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The Valorant Champions Tour has kicked off in Europe, as twelve of the top teams within the region will compete over two months to decide the region's three representatives for the Stage 1 Masters.
LDN UTD took on Natus Vincere (NAVI) in their opening match of the Group Stage. The Group A fixture ended in NAVI's favor after they claimed two consecutive maps against LDN UTD.
The first encounter between the two teams took place on Ascent, where NAVI burst off with an incredible start, finishing the half at 11-1. In their attempts to make a comeback from this deficit, LDN UTD ended the map at 13-7.
Their second meeting witnessed a better effort from LDN. Nevertheless, NAVI managed to defeat the EU team and go atop Group A of the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 1 EMEA Challengers Group Stage.
LDN UTD head coach joYnt discusses team's preparation for Valorant Champions Tour 2022
In a conversation with Sportskeeda Esports' Adarsh J Kumar, LDN UTD' head coach joYnt elaborated on the team's preparations ahead of the Valorant Champions Tour 2022 and the changes within the team's composition.
Q: Valorant Champions Tour 2022 Stage 1 EMEA Challengers is the biggest tournament LDN UTD has competed in since the team was formed. How did you prepare the team for the tournament?
joYnt: Well, this tournament is different because it leads to Valorant Champions, so we need to prepare for each match individually. We have been trying to prepare as much as we can by predicting the veto and practice for those maps.
We didn't do anything specifically for this tournament because our existing practice routine was sufficient. If that doesn't work out, maybe we are not following the correct gameplan.
We will see how the Challengers tournament turns out and change the way we practice.
Every time we lose a game, I make sure that it's not a waste of time. Even though everyone is sad after the loss, we've already communicated about the match. I talked to Boo about what we need to figure out for next week.
Q: How do you think Natus Vincere performed in their opening match against LDN UTD in the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 1 EMEA Challengers?
joYnt: It was hard for us to adapt to NAVI during the match. I tried analyzing the game beforehand because we knew they were slow in attack. They're one of the teams in our group whose playstyle we might come across again in the tournament.
Q: LDN UTD has been defeated by BIG in all 3 of their previous encounters, the most recent being in the VCT EU Stage 1 Challengers 1. Your team is set to face them for their Week 2 matchup. How confident are you in LDN UTD's victory ?
joYnt: We're sure that BIG is not that different from NAVI. We just need to make sure we understand how to play against them. I think we just struggled a lot in our defense overall and it was apparent to everyone.
We fixed most of our mistakes from our previous matchup against BIG, which is why we made it through the EU Challengers 2. For the next match, we'll make sure that we don't repeat the errors we made against NAVI.
Even if we play well in our tier, it's hard to practice against teams of higher quality. I think the game against BIG will be similar to today; we might struggle on defense. If they try to counter us like how NAVI did, I think we know how to face it.
Q: Valorant Champions Tour audiences are yet to see Neon at the Stage 1 EMEA Challengers. What is your opinion on the Agent?
joYnt: I haven't seen Neon much in European Valorant. The only team I have seen use Neon was Akrew in North America. I don't think anyone will incorporate Neon into their lineup at this tournament.
When teams start pulling off something specific on certain maps, other teams will try to copy it. About a year ago, only a handful of teams were seen playing a double-controller setup on Bind. But right now, it's a meta composition on Bind. So, it's possible that it could happen to Neon as well.
I don't think we'll be seeing Neon right now. However, she could be a trump card for teams to pull out during special occasions; maybe in an import qualification match or something of the sort.
Q: Over the last few weeks in VCT Challengers, we've seen Dreamas pick up Chamber. How well is the Agent suited for him?
joYnt: Dreamas likes playing Chamber. We started playing the Agent a few weeks back. In general, Chamber is a hybrid between Sentinel and Duelist; he could be great for the team economy. His ultimate and Headhunter ability can be overpowering in specific moments.
Dreamas is more of a Killjoy player who can utilize his firepower really well. He doesn't play Cypher as a Sentinel because that will require him to rely on his utility setups. Feqew was the team's Cypher before the squad was finalized. Upon picking Chamber, Dreamas has performed really well.
Q: How confident are you in LDN UTD's qualification to the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 1 Masters ?
joYnt: Despite our loss against NAVI, we do have a chance of qualifying. Since this is our first time at a major tournament like this, it's difficult for us to assert that we will qualify for the Stage 1 Masters. It's a first experience for the players as well as for me. We are still learning, so it will be a long process.
I can't push aside the possibility of us qualifying because we have some really talented players and we've played together as a team for a long time. We're still missing a few macro-elements from the game, especially on defense today.
We don't have an analyst. Boo and I usually take up the role of counter-strategising against our opponents.That being said, I do not consider that as an immediate requirement. That's a lot of work, and since we're busy with the Valorant Champions Tour right now, we will be working on those factors later on.
