"The Neon changes definitely help us"- Governor on the latest Duelist changes, lenne's departure from Talon Esports, and KAY/O on Icebox [Exclusive]

Talon Esports suffered a crushing 2-0 loss against Paper Rex in their opening match in VCT Pacific Stage 2. The team looked outclassed on Icebox and Sunset, and only managed to win 11 rounds across both maps. Despite the loss, Talon Esports still has a good record of 4-2 in the overall standings of the Pacific League, which bodes well for the team's Playoff Stage chances.

Duelist player Peter "Governor" No had a particularly rough series. He had a tough time on the KAY/O pick in Icebox. After the series, I had a chance to talk with Governor.

Governor talks about Talon Esports' upcoming matches, new map Abyss, and more

Q: Hello Governor. Commiserations on the loss. It was a pretty rough series against Paper Rex. What's going through your mind at the moment?

Governor: Losing never gets easier. It obviously sucks to start off with a tough loss. What's going through my head right now is that its important to not lose confidence going into next week against Rex Regum Qeon and DetonatioN FocusMe. I am trying to keep the mental up for sure but today was probably the worst I have seen us play.

Including scrims and previous matches, this was probably the worst we have ever played. At the end of the day, it's Paper Rex, so we just have to brush it off.

Q: You were playing KAY/O on Icebox and it didn't really pan out too well. We also saw Surf go back to his signature Jett. Was this swap more of a comfort thing for Surf or is there any other reasoning behind you playing KAY/O?

Governor: It was definitely a comfort pick thing. We wanted Surf to be as comfortable as possible. After we removed lenne from the roster, there was a little bit of a role crisis in the team. Ultimately, we felt like having a core five and just getting better as a team. The 6-man roster was an experiment and we figured that having a 5-man roster is better. Either way, it was definitely a comfort thing for Surf.

I've had experience playing KAY/O but I played horribly today. However, it has been going pretty well in scrims. The transition of me to the flex role was definitely the best iteration so far. Obviously the Neon changes are coming next week and I don't want to say too much but things will probably be different.

Q: There was some consensus that Viper might fall off due to her nerfs before VCT Masters Shanghai. This was not the case at the tournament. Do you think a similar thing is bound to happen with the Duelist buffs in the upcoming patch or can we see a reasonable shift in the meta?

Governor: I think the Viper changes weren't that big in the grand scheme of pro play. All they did was remove one molly and make her fuel slightly worse, but at the end of the day, the double Controller is always a good thing and what makes Viper good was still good.

I think the Raze nerfs are not that bad by the way. Iso and Neon are so strong right now. I haven't gotten to play the new Neon too much because we have been scrimming on the old patch a lot. However, from the little I have played her it, I think it will be a significant change.

Q: Despite Paper Rex often being called one-dimensional and having a lack of diversity in their playstyle, they are still a nightmare to go against due to their chaotic approach and lack of respect to their opponents. We saw them strike on all cylinders today. Is this one of the most frustrating things with regards to prepping for Paper Rex?

Governor: I think what makes them strong is definitely the fact they are chaotic, but we also had very little confidence today compared to usual. We just played really scared today, but what makes Paper Rex good in the server is the fear that they instill and the fact that they are all sharp aimers. There was a round where Something just wide swung on Surf so stuff like that makes them very hard to play against.

Q: Despite this loss, Talon Esports still has a strong 4-2 record in the overall standings, which means the hope for Playoffs is very much alive. The next match against Rex Regum Qeon is going to be crucial as they are 3-2 at the moment. What are your thoughts heading into this very important matchup?

Governor: I think the rest of the matches from now should be easier. I think the whole format of Week 1 being played on the old patch and Week 2 being played on the new patch kind of messed up our practice schedule. Our scrims were very random with old patch and new patch scrims.

After Week 2, everything will be the same, excluding the map pool for the Playoffs Stage. At least for our Group Stage matches, it will be a lot smoother and the Neon changes definitely help us.

Q: Haven returns to the map pool in the Playoffs Stage. How excited are you for the return of this map and the possibility of playing Neon on Haven?

Governor: I am definitely excited, but surprisingly I didn't play Neon on Haven. It's probably one of the few Neon maps that I haven't played so I'll probably have to re-learn it if we do decide to play her on the map. Overall, we will probably figure it out next week as we haven't talked about it too much yet.

Q: What are your overall thoughts on the new map, Abyss, as you got to test it a little bit during Early Access? Do you think the meta on this map will be more execute-heavy or slow paced?

Governor: It's definitely a big map and it's kind of like Breeze and Icebox where there are large rotations. Off the top of my head, it looks like another "A" map as well like Icebox and Breeze with big and long rotations. I haven't played too much of it so those are my thoughts.

In terms of the meta, I don't think it will be very execute heavy because the chokes don't look that narrow in my opinion. I think it will be similar to Breeze and Icebox though with an emphasis on double Controllers. It will be a pretty slow paced map.

Q: Any thoughts that you would like to share to the fans supporting Talon Esports and you?

Governor: To all the fans that are still rooting for us and watched us get absolutely owned, don't lose hope please. Screw recency bias. Just give us time and we will bounce back. This was an all-time low and it really can't get any worse. It was also Paper Rex that we were up against so yeah *laughs*.

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