EG Potter: "I love fishing and eating, it’s really easy to include those things in team-building"

The start of Stage 1 of the VCT Americas didn’t go as Evil Geniuses had hoped. Following EG’s loss to 100 Thieves, EG’s coach, Christine "potter" Chi spoke with Sheep Esports to reflect on this difficult start, the challenges they faced on stage, and the adjustments still needed for a roster that’s still taking shape. Beyond the result, Potter discussed her team’s preparation leading up to Stage 1, the challenges of building cohesion within a group that blends experienced players and young talent, and more topics.

Potter: “Yeah, definitely a disappointing day. There’s really no other way to put it. Not only did we have a slow start, but we also didn’t stick to our game plan, and the first-match jitters were just so obvious. As a team, it’s definitely something we talked about after Kickoff, and it was already an issue for us during Kickoff as well. I think, in a way, it’s a good thing for us that we got this first match out of the way. But there are definitely a lot of things we need to talk about as a squad.

Potter: Yeah, definitely. We were just way too timid at the start. Even on defense from the very beginning, we simply weren’t reacting. I had to take my pause in the third round because that just wasn’t our game plan. That’s not what we agreed on coming into the game. We also have two players who are a lot more inexperienced. We have dgzin (Douglas Silva), who is foreign, and his English isn’t as comfortable. So as soon as we start getting a little uneasy, it shows in the game. We stop reacting as fast as we should; we start playing too timidly, too shyly, and we’re not aggressive enough. That was really the story of today for us as a team.

Potter: That’s a good question. I would say it is really important, but at the same time, it’s not everything. In esports, you don’t have to be best friends with your teammates to be successful. You don’t have to make your teammates your therapist, tell them all your deepest, darkest secrets, or necessarily have synergy outside of the server to succeed. We’ve seen that time and time again.

Does it help? Absolutely. Especially if you’re an underdog, especially if you don’t have the confidence individually at the moment, then everything helps. For us, building synergy outside of the server and going through those moments together is definitely a big part of my team culture, but it’s not the main priority. It’s not our primary focus. That being said, since I love fishing and I love eating, it’s really easy to include those things in team-building.

Potter: Yeah, it’s definitely a delicate balance. Especially with Corbin, because he has so much experience and so many ideas about what he wants to do in the server. So finding that happy medium and making sure both of our points come across has been a learning curve for both of us. For C0M, it’s also his first year IGLing, so a huge focus for me has been making sure he’s set up to have a long path forward in that role and that he feels comfortable in it.

My relationship with Corbin definitely helps because we’ve known each other for so long. We’ve won together, and before we won together, we lost a lot together. So we already have that developed relationship, and it’s definitely been helpful with four new players coming into this year. At the same time, there are a lot of other things we’re working on too: getting Douglas comfortable, getting Bao (Bao Nguyen) comfortable, and on top of that, getting Corbin comfortable in the IGL role. So we’re trying to tackle all of those things at once right now.

Potter: That’s the challenging part, right? That’s definitely the challenging part. Especially because, for example, Okeanos (Anthony Nguyen) is an incredible player, and then I also have Supamen (Phat Le), who is an incredible Controller player. But right now, Okie is being an insane flex for us. I’ve got him on Vyse; I’ve got him on KAY/O; I’ve got him on a bunch of different agents. So again, finding that balance means going through a lot of growing pains right now. Okie has to be able to determine whether he’s setting up Douglas or whether he’s trying to set up himself. And again, finding that balance is exactly what we suffered from today.

Potter: It’s really nice to have a person on stage who doesn’t get fazed by it. I was talking earlier about our slow start and the on-stage, and being able to have a player who just doesn’t get affected by that is really valuable. I call them “COVID babies” because they’re truly different. They’re different. Growing up with all of my peers, we had stage fright. We had real nerves coming up. But these younger players definitely have a different kind of energy to them. So for us, it’s about figuring out how to capitalize on Okeanos comfort on stage and use that momentum, especially in a game like this.

That’s been one of the problems we’re trying to solve so that we can actually take advantage of how free Okie feels on stage. But there are five of us. Some of us are still nervous and uneasy, so we just have to build trust. We have to build that trust. Going into practice on Monday, I’m actually going to mention that the interviewer pointed out how free and how much fun Okie is having. So we’re going to lean into that for next week’s match.

Potter: I don’t know if I’m smart enough to articulate all of my thoughts in one nice little package, but at first glance, it was really pleasant news for me. I was genuinely happy to hear that this was the direction VALORANT was going to head in. But honestly, after thinking about it more, it’s tough. I come from CS. I come from a CS calendar, and I come from that kind of Wild West format where anybody can make it. And I love that. I’ve always been an underdog, so I love those kinds of storylines. At the same time, having an official structure has also elevated esports in my eyes. When I think back 15 years ago, with League of Legends and teams moving to LA, playing in actual studios, it made everything feel a lot more official.

So honestly, it’s a toss-up. I’m going to say I like it. I’m a fan. I love going back to that old-school open calendar, being able to travel, and having open tournaments. I love that idea. But when I think back to how much more official everything felt once things were centralized, I also feel like we may miss that in a couple of years. So hopefully there can be some kind of hybrid, a happy medium, for the Americas region in the future. But we’ll see. I’m excited for it, though.

Potter: I think the most obvious thing that needs to be put in place is another stepping stone after the GC Championship some kind of next ladder. Especially with 2027 changing and open qualifiers becoming part of the system, maybe a GC team could have a direct invite into one of those open qualifiers. Or at the very least, there needs to be something that provides a path to the next level, so that we can see more co-ed teams, mixed teams, and more diverse kinds of tournaments.

I think that would be the next step up. Honestly, though, it’s incredible how much progress the Game Changers scene has made in VALORANT. There’s still a lot more to be done, but even now, considering how strong the GC community already is, it’s incredible. There’s really nothing like it in esports that has happened in my lifetime. So yes, of course, there’s still work to do, but what’s already been built is very impressive.