Gen.G turned the primary VCT Pacific and South Korean staff to carry a serious Valorant trophy at VCT Masters Shanghai, combating by way of demons each on the server and from their previous.
The South Korean staff is a group of largely FPS veterans from the area, most of whom have a historical past in Counter-Strike or Overwatch. The staff’s coach, Kang ‘solo’ Keun-chul, is an FPS legend and was a part of the primary Korean squad to make a deep run at a Valorant Masters occasion
Each Gen.G member, from solo to the rookie Kim ‘Karon’ Gained-tae, was hungry to point out they belonged on a Grand Ultimate stage earlier than the 2024 season even started.
Kim ‘t3xture’ Na-ra and Byeon ‘Munchkin’ Sang-beom sought redemption after their 2023 seasons. t3xture did not qualify for a world occasion with International Esports, and Munchkin couldn’t appear to do something with T1 on the highest degree of play.
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Kim ‘Lakia’ Jong-min and solo have been each coming off a season toiling away in Challengers Korea, a far cry from their heights in 2021. Kim ‘Meteor’ Tae-o, the one fixed within the squad from the earlier yr, had the talents to compete on the highest degree however lacked any main {hardware} to show his expertise.
And Karon, who hadn’t even performed on a LAN stage earlier than January 2024, needed to show he was greater than only a ranked demon.
“Once I first joined this Korean roster, we have been only a group of individuals determined for an opportunity to show ourselves, and that made us push extra and work actually laborious. As we mentioned, we don’t slack off,” Gen.G’s strategic coach Kim ‘HSK’ Hae-seong mentioned.
Crumbling in Madrid
Gen.G shortly burst onto the worldwide stage after unexpectedly plowing by way of the VCT Pacific Kickoff event, cleanly beating favorites Paper Rex and DRX to assert the primary seed for Masters Madrid.
Madrid had a small variety of groups however was filled with fan-favorite squads like Karmine Corp, EDward Gaming, and Sentinels.
Regardless of the surface noise of the European crowd, Gen.G continued to grind away, and their efforts paid off with a Grand Finals look.
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Nevertheless, their harsh apply schedule didn’t put together them for the creeping dread of repeated errors on the closing hurdle.
“I believe the collection was extra on us not having a powerful mentality. We simply had quite a lot of errors happening, and I assume we misplaced management of our mentality as these small errors began to amplify these issues,” solo mentioned after shedding to Sentinels 3-2 in Madrid.
The staff was visibly dejected whereas shaking arms with the Sentinels after the loss; nonetheless, solo reminded them and followers in a press conference after the match that there was nonetheless extra of the season to play.
“We’re going to take as a lot as we are able to from Madrid,” he mentioned.
Heretics or Demons?
Gen.G returned to VCT Pacific and constructed off their Masters disappointment, inserting first of their group and qualifying for Masters Shanghai after routing T1 within the playoffs 3-0. And at this occasion, nobody was going to underestimate them.
The Korean squad simply made it by way of the Swiss Stage, however squads like G2 Esports, 100 Thieves, and Group Heretics began making waves for his or her flashy performs and shock runs.
Group Heretics, specifically, have been the Cinderella story of the occasion. The EMEA staff was taking part in with a stand-in and needed to put their Initiator participant within the Duelist function to make the roster. Whereas which may trigger some groups to backside out early, it solely made them tougher to beat. Mert ‘Wo0t’ Alkan took to taking part in Duelist like a fish to water, and by the point Heretics made the Grand Finals, he had racked up virtually 400 kills.
Wo0t and the staff’s different two younger stars, former prime Fortnite participant Benjy ‘benjyfishy’ Fish and Turkish phenom Enes ‘RieNs’ Ecirli, seemed like they couldn’t be stopped on their technique to the Mercedes-Benz Area.
It seemed for some time like even Gen.G couldn’t cease them.
The staff was down 2-1 going into the fourth map of the collection within the closing best-of-five of the event. Once more, small errors have been compounding throughout their video games on Icebox and Ascent regardless of discovering early leads.
Nevertheless, Munchkin wouldn’t let the staff neglect what that they had realized three months in the past.
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“After dropping Ascent, the map we have been probably the most assured in, we tried to rally the troops and preserve the arrogance up as a result of we didn’t need to repeat what occurred in Madrid,” he mentioned.
The staff overcame their demons on the ultimate two maps and didn’t let the Heretics get going. They stopped the European surprise youngsters from getting eight rounds within the final two video games, as each t3xture and Meteor showcased the fruits of their labor over the previous two years.
“No phrases can describe how I really feel. That trophy proper there, I’ve been chasing it ceaselessly,” t3xture mentioned after lifting the Masters Shanghai trophy. “Why is it so robust? However in the long run, it was price it… I want to thank my mother as a result of I couldn’t see her for 2 years as a result of I used to be too busy working towards and making an attempt to get my arms on the trophy.”
By way of sheer will and countless apply, Gen.G gave VCT Pacific its first Grasp trophy.
“No tears shall be shed tonight, I can’t cry right this moment,” t3xture mentioned.