With so many questions about other rosters coming into the first VCT Masters event, the red hot Envy appears poised to make a deep run. Its roster has been kept intact for almost half a year and looks to be in top form after a dominant Challengers 2 run.
Food is hungry for more after dispatching Gen.G to kick off Masters. Image via Team Envy.
Their run at Masters has gotten off to a strong start with a win over Gen.G Esports, although what should have been a blowout turned into a very competitive series. Afterward, Victor “Food” Wong sat down with Hotspawn to discuss the win and Envy’s chances at Masters.
Hotspawn: Down early on Haven, but then an 11 round streak to take the opponent’s map pick. Is there any better opening map to a tournament?
Food: It feels good especially on Haven, because that’s one of the maps that we haven’t played much recently, and we ban it against teams often. So it definitely feels good to get it on Haven.
Hotspawn: It looked like you guys might run away with it after Haven, but it ended up being a closer series. What kind of effects does a close win have on the team to start a tournament compared to a blowout?
Food: From our point of view, it doesn’t really matter. When I play my next match, I don’t even remember if we cleaned them out or had a close game.
Hotspawn: You’ve been cooking through Challengers and now the first round at Masters. What’s different between now and First Strike?
Food: I think from then to now, I’ve just gained a lot of confidence in myself and my team, all my teammates. There’s just a lot of confidence. I just trust them all to do what they need to do, and they trust me to do what I need to do. We lost to TSM at First Strike, and to be honest, it really hit us hard. That loss, it was probably the loss that has affected us the most since we’ve been a team together. But we learned from it, and now we’re here.
Hotspawn: A tough showing on what’s been a typically strong map for you on Icebox. What was Gen.G doing that gave you so much trouble?
Food: Early in the half? We tried to go up mid and take mid from them, but Shawn was honestly really confident, and he killed us.
Hotspawn: Is this a map you need to revisit before insta-picking it again?
Food: We’re definitely going to watch that map back again. We want to see what went wrong and what we could have done better. But just because we lost it 13-2, I don’t feel like Icebox is a weak map for us. A lot of the key rounds went their way, and we couldn’t get anything going. So I’m not really too worried as far as Icebox goes.
Hotspawn: You had a nice attacking side to close out the final map, a lot of it coming from your playmaking. How much does your ability to make plays fit into the overall team strategy?
Food: FNS really relies on me to be able to make my own decisions and to be able to control one side of the map while he takes the other. I would say my job is to find holes in their defense and maybe get an opening kill if I can.
Hotspawn: This past month has been a tough one for your teammate Crashies; yesterday, he tweeted about the sudden passing of his father. What can you say about your teammate’s ability to play through this tough time?
Food: I have no words. I’m like in shock; we were all ready and set to get a sub. But he just came in one day and told us that he really wanted to play. And honestly, I respect him so much, especially because he’s probably one of my closest friends on the team. Like I’m in awe of how he can do this.
Hotspawn: With TSM out, with what’s going on in the Sentinels camp, with 100T playing with a new player, does this feel like your tournament to win?
Food: I don’t want to say that because I don’t like counting the chickens before they hatch and getting too overconfident. I would say we’re definitely one of the favorites, but I feel like anyone can win, especially the ones right near each other. Anyone can win.
Envy will face FaZe Clan on March 14th at 3 pm CT in the VCT Masters One semifinals.
