G2 Gozen began their
VALORANT Game Changers
Championship Seoul with a resounding victory, followed by a press conference about a tumultuous year of change. Petra
"Petra" Stoker revisited the emotions behind her decision to
bench herself earlier in the season, while Esllene
"Akita" Xu described how she has adapted to Tier 1 play and international travel alongside her studies, and more topics.
Questions for Michaela "mimi" Lintrup
Tell me about this ride throughout the year, how was it dealing with all these changes, starting the year on smokes, then going back to flex, and now even playing Duelist with Yoru part-time?
mimi: "I understand that other teams look at us and think we might not be what we once were, but that first part of the year was also a complete test phase. We tried everything there was to try, and then we locked in for the latter part of the year. What we showed in the first six months is definitely not who we are now. I’m happy that at least we tried. We tried something, it didn’t work, and we learned from it.
Now we know who we are and what direction we want to go in. I’m also happy things unfolded the way they did. If they hadn’t, I don’t think we would ever have gotten Akita on the team, and she is a very, very special player. I’m just glad she’s playing with us and not against us. So overall I’m happy with the journey, even though it was tough mentally and physically. It involved a lot of sweat and tears, especially tears from Petra’s side. But we came out stronger.
You said you weren’t going to get ahead of yourself this tournament and would take it one match at a time. How are you feeling about your next matchup against Team Liquid Visa?
mimi: I think it’s going to be a tough game no matter what. I’m happy we have these three days to prepare, to sit down and decide in which direction we want to go. It’s pretty hard to set clear expectations for the map or the game ahead. But we’re just going to play our own game. I always find it fun to play against them. Whenever we’ve faced them, the games have always been very close. We respect them, they respect us, and I think it’s just going to be a fun match. I don’t really have any trash talk. I think they’re great players, and I’m just excited to see what kind of Liquid they are now."
Questions for Esllene "Akita" Xu
What is it like to travel around the world with your team for the first time? Did you need time to adapt, or did you have to get straight to work? Were you able to visit a little?
Akita: "I adapted quite easily. I still had school, at the same time, so I was kind of part-time, but I adapted thanks to my teammates, my coach and my In-Game Leader. They helped me a lot, and I’m really enjoying it. I also got to enjoy Istanbul. It was nice.
You played really well today, especially in the key rounds. What was going through your mind before you entered the game? How did you handle the pressure of the match? Did you have any concerns before playing the game?
Akita: I mean, we knew we were going to win, but I don’t think I played that well. Before the match, I just wanted to lock in and win the game. I was maybe a bit stressed at the beginning, but my teammates were there to help me. When I have good rounds, they are always there saying “good job” encouraging me on purpose so that I feel comfortable, and that really helped me during the game."
Photo by Christina Oh/Riot Games
Question for Petra "Petra" Stoker:
When your benching was announced, how did you react to it?
Petra: "I cried. I actually benched myself. I never wanted it to happen that way, but I felt it was what I had to do. I was sad, of course, but that’s how it was."
Questions for Drew "DrewSpark" Spark-Whitworth
G2 Gozen is one of the teams that had the least time to train on the new patch. As players, how did you manage to adapt in such a short time, and how did it feel to play on this new patch?
DrewSpark: "The players honestly didn’t have that much time to prepare, I’m not going to lie. My goal was to preserve what felt comfortable for us as a team. VALORANT can be played in many different ways when it comes to compositions, so we tried not to make any extreme changes. We experimented with a lot of things, some of them failed, some we reverted, some we kept, but with the very limited time we had, I think we did a good job making sure we could arrive in Korea and still be competitive. Shoutout to the team. They’re very flexible across agents and roles, which makes my job much easier. It allows us to try things on the fly and adjust quickly.
You started the year with M80 in Challengers, then moved to G2 Gozen mid-year. What have been the biggest takeaways for you going from M80 to now, and how have you adjusted as a coach throughout this year?
DrewSpark: I’ve had to learn a lot. This is my first year both with M80 and now with the girls as a head coach. There’s a big difference between being a head coach and being an assistant coach within a larger system. There has been a lot of learning on my side. I feel very lucky to have this team; they make my job easy. When Tibalt (Thibault Pulcini) first contacted me along with mimi, we had an interview that lasted about two hours. From my side, it was clear we were a good match, especially in the IGL/coach relationship. In many ways, mimi is like my mini-assistant coach. As a whole, everyone on this team is very good at what they do, and that makes my work much simpler. The biggest challenge for me has been balancing everything.
As an assistant coach, it’s easier to pick and choose what you focus on, or to identify gaps and go fill them. As a head coach, sometimes you have to do it all and prioritize constantly. That has been a big part of the learning process. But again, I have a great team, they make my life easier, and I’m having more fun coaching now than I’ve had at any point in my career, and I’ve been doing this for quite a while."
Header Credit Photo: Christina Oh/Riot Games
