RRQ stunned Pacific when they beat Gen.G to become Stage 1 champions, suddenly emerging as a real force in the region. But their showings at Masters Toronto and the Esports World Cup fell way below those new standards, and an opening 2-0 defeat to Global Esports in VCT Pacific Stage 2 continued their poor run. We spoke to RRQ’s star duelist Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov for an interview following the defeat.
Hotspawn: Hi Jemkin. Thanks for chatting today, despite the loss.
What are your general thoughts on the game?
Jemkin: Disaster, I think. I don’t know. I actually don’t know what’s happening. It’s hard to say, even.
You’ve had both Masters Toronto and the EWC since Stage 1 ended, involving a lot of travel.
Do you think your team may just needs some time to settle back into the normal routine?
I don’t know. It’s hard to say only that. But I think we’re just a little bit lost right now. I don’t know. Like, as a team in general.
Was that a feeling during the global events too?
I’m sure you wouldn’t have been pleased with the results, although some losses were to teams that went deep in those tournaments.
I think Toronto was not bad, still. Toronto was okay, we just lost to Fnatic, at least we were winning some rounds, you know? But yeah, EWC, and now maybe, I don’t know, maybe players losing confidence or something. But yeah, I don’t know, [we’re] just not playing like we used to play.
I think we need to at least recover a little bit, like start playing at least okay. Now we’re not even playing normal or good. We’re just playing very bad. I think we need to start playing okay, at least, before talking about anything.
After Paper Rex won Masters Toronto, there was a lot of discussion about the strongest region.
Do you think Pacific is the strongest VCT region?
I think that now Pacific is more diverse, there is more good teams, I think, in Pacific. And EMEA is also getting stronger now I think. So I think, yeah, Pacific and EMEA are strongest. And Pacific is just kind of random, you know, every month it’s a different team. Like Kickoff, Stage 1, the first month and second month is all different teams playing completely differently.
You’ve got Gen.G next week, who are arguably the toughest opponent in your group.
Is it almost better to get that match out of the way while RRQ’s form isn’t quite there, saving some ‘easier’ matches for when you might have more momentum later?
I think it’s hard because if, in current form, it’s gonna be disasterclass again. So I think it’ll be easier if we get easier teams earlier. But our group is quite strong, we don’t have easy teams. So I think every win will matter, if we lose the next match it’s really hard.
Yourselves and GE played very different comps on Corrode today.
What do you make of the new map? Do you think RRQ has a good read on it?
I think the map is fun. It’s always fun to have something new. But I think our understanding was good, in scrims at least. But I would just say we played differently. I think our comms were bad today, so we just cannot play our map normally because it was quite good in scrims.
As well as debate around the strongest region, there’s also been a lot of recent discussion about the all-time best VALORANT players.
Who would be in your top 5?
Aspas. I think I would say MaKo, f0rsakeN. For me, Derke. I need a Sentinel, I think. Maybe also… actually maybe Chronicle also, let’s put Chronicle.
In a similar vein, imagine if you could build a dream team roster, including yourself, tasked with winning VALORANT Champions.
Who would be on your team?
I’m not going to say anyone from my team just to be more fun. So I think it would be me on duelist. I would take Leo from retirement, I mean like from sickness, I would hope he gets back. Maybe for flex, I would get Chronicle. For smokes I would get… actually just Boaster. And for the sentinel maybe… for the sentinel maybe Less.
