The Stinger meta may have been patched out, but the Immortals VALORANT roster still felt the sting at VCT Masters One. Both series against 100 Thieves and Luminosity slipped away as the team found themselves eliminated in the first lower bracket round.
Immortals are heading back to the drawing board for the next VCT phase. Image via Immortals.
After the tough defeats, Immortals’ Rhett “Kehmicals” Lynch and in-game leader Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison sat down with Hotspawn to discuss their Masters performances, what they learned from it, and their thoughts on using Astra in the next phase.
Hotspawn: Two tough close series for you here at Masters. What was the biggest missing piece over the past couple of days?
NaturE: Our communication skills were hectic, and there was a lack of confidence. Our matchup against LG came down to confidence, and usually, we win that because we’re not scared, but today it was them. We were pretty confident after map one; Split is not a map we play. They did something different with their draft. We were confident going into Haven, but we just couldn’t do our retakes, and I think that made us lose confidence going into map three.
Kehmicals: We were missing on the fundamentals. We started out slow against 100 Thieves, even if we nearly brought it back. And we started out strong versus LG; we did not expect to take Split from them. Then map two took a turn, we started to fall off, then it snowballed into map three. It was a pretty rough map three for me individually. Versus 100 Thieves, we had the reads but not the fundamentals, and today [versus LG], we had the fundamentals but weren’t getting the reads.
Hotspawn: How much time will you spend watching back these games? What’s going to be the primary focus for your next set of practices?
NaturE: Our primary focus is to make sure no one gets complacent. Obviously, no one’s happy about this, so we’re going to be strict at practice. We’ll check the map as a team a few times, but I think everyone individually will check it a lot.
Kehmicals: When it came down to post-plants, we tend to lose, or win, but it’s expensive. That’s one of the most important things. We also lost four rounds to pistols, and our retakes were off.
Hotspawn: What was the biggest positive you can take away from your performance at Masters?
NaturE: There were a lot of times in the past where we got a pick and just pushed even if most people weren’t ready. One thing we were doing on Split and Bind was calling off the push and regrouping before hitting something. That’s one thing we were trying to overcome: getting a pick and just going.
Kehmicals: We were prepared for 100 Thieves, and if we executed properly on some earlier rounds, we might have won that map.
Hotspawn: Looking ahead to the next wave of events, Astra will be live. What can you tell us about what she can provide to a pro composition?
NaturE: I expect her to be played 100% of the time. She’s very broken right now. Her kit brings so much new stuff that you don’t know what will happen in a game and stuff you can’t VOD review. You can just make up a play with Astra. An agent like this is really going to show strategy in a team. An Astra player has to be doing these things that will catch people off guard. She’s the best agent. We will probably use her 100% of the time.
Kehmicals: We’ve played her a few times in scrims, and so far from what I’ve seen, she’s broken. She’ll be played on every map. The things she can do, the util combinations, it makes parts of the map unplayable. I think everyone’s going to be playing her. Whoever can work around her utility the best will have a huge advantage. I don’t know how it plays out Astra vs. Astra, but you’re at a big disadvantage not playing her.
