composition. And that's why I chose to play Killjoy.
Q: As the only Japanese team in Valorant Champions, do you feel any pressure in representing the region at an international LAN?
Medusa: We're the only team here at the Valorant Champions, and I think it would be a lie to say that there's no pressure. I think there's some weight on our shoulders.
But I also want to say that the Japanese teams have a pretty low seed when it comes to seeding in the groups and so on. And so we really want to make it to quarters and semis. But having struggled to do so in the last couple of tournaments, it really makes me really sad, and I hope we can do better this time around.
Q: Medusa, you’re the only player who is a part of Crazy Raccoon’s Valorant roster since its formation in July 2020. Many players left and many joined the team later in 2021. How has been the team synergy all the while?
Medusa: After having arrived in Germany, we've been playing a lot of scrims against other teams. But to tell you the truth, we've really been struggling during these scrims, and our win rate is quite low. So this has obviously had a bit of a negative effect on the mood and the atmosphere of the team here at Champions.
Q: Crazy Raccoon has barely made any heavy impact in Valorant LAN tournaments. Last time in the VCT Stage 3 Masters Berlin, Crazy Raccoon couldn’t get out of the group stage, and today Vikings got you to the elimination match. How does the team plan to improve and get to the playoffs this time?
Medusa: I think the most important thing for us is to make sure we're not as nervous for our next match. I think of all the LAN tournaments we've had this year’s Masters one, two and three included, I would say this group that we have for Champions is probably the best group we've had.
I think we have a very high chance of making it through. So I want to make sure that we practice and scrim for the next few days so that we can come back and make it through to the next stage.
Q: The team will face either Team Secret or Gambit next. How much are you and the team confident in facing them next?
Medusa: I would say that there's a 90% likelihood their next opponent is going to be Team Secret. Back in Asia, we used to scrim with Team Secret a couple of times, but all the matches were quite close, so I think it's important for us to prefer the game and make sure we can perform.
