Following his first-ever victory in the
VALORANT Champions Tour
Americas Kick-Off, Hunter
"Inspire" Schline left the stage having achieved more than just a result on the scoreboard. A moment after the match,
Sheep Esports caught up with him to talk about what it felt like to make his debut on the big stage, how
ENVY kept their cool amid the chaos, what this roster's ambitions really are for the split, and more topics.
There were a lot of great things in this win, including your multi-kills and the reverse sweep. What did you feel when you walked on stage and won your first match in VCT America?
Hunter "Inspire" Schline: “Walking onto the stage felt right, as if I belonged there.
Winning Ascension validates that. It’s not an ego thing; we worked for this, we deserve to be here. After the win, I wasn’t extremely excited. I was emotional. I played
Halo professionally, worked on
Halo Infinite, then quit that job and took a big risk to pursue Valorant and reach this moment. I wanted to cry. I’m soft on the inside, even if I look tough on the outside. It’s an incredible moment.
Mentally, how do you handle stress and adrenaline in key rounds? How do you help the team stay calm in big moments, such as the start of Abyss?
Inspire: It’s easier than last year because we have more leaders. Rossy (Daniel Abedrabbo) and Kez speak up, and we reassure each other. We treat it like practice: another scrim, another ranked game. The match isn’t different, if anything, it’s better, because Keznit (Angelo Mori) isn’t playing scrims on 100 ping anymore. It’s just another day for us.
How do you help the team stay resilient and fight back? Does standing up and yelling help you deal with pressure?
Inspire: I’ve been on stage for a long time, so it’s comfortable. It’s more about defending my teammates. If someone yells at them, then the next round, I’ll drop a 3–4K and tell them to sit back down. You shouldn’t get excited about an eco round. I focus on winning the important gun rounds. Taking that map showed we were ready to fight for the win.
What surprised you the most about EG, and did you expect that level of challenge?
Inspire: Their Abyss comp was interesting. We had never scrimmed them, so facing them in an official match was harder than it looked on paper. If it weren’t our first match, or if we replayed it, we would have better solutions, but it was still difficult to play against, especially the Veto/Breach. We need to adapt faster and be more warmed up on the first map. Next time, we’ll handle that map better.
Do you think we’ll see that Veto-style comp more in VCT?
Inspire: We’ll probably see them play it again. It takes a lot of work, and you have to build around it so they won’t drop it just because other teams saw it. Is it great? A lot of things have to go right. I’ve seen the worst part of it, so I don’t think it’s worth it, but you never know.
Inspired winning the Ascension Americas 2025 - Credit: ENVY/Riot Games
If you had to give a quick takeaway after this first match, what are the strengths of the Envy roster?
Inspire: We have a lot of momentum. We played many off-season tournaments and scrimmed nonstop since Ascension. We’ve put in a huge amount of work. We came in confident and played our game. Even after losing the first map, we were still laughing. We’re having fun and sticking to our style. That’s our strength.
What’s the biggest difference compared to your previous matches in VCL NA and Ascension?
Inspire: No difference. Maybe they’re more scared of me. They jiggle peek, I one-tap them off angles, and they stop peeking at me. They tried to avoid me for a long time, but now I’m here and they can’t anymore. keznit and Rossy recently joined to replace the two younger talents from last year.
keznit and Rossy joined recently to replace the two young talents who were with you last year. What can a player like Keznit bring compared to another duelist?
Inspire: It’s important for me to be surrounded by experienced players so we can share ideas and reads. Last year in Ascension, I had strong reads on players, but in this league, it can be different. keznit shares his reads with me, I look for the same things, then I tell him whether he’s right or wrong. Sharing those reads and using them is a big advantage.
Evan "Eggster" Grady mainly plays Yoru. With Tier 1 changes, what’s your view on his agent pool? Can a specialist bring as much value as someone with a deeper pool?
Inspire: He’s a specialist. If we ever need him on something else, he’ll do it and put in the work. We play more than anyone: ranked, streaming, and scrims. His strength is being a specialist. VCT NA lacks specialists, especially in that duelist role. That role is extremely hard, and no matter what other teams play, he’ll usually have an advantage because of how much time he invests. It doesn’t necessarily depend on our comp.
If you had to give one main strength for each of your players, what would it be?
Inspire: Eggster on Yoru, he knows how to outplay any comp. He’s seen everything in ranked, so he’s ready. For POPPIN (Matteo Weber), he IGLs in his own way. He doesn’t follow the meta; he creates his own with Stunner and the team’s input, and he’s confident in his calls. Keznit has great vibes and insane aim. His energy pairs well with Rossy and spreads to the team. For Rossy, strong leadership. He helps reset the team mentally and keeps us confident and aggressive. It was rough at first, but we worked through it, and now everything feels good.
What are the concrete goals for this split and for the year?
Inspire: My focus is to win the next match, then the next one, then the next one. Whatever comes with that, we’ll be ready. I don’t think far ahead. The goal is to keep winning, keep adapting, and keep improving.”
