100 Thieves started Masters One with a 2-0 victory against Immortals, but Sentinels humbled the team with a defeat that sent it to the lower bracket. Sentinels added Tyson “TenZ” Ngo to its roster just before the Masters One event started, and the sudden change made it tough for 100 Thieves to prepare. 100 Thieves struggled to win a round on the first map of the series, but did take the second map to overtime.
100 Thieves received a fine for delaying its match against Immortals. (Image via 100 Thieves)
However, Sentinels still walked away with the win, and 100 Thieves will have to fight its way through the lower bracket in the second weekend of Masters One. 100 Thieves’ Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk spoke with Hotspawn after the team’s loss against Sentinels, explained what went wrong, how the team will prepare for its next match, and shared his thoughts on the aggressive style of other teams.
Hotspawn: How are you feeling after the 2-0 loss against Sentinels?
Asuna: I feel like we only played one map, really. The first map was kind of a wash; we just lost 13-2. But the second map was pretty good and entertaining, I’d say as a player, and I bet as a viewer.
Hotspawn: What was the most significant issue on Ascent?
Asuna: Just knowing what we wanted to do with each other. It felt like we didn’t know what direction we wanted to head and how to play the map and how to adapt to them. We didn’t adapt correctly as individuals and as a team. It’s kind of hard to explain; we got 13-2’d, so it’s not like anything went right, maybe like the whole map. They were definitely using their individual prowess and winning a lot of the individual gunfights they took and made it really hard for us.
Hotspawn: Is Ascent the 100 Thieves weak point?
Asuna: In scrims, I think the map is pretty good, and we do really well on it, but in matches, it’s a little bit different. It might be something about the difference in scrims and matches rather than the map being bad. We’re kind of forced to be good on it, and we’ll definitely fix up our errors for next week.
Hotspawn: How is your team going to prepare for its match against Gen.G next week? Are you going to focus on counter-strats or fixing your mistakes?
Asuna: well, I hope we do both (laughs). I mean, we’re definitely going to look back at these VODs and analyze them and figure out where we can improve. I think it’s better to improve your foundation as a team rather than counter-strat right away. We’ll probably work on looking back at these matches and then counter-strat.
Hotspawn: How did TenZ affect your preparation for your match against Sentinels?
Asuna: It kind of made our preparation void in a way, as there is kind of nothing on them. I mean, they had to change their composition, which means their playstyle won’t be the same, which means some strats won’t work, which means they won’t even run the same Agents. It’s like you’re facing a new team, kind of when you bring in a new player like that because you are changing a lot of components.
Hotspawn: How was it adapting with Ethan on the roster going into Masters One?
Asuna: He played the best in this series, I think, out of all of us. He’s definitely fitting in really well. I feel like it was just us four. Like on Haven, he was just getting us to the OT, it felt like. Right now, he’s doing really well and fitting in really well.
Hotspawn: What are your thoughts on the aggressive style teams like FaZe are using? Do you think it is sustainable?
Asuna: I think it is pretty sustainable, actually. It’s different than CS, where you don’t have a recon dart or drone to clear out these angles. A lot of these abilities clear angles for you and are entering for you, and it makes it easier for the person entering because you don’t have to worry as much when you have a drone, bird, dog, whatever you have like Skye and Sova mainly clearing out this angles for you. It makes it really easy. I think their style is sustainable as long as they keep up the mechanic abilities that they show right now. If they fall off mechanically, it will be really hard to replicate their results. FaZe is really good. I think they’ll stay on the top for a while. Obviously, if they’re all slumping, they’ll fall off, but if they’re all clicking, they’ll definitely be the best team.
Hotspawn: By mechanics, do you mean just general gun skill?
Asuna: Mechanical and fundamentals and stuff like that. Obviously, you should know when you should be doing a certain play and what abilities. So both, actually.
Hotspawn: What are your thoughts on Astra?
Asuna: I think she’ll be used, but not like Omen. She won’t have a 100 percent pick rate, but she’ll definitely be used by people who can fit her into the comp. But I don’t see teams that have two duelists using her, but teams like us that run one duelist or even zero duelists, we can definitely fit her in our comp.
100 Thieves will face Gen.G on March 19 at 3:00 pm CT.
