"We miss d00mbr0s" - ANGE1 on NAVI's recent coaching changes, the team's current form and playing against cNed
NAVI has experienced a very rough start to its VCT EMEA 2024 Stage 2 campaign after crushing defeats at the hands of Team Heretics and FUT Esports in the event's first week. The former winners of VCT 2022 Masters: Copenhagen have simply not looked in form currently.
Kyrylo "ANGE1" Karasov is one of the most experienced competitive FPS players and is widely renowned as one of the best IGLs (In-game leader) in Valorant. He is also beloved for his very aggressive playstyle. After the tough loss against FUT Esports, I had the chance to sit down and have a conversation with ANGE1.
ANGE1 talks about NAVI's poor Week 1, team comp on Lotus, and series against FUT Esports
Q: Hello ANGE1. Commiserations on the loss against FUT Esports. It has been a rough week for NAVI. What are your thoughts at the moment?
ANGE1: We just got outplayed in both games. It is very disappointing. I am a bit angry at myself right now. It shouldn't be like this. Weeks like this shouldn't exist for NAVI.
Q: It's been a rough time for NAVI in the first week of EMEA Stage 2. What are some of the major improvements the team is looking to make coming into next week?
ANGE1: It's very hard to say right now. We didn't fix a lot of things with the Heretics game and now we have some time to fix these issues because one day is not enough. We will have four days after this game and we will use this time to improve. I can't tell you the exact details but we will do our best to improve.
Q: The removal of d00mbr0s (Erik) has been the biggest talking point about NAVI coming into this season. How has the team's mentality been since he departed from the roster?
ANGE1: We miss d00mbr0s (Erik) obviously but the practice hasn't changed much. LATEKS has been doing d00mbr0s' job and he was the assistant coach for a long time.
Q: Can we get a little insight as to why d00mbros was removed?
ANGE1: Unfortunately, I can't talk about it.
Q: Was there a particular reason for the Jett pick on Lotus as opposed to the usual Raze we see from Zyppan?
ANGE1: This was the team comp that we were playing with in scrims during the small off-season.
Q: Ascent has been one of NAVI's best maps but the team lost a lot of crucial rounds that should have been closed out. What went wrong on Ascent according to you?
ANGE1: There were 4-5 rounds which was so close. I think we just got unlucky in some situations and we didn't win our duels in other situations. I can't give you the full analysis. It's very hard to tell from the player's perspective on what went wrong during which moment.
Q: How did you feel about playing against cNed, your teammate from last year?
ANGE1: It was good. We don't have any bad blood between us so it was fun.
Q: Despite the rough start, NAVI still has a 4-3 record with a real shot of making it to the playoffs comfortably. Are you still feeling confident in your chances of making it to Champions 2024?
ANGE1: It's very hard to tell about confidence after losing a game in this manner 10 minutes ago *laughs*. At this point, I don't have much confidence but it should be back more by tomorrow.
Q: Do you have anything to share with the fans supporting NAVI and you?
ANGE1: I want to say sorry to the fans. A huge sorry to the fans. Weeks like this shouldn't exist for NAVI and it's completely our fault. We will do everything to fix this before next week of VCT EMEA Stage 2.
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