“There’s no room for errors in Tier One; you mess up, you instantly die” – 100 Thieves’ vora on the jump to pro and VCT Americas Kickoff so far

Hotspawn spoke with 100 Thieves’ Jordan “vora” Pulwer following the team’s win against Evil Geniuses, keeping their lower bracket run alive at VCT Americas Kickoff and setting up a series with Cloud9.

Hotspawn: You and Timotino were together on TSM last year, and now you’ve joined 100 Thieves together, along with band returning.

So how did this roster come together?

Vora: “Honestly, I think me and Tim (Timotino) kind of made verbal agreements around Ascension time. Ascension kind of makes everything a lot more hectic and chaotic. It gives the tier one orgs more pressure to sign players because the signing window is during Ascension, and after Ascension you probably have less than a month left to sign people.

“So me and Tim were already kind of agreed to join 100 Thieves for a while, but we did the trial process with other people. After we landed in Brazil, I think we had three days to trial people because it was about to close. We had three days of trial. I was super sick, so my three days of trial were kind of shoddy because I was super sick from landing.

“But it was already predetermined. We knew we were keeping Pete (Asuna), me and Tim verbally agreed, and we were keeping Cryo. So yeah, we just did some trials. We only had a few days and picked up Sean (Bang). It was pretty anticlimactic, but that’s how it came to be.”

Hotspawn: Talking about today’s game:

How does your team keep its cool when you need to come back rounds?

Vora: “Our team has always struggled when things get hectic. When things get hectic, we get hectic. A big part of our practice has been trying to stay relaxed and slow it down.

“Against NRG, we lost critical thrifty rounds because we reacted too fast. Today, we kept it slow. A big part of that is everyone just relaxing in comms and taking it one setup at a time. When we do that, we look pretty good.”

Comeback 🚫 DENIED 🚫@100T_VAL takes back control of Haven 13-11! #VCTAmericas pic.twitter.com/8eRHye5qar

— VALORANT Esports NA (@valesportsna) February 7, 2026

Hotspawn: Your retakes on Bind looked really strong.

How do you build that synergy so quickly?

Vora: “Me and Tim came into a team that already had a strong Bind with Pete, Cryo, and Sean. We also played Bind a lot on TSM. We just added onto it. Bind will always be good for us. Every day in practice, we work on talking to each other. You can be the best fragger on earth, but it doesn’t matter if you’re not on the same page. That comeback showed it. When we take our time and play together, we’re kind of unstoppable.”

Hotspawn: If you keep winning, you’re likely to face G2 or NRG again.

Are you eager for that rematch?

Vora: “I’m excited. We learned a lot playing G2 the first time. It’s bittersweet because we knew we could’ve closed those maps. Next time, we’ll fix those mistakes. We’re taking every series one at a time.”

Hotspawn: Who’s been the toughest opponent so far?

Vora: “NRG as a team. Individually, leaf on G2 annihilated us. That guy was fragging hardcore.

Hotspawn: I’d like to know more about your esports career. Since TSM, people have really started to know you.

Did you always want to be an esports player?

Vora: “I didn’t put all my eggs in that basket. I was playing ranked, I was streaming, and I was just grinding. I was rank one, and the TSM opportunity came. I thought, I may as well take a shot at it. I have time. I want to play the game. I’ll give it a year and see how it goes. And we rode that all the way to second place in Ascension. Now I’m on 100 Thieves, so it was definitely worth the risk. I’m glad I decided to join TSM and stop streaming. It’s been working wonders for me.”

Hotspawn: What did you plan to do in case the esports thing didn’t work out?

Vora: “I was going to school. I was in university. I took a gap because I was getting really burnt out. I’m not a big school guy. I wanted to play games, stream, get some income to pay tuition. Things just fell into place. I was rank one, got the TSM opportunity, played TSM, now 100 Thieves. Everything’s been a straight line so far, and I’ve been extremely fortunate.”

Hotspawn: What differences do you see between tier two and tier one?

Vora: “In tier one, every team plays a different game. In tier two, things are more predictable. In tier one, people catch mistakes instantly. You mess up, you instantly die. There’s no room for dumb errors. I’m scraping off bad habits every day.”

Hotspawn: What does an average practice day look like?

Vora: “We show up around nine, do VODs, server time, talk strats, then four or five hours of practice. Our day ends around seven. Nine-hour days. They’re not short.”

Hotspawn: How have the initiator changes affected the game?

Vora: “Nothing is super hard meta right now. You can play a bunch of comps. Utility nerfs let operators shine. The meta right now is being unpredictable. The name of the game is adaptation.”

Hotspawn: Many teams are stepping away from sentinel agents. What’s your take on that?

Vora: “With utility nerfs, Opping is way stronger. It suits Operators more now.”