KC dos9: "Everyone has their moments to shine, and today it was me"

Karmine Corp have risen from the depths this year to claim the second VCT EMEA title in the organization's history. Finishing at the bottom of their group with an 0-5 record in Stage 1, the French team underwent a complete transformation in Stage 2 and brought their redemption arc to a close this Sunday in Barcelona, defeating Team Liquid in the grand final.

Quiet throughout the early stages of the playoffs, Dastan "dos9" Zhumagali chose the perfect moment to step into the spotlight. KC's Controller was named Finals MVP after delivering a high-level performance and will now turn his attention to the VALORANT Champions alongside his teammates. Following the match, the Kazakh player spoke to Sheep Esports about this big moment of his career.

Dastan "dos9" Zhumagali: “I'm happy because after the last series against FUT, during the team talk after the match, I was saying that I didn't feel like I deserved this qualification for Champions because I had been playing badly in the last few series. They were kind and gave me that confidence. They were showing their belief in me, that I am a good player, and today it eventually showed. I’m super happy.

dos9: For me, I don't know. It's a pretty good feeling. I cannot explain it. We're looking forward to Champions, of course, but it's a good sign of the hard work that we put in, and the smart work at the same time. .

dos9: Coming into this year with Karmine Corp, I felt like we were going to do well because we had five incredible players individually. But something didn't click. One of the first people on the team, LewN (Burak Alkan), said at the start of the year that we were either going to be the best team in the league or the worst one. And we were both [Laughs].

dos9: I would say no because in this game, anyone on this team can carry. It's just a matter of the situation. For example, today I had a lot of fights, a lot of good things. I had everything, but previously if it wasn’t me, it would be anyone else. Everyone has their moments to shine, and today it was me.

dos9: To be honest, Lotus was pretty hard because I think we have some rules in-game about how we approach the game. And we just got out of them. That's what led us to lose. We didn't lose to them; we lost to ourselves on Lotus. At the start of Abyss, I think it was a bit of an effect from that Lotus, but we showed the resilience we have and just came back on the map. Everyone took their moment, their chance to win rounds, and it was an insane game.

dos9: Yeah, but we also know how to use Chamber, you know. I see a lot of teams playing Chamber, but I think they don't know the idea of playing Chamber. We have that idea.

dos9: We played against both of them at EWC. Now we have more experience, now we have more reps. Especially with the crowd today. I remember on Abyss, we were losing and I looked at the crowd, and one guy was looking at me like and emoting... It was fun.

dos9: I have a message. Thanks for supporting. And to be honest, during this year I had a few messages, but I never had the kind of hate that people should have towards a 0-5 team. Thank you all for your support; we will keep working hard.”