Vision Strikers have kicked off the VALORANT Champions Tour 2021 dominantly. In the tournament’s opening series against Thai organization FULL SENSE, the South Korean champions made their presence known. With a swift 2-0, Vision Strikers advanced to the Winner’s Match of Group D.
For k1ng, all opponents are equal once a series starts. But he has his visor locked on Gambit. (Image courtesy of Lance Skundrich for Riot Games)
After the series, Lee “k1Ng” Seung-won joined for an interview. He spoke about playing at VCT Champions, what he thinks of the opposition, and which team he would like to meet more than anything.
Hotspawn: Welcome, k1Ng! How is it to be back in Berlin?
k1Ng: The air is a little bit chillier than when we were here last time. We’re staying in a similar place, so it felt good to be back. We are back to perform much better than we did during Masters 3, so we’re all looking forward to it.
Hotspawn: VCT Champions is the most prestigious VALORANT event—do you feel any extra pressure compared to your previous tournaments?
k1Ng: Something that we realized when we played here last time, is that the teams we consider strong perform really well. Teams that are relatively weak struggle at these LAN events. So, I think that we can do really well against these stronger teams when we play against them, if we’re just a little more in sync.
Hotspawn: People regard Group D as the ‘Group of Death’, with Fnatic and Cloud9 also in the group. Do you feel the same about that?
k1Ng: Yeah. I don’t know if you remember, but we were also in the Group of Death at Masters 3. So we’re quite used to being in the Group of Death, as they call it. But in the end, they’re all teams that we’re gonna have to face and beat. So, it’s not a big worry for us.
Hotspawn: Playing against strong opponents so early in the tournament does ‘wake you up’, but you also risk early elimination. How do you see this?
k1Ng: Actually, I don’t think it really matters because we don’t have this ‘huge respect’ for so-called strong orgs or strong teams. I think, once you are in the game, everyone is just an equal. We like to think of it that way.
Hotspawn: Despite seeing them as an equal in-game, you won fairly dominantly against FULL SENSE today. Are you happy with the first series you played?
k1Ng: I’m thrilled to have had such a great start to the tournament. We were playing the opening match and I’m very glad that we performed so well. But if I can add a bit more, I would say that I am personally quite disappointed that we gave them as many rounds as we did. We made a couple of mistakes, and going forward I want to make sure that we don’t make similar mistakes. Overall, it was a good start.
Hotspawn: Especially the first map went very well for you, though. What sort of improvement are you seeking for future series?
k1Ng: At times, there were situations where the comms were a little bit off for us. I don’t know. Maybe it was just the excitement. We were all speaking over each other. But I think that’s a part that we can fix. There were moments where it was really clutch for the opponent. I think we want to push those rounds to be ours.
Hotspawn: You said you treat all opponents equally, but looking at the rest of the event, is there any opponent you think will make it far?
k1Ng: I think that the team we’re most looking forward to playing against is definitely Gambit. We want our revenge match against Gambit. If we don’t take our revenge and beat them, I don’t think I could rest in peace when I’m buried. [Laughs]
Hotspawn: [Laughs] Oh god that’s very harsh! I hope for you that you’ll get to play against them. You may be able to throw a curveball against them if you opt to play Fracture, the new map. Do you think we will see it more in the tournament?
k1Ng: I think you can definitely look forward to us playing more Fracture in this tournament. It’s a map that we consider as a very stable resource for us. The most important thing for us is to play the map as much as we can. By that I mean play it in scrims and practice.
Hotspawn: Thank you for joining, k1Ng. Is there something you’d like to say to the Vision Strikers fans?
k1Ng: Thank you for watching us. We’re here to get much further than we did for Masters 3, and we want to get that off our chest. I think you can look forward to us playing well throughout the tournament.
Vision Strikers play their next series at VCT Champions on Friday, December 3, at 9 PM CET. You can watch the series live on the VALORANT Twitch channel.
