After a third-place finish at the Toronto Master, Wolves Esports' recent results in China have raised concerns. The team suffered three consecutive losses in VCT CN Stage 2, including a heavy defeat against All Gamers. In a post published on X this Sunday, July 20, Chong “Fayde” Hoc Wa, head coach of the project, issued an apology to the fans while outlining a combination of factors that he believes impacted the team’s performance. “Our recent results are not what we want and I hereby apologise to all the fans that are supporting us,” he wrote.

The coach highlighted the non-stop schedule of competitions. "After a long and demanding stretch with Masters Toronto we took a 5-day break before heading back to Shanghai to bootcamp for Split 2, but during the EWC break, our schedule has been very heavy," Fayde stated. It’s worth noting that there were just 14 days between Wolves’ lower bracket final loss in Canada and their first VCT China match against FPX. Fayde also pointed out a particularly packed schedule during the Esports World Cup break: “The players have had little time to rest and practice due to sponsor commitments, and naturally that affects our focus and energy.”

Not Just About Fatigue

On Reddit, a fan detailed this overload, explaining that several Wolves players were pulled into various events, especially between July 11 and 13. They attended the CN Nationals S4 finals in Qingdao on July 13, the Bilibili World 2025 event in Shanghai on July 11, an animal adoption campaign, and a fan meet on the same day. The same post also relayed comments from former FPX analyst Wang “Guigui” Hao, stating that Liang "Lysoar" Youhao had told someone close to him that he was exhausted from the constant travel.

In addition to player fatigue, the latest VALORANT updates have not helped Wolves. "The current meta and changes to the map pool are also extremely challenging for us as we recently lost two of our best maps in the map rotation, and we’re reworking on our map pool with very limited time," Fayde explained. Still, he remains confident in the squad’s potential to bounce back.

That rebound must come quickly, as Wolves now stand 0-3 in the Omega group and can no longer afford any mistakes. The Chinese team will face Dragon Rangers on July 27 and Nova Esports on August 2, with a must-win situation if they hope to reach the playoffs and qualify for Champions Paris.