AG f4ngeer: “Maybe M8 thought we were going home tomorrow, but no thanks”

Hotspawn spoke with All Gamers players f4ngeer and Shr1mp after their victory over Gentle Mates in the lower bracket at VCT Masters Santiago, eliminating the EMEA squad from the tournament. The Chinese team had found the first map and series wins for their regions, with the other two teams having been eliminated in the Swiss stage. All Gamers incredibly came back from 8-2 down and won 11 rounds straight to clinch the decider map.

Hotspawn: I know there’s been a lot of trash talk about how China hasn’t been performing at this tournament and today you guys shut everybody up.

How does it feel to do that?

F4ngeer: It feels amazing. The crowd was insane. After every round everybody was screaming. It was really amazing. Thank you everyone. It was a good result for us.

Shr1mp: The trash talk does not affect us. I think the result is the best answer to the trash talk. In the first series I think we just did bad, so it was fair people talked about us. But today we realized, especially on map two, pound for pound we are even more mechanical. So yeah, we just beat them.

Hotspawn: F4ngeer, you’re coming from the EMEA region so you’ve played against some of these guys before in scrims or officials.

How does it feel to beat a team that has been so hyped this whole tournament, and also play against some old friends?

F4ngeer: I played a lot of scrims against them, pracs, everything, matchmaking. I was really happy to win because pakko was my previous coach and I really wanted to beat him. And starxo and marteen: marteen is a really good friend of mine. I hope he still plays well. It just feels amazing.

Hotspawn: Shr1mp, on today’s maps you had a lot of individual impact, especially on map three where you found so many trades for your teammates.

How have you been so consistent, not just today but across VCT China during Kickoff?

Shr1mp: The data isn’t that important for me. The most important thing is having impact for my whole team. Even if I’m low HP I will swing to help my teammates get a frag.

Hotspawn: F4ngeer, it must be challenging to move to another region and deal with the language barrier.

How do the comms work on your team?

F4ngeer: It’s really hard. Most of the time they’re speaking Chinese and sometimes you don’t have information about what’s happening on the map. I try to watch like 70% of the minimap to understand what’s happening. In practice it’s easier because they’re not stressed, they’re feeling good, they’re giving information in English. But here they are talking very fast in Chinese because they’re stressed. They have a lot of stress, a lot of like shaking, a lot of energy, and they’re just talking in Chinese and sometimes, yeah, I just don’t understand what’s happening.

Hotspawn: On map three you were down 8–2 but then you made an incredible comeback with 11 rounds in a row.

How did you maintain that mental?

Shr1mp: We literally just forgot about the score. The score is not that important. We just wanted to showcase our game. That’s why we won map three.

F4ngeer: Yeah, I agree. We just said, “Guys it’s okay.” Even at 8–2 we said it’s still possible to win. Maybe Gentle Mates already thought we were going home tomorrow, but no thanks.

Big win for All Gamers pic.twitter.com/2U87AWxeFB

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) March 8, 2026

Hotspawn: The current meta is very aggressive and double duelist focused. Do you think you’re one of the teams that adapted best to this meta?

Has that played a role in your success?

Shr1mp: Our team didn’t play double duelist before and I don’t think this patch is the best for us. Besides f4ngeer, who always played duelist, the rest of us are more flex. Especially grq, he usually plays controller. But his duelist is still pretty good even if he lacks some experience.

F4ngeer: For me I think this meta is not the best for us because we didn’t play double duelist a lot. Grq is normally a smoker so sometimes it’s hard for him. I tried to teach him a lot before because we needed to adapt. But I can say I like it, and I don’t like it because, you know, I’m really tired of Yoru. [On] six maps I’m playing Yoru, I’m really tired of this agent. I want to nerf him. I want to nerf Neon. Right now it’s Neon, Yoru or Waylay, it’s really impossible.

Hotspawn: Why did you pick your player names?

Why Shr1mp? Why f4ngeer?

F4ngeer: I don’t have a story. I just thought of it. I was like 11 years old when I chose it.

Hotspawn: And you kept it?

F4ngeer: Of course.

Shr1mp: I had a best friend when I was a child. There was a meme like “shrimp,” “piggy,” something like that, and I thought it sounded cute. When I started my pro career the original name was too long so I shortened it to Shr1mp.

Hotspawn: How has your experience been in VCT Masters Santiago so far?

F4ngeer: It’s the best stage ever. The crowd is amazing. When you win a round everyone is shouting “All Gamers.” It feels amazing.

Shr1mp: I enjoy it a lot. I love steak. I literally eat steak every single day here and it’s so bussin. The fans are very passionate and everything is really cool. So far, so good.