The road for Envy at the VALORANT First Strike: North American tournament ended abruptly after they were upset by TSM in the semifinals. However, the loss was not as drastic as it may have seemed, according to the players.
Envy did not qualify for Iceland, but the team is confident it can fix its small mistakes. Image via Envy
Envy previously defeated Renegades in the quarterfinals, but they could not replicate their success against TSM. Hotspawn spoke with Pujan “FNS” Mehta, Austin “crashies” Roberts, Jake “Kaboose” McDonald, and Anthony “mummAy” DiPaolo about their match against TSM and went wrong. FNS also elaborated on the current meta and his role as an in-game leader.
Hotspawn: What was the biggest issue for Envy on Ascent?
FNS: Closing out the pistol round in that second half. It was 6-6, and we had a decent chance to win the round, but we kind of lost the 2-2 at the end. When we lost that round, we forced bought and lost that round as well. We gave them a good start in the second half, and they ran with it. We didn’t win a lot of crucial situations that had we won; the game would have been different. But, they were on point today.
MummAy: We just weren’t really on today. We were all struggling to hit shots and struggling as a team. TSM just looked really great out there. At the end of the day, it just comes down to if we were on today or not. TSM was just better today, and hopefully, next time, we’ll be better.
We threw away a lot of bad rounds that we don’t normally throw away
Hotspawn: FNS, as the Envy IGL, is there anything you try to do to get the team back on track in those situations?
FNS: You just try to adapt and try to figure out where the hole in their team is. There weren’t enough rounds to play with to tell you the truth. If we had a better defense side, which we should’ve had, I think in my eyes, we should have had a 9-3 defense half. We threw away a lot of bad rounds that we don’t normally throw away. I think if we had more rounds to work with, I still think we would have been able to come back. But because it was 6-6 and they got a good start in the second half, it was basically 10-6 by the time I was able to figure out what to do. Even then, WARDELL chose to go B on a round that we decided to hit B and got two kills instantly. It was really good by him and just shut down our momentum entirely. There was also a round where Sobroza flanked all the way through A main and killed us in a post plant or something like that. They just won a lot of those crucial situations, and we just weren’t expecting it.
Hotspawn: Did this loss affect your performance on Split?
MummAy: As a team, we don’t focus too much on a loss. As we’ve shown in the past, if we lose the first game, we can always come back in the next two in a best of three. It’s more so that we were struggling from the beginning today. We tried to bring it back in the second match, and there were a few situations that could have gone our way and turned the tables, but we lost those situations pretty closely. Everything was close in our eyes as far as strategy, but hitting those shots was where we needed to shine to turn the situation in our favor. TSM just got the better of us there.
Hotspawn: You are known for your strong defense on Split. What happened against TSM?
MummAy: They made some heroic plays that shifted the momentum, like when Subroza walked into B and took us out. A lot of times, that is what they need. We were pretty broke after that and couldn’t grasp and take our economy back. We were just falling behind. We didn’t have much room to work with, they made a really confident play being up, and it won them the game.
Kaboose: It was all post plants, honestly. We always got into the site and got spike down, but we didn’t play the post plants properly. That let them get back in the game. We could’ve won like seven or eight rounds realistically if we capitalized on the post plants.
We just never had any momentum going in on Split
FNS: It was definitely an off day altogether, but I think I could have called better. If we had won the post plants we were in; it would have been a different game. We had two 3v3 post plants that were completely in our favor that they just cleanly won. If those had gone in our favor, it would have been at the very minimum a 7-5 half for us on the attack side. But because they were able to win those rounds, it ended up being 9-3 for them. It looks like a blowout, but if you rewatch that game, those situations turned everything around for them. They just played those situations perfectly and quickly, and we just played them slightly wrong. Even those slight mistakes can lead to losing a round and eventually the game. We just never had any momentum going in on Split. Like I said, we won a lot of pistol rounds; we just weren’t able to convert.
Hotspawn: Crashies, what are your thoughts on Skye?
Crashies: I touched Skye when she came out, and I was the one trying her in scrims and practices and stuff. Honestly, I think she is good, but I just think Sova is a little bit better. I definitely think you can fit Skye into comps, and she is ready to be in comps. I just think teams don’t know how to use her efficiently yet.
Hotspawn: How do you feel about the current meta?
FNS: I think everyone currently understands that playing like a default way and map control is super important. There are only a few teams that I can think of that are still rushy or execute based, for example, Renegades. Most teams don’t play like that, especially at the top, like 100 Thieves, TSM, or Sentinels. They all default correctly. I think that is just the way to go.
Hotspawn: FNS, you mentioned teams playing a default style. Other pros have suggested VALORANT is moving towards a CS-style meta. Would you agree with that statement?
FNS: For sure, because in Counter-Strike, map control is everything. You need to take map control, and you need to deny map control to the other team, so they don’t know what you’re doing and then catch them off guard with a hit they’re not expecting or rotating for. Ideally, you aren’t hitting four enemies in a bombsite constantly. That’s the meta right now; you want to take control of the outside areas and make sure they don’t have eyes there and to make it at least not easy for them to have that map control. The more info you deny safely, the better chance you have of winning the round. I think that is where the meta has shifted.
