Gen.G entered the VALORANT Champions Tour Masters One event as the eighth seed and underdog. The team also faced Envy in its first match, which many consider being one of the best teams in the region. But Gen.G surprised almost everyone with a competitive series instead of a one-sided match. Gen.G’s Anthony “gMd” Guimond spoke with Hotspawn after the loss and provided insight on what went wrong.
Envy defeated Gen.G, but Gen.G did better than expected. (Image via Gen.G)
Hotspawn: What was the biggest issue for you on Haven?
gMd: I think it’s one of our best maps for sure. Haven is one of our strongest. I think T side we looked good; we lost some rounds where I called a fast play where they had a good setup for it. I remember for one of them, they had three on A, and we got shutdown. One of the other rounds, we went B, and they were also ready for it, so that’s two rounds that we lost. On CT side, we couldn’t get anything going, and that game snowballs pretty quick. They started with the pistol and ran over us, and there was nothing we could really do. Well, we could have done something, but we didn’t do anything.
I think it was mostly, you know when you have the lead and momentum, you can do anything, so they switched up the pace how they wanted. And we let them do whatever they wanted. I think our biggest issue map-wise was they kept having the arrows, and they kept popping on us, and we couldn’t do anything. If we play that game again, I don’t think we let that default kill us. But in their games, it’s hard to adapt, and they abused it pretty well.
Hotspawn: You beat Envy on Icebox, which was their map pick. How did your team prepare for the match?
gMd: We obviously want to play our game more than their game. We obviously want to be in control. I mean, we obviously looked at their game, we looked at their game quite often, but we didn’t do anything to counter it. We were just ready for everything. We knew how they played a bit and knew some tells. Let’s say he’s pushing there; then we know where the other two are. We had some tells, but we didn’t counter strat or anything. We played our game, we played slow, and they played our game as well. They ran into our setup quite often on CT side. Then we won the T side pistol, and we had to win one gun round. It was a pretty easy T side, but CT side, we had to work for it. We didn’t adapt to anything; we just played our game.
Hotspawn: A lot of people commented on Envy’s clutches and how they kept the team in the game. Do you think that is what caused them to win the series?
gMd: I think early on, I think it was 4-0 for us, and we threw some rounds. They capitalized off of these two or three close rounds, and Envy clutched important rounds, as you said. I think it was more of us fucking up, making mistakes, than them making plays. I’ll give them credit where credit is due; they played an amazing game on the third map. I think we played ourselves in the early rounds, and it cost us.
I also think we had some good rounds as well; we pulled off some three vs. five, so I think it’s a bit unfair to say they clutched more. Well, it’s not unfair, but I think we had some great rounds ourselves. I think their teamwork is amazing, and that’s why they are so consistent. They’ve been proving it every tournament so far. Having mummAy on Omen, no Jett makes more space for food and kaboose. I think that’s more of their strength, they have a lot of utility, and they play their game pretty well with FNS leading.
Hotspawn: Gen.G came into Masters One as the eighth seed and was considered an underdog by many. But you did very well against the first seed. Do you think you’ve already established yourself as a strong team, or do you have more work to do?
gMd: You can always get better. I’m not going to say we’re a top team yet. But I think we’ve competed against everyone except Immortals so far, and every game we could have won against 100 Thieves last time we played them. We definitely have issues we need to work on, but I think we’re a contender for the top four or even top three. I think we’re proving it every single game, and we’ll try to keep doing that. To be honest, I don’t think people underestimate us too much either; I don’t feel like we’re overlooked or anything. I think we need to work on some things like everyone else.
Hotspawn: How do you feel about Astra as a controller?
gMd: I think there will be a good mix. You know how we play Omen way more than Brimstone? It’s going to be more spilt. I can see Astra being more helpful to a team than Omen will be, but I think it will be a lot of Omen and Astra. I don’t see how Brimstone and Viper can be played instead of Omen and Astra. I’d say we about 60% Omen and 40% Astra and also based off playstyle and preference more than anything.
Gen.G will face XSET in lower round 1 on March 13 at 4:30 pm CT.
