The curse of first seeds continues, as
Rex Regum Qeon fell to Wolves Esports in the opening match of the
2025 VALORANT Masters Toronto playoffs. Despite a valiant effort, the team was outmatched on Ascent and Icebox, and now drops to the lower bracket, where theyâll face Fnatic as they continue their run in the
VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT). In an exclusive interview, controller and duelist
Cahya "Monyet" Nugraha sits down with Sheep Esports to discuss the loss, the teamâs next steps, and his thoughts on future opponents.
Can you tell me how you and the team are feeling right now?
Cahya "Monyet" Nugraha: "Devastated. We didnât expect to lose. Some losses arenât that bad, but we felt like we lost this match really badly, so it really is devastating.
There's been a lot of talk about a 'first seed curse'âthat first-seeded teams donât get the same momentum as those coming from the Swiss stage, especially with less time to practice. Do you think that was a disadvantage for you today?
Monyet: After todayâs result, I guess you could say that. But well, Fnatic did pretty well against Gen.G. Thereâs a bit of truth in that statement, but itâs not entirely the case. It depends on how ready you are as a team, right?
What do you think of Wolves as a team? Many didnât expect much from them before the tournament, but now theyâre the best-performing Chinese team. Since you picked them, did they show anything unexpected today?
Monyet: No, we expected them to perform well because they already played and had pretty good momentum. Nobody expected them, to be fairâeveryone was saying they were gonna go out first, but now theyâre in playoffs. I knew they were a pretty good team from when we scrimmed against them during our time in the Pacific.
Wolves play a slower style compared to other teams. Do you think todayâs result came down to a stylistic mismatch?
Monyet: No, I don't think so. We made more mistakes than them in generalâsimple as that. Thatâs what made us lose. We were expecting to play this slowly, simply because we scrimmed them before and we knew about their playstyle. We just couldnât close out the clutch moments.
Do you think nerves played a role in todayâs match?
Monyet: I donât think the stage jitters impacted us much after the first half of Ascent. They were gone after that. We havenât played for a month, and because they had played in the Swiss Stage, they had some extra momentum. They just warmed up faster and shot better than us.
Some people were surprised Wolves picked Ascent, since itâs one of your strongest maps. Did you expect that, and how do you think the map played out?
Monyet: We knew theyâd pick it. When we scrimmed, they had really good plays on Ascent. When we selected them for playoffs, we knew theyâd go with itâ100%.
Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
Youâve mentioned scrims a few times. G2 told me their practice hasnât been ideal due to limited scrim partners with EWC happening. How have scrims been for you guys? Did you get enough? And do you think the results reflected todayâs match?
Monyet: Scrims have been fine. Sometimes the quality goes down, simply because not a lot of teams are practicing right now, since weâre not in the regular season. Next week, I think thereâll be more teams practicing again. The scrim quality can also be really good here, depending on the period.
What do you think about the strength of the regions at Masters Toronto? Do you think Pacific is the best region right now?
Monyet: Itâll depend on how Gen.G shows up. If they beat Fnatic, then yeah, Iâm pretty sure itâll prove that the Pacific is the strongest region in the world right now.
A lot of people were surprised to see RRQ win the Pacific League and go this far. What do you think about the teamâs overall developmentâespecially with the addition of NgĂŽ "crazyguy" CĂŽng Anh as inâgame leader?
Monyet: Itâs really nice to have someone like crazyguy, especially after the meta switch. We need to adapt now that Tejo has been nerfed. Weâre still not in the right shape, and we arenât playing nearly as good as we did in Pacific Stage 1.
I saw a lot of people saying G2 were 'Tejo merchants' and couldnât play without him. Do you think the Tejo nerf impacted many teamsâ playstyles, since he seemed like such a pivotal agent?
Monyet: It was a pretty big shake-up. When he came out and we were practicing, it didnât feel like it, but when tournaments started, we realized he was really, really overpowered. Not many teams were utilizing Tejo well. G2 was one of the teams that became really good when he came out.
Who do you see as the favorites for the event outside of RRQ?
Monyet: Iâve said it a lot, but Paper Rex are the clear favorites in my eyes. They donât have that much adaptation to make meta-wise because they were already comfortable with the previous meta, so they donât need to make many changes.
Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
You have a lot of history with Paper Rex, and you recently beat them. Do you think there could be a rematch between Paper Rex and RRQ later in the tournament? Also, is Paper Rex a team youâre especially motivated to take down?
Monyet: Not really. I just want to play against every single team here. We want to gain experience. If you want to win Champions, youâve got to beat everyone else. I donât have any bad blood with Paper RexâI still talk to them sometimes.
Now that youâre dropping to the lower bracket, youâll face the loser of Fnatic and Gen.G. What are your expectations for that match? How do you view both teams as potential opponents?
Monyet: Itâs going to be really hard now. Fnatic has been dominating the EMEA region, and Gen.G has really strong momentum coming from the Swiss Stage, so either of them will be really difficult to beat.
As a pro player, what do you fear the most?
Monyet: My biggest fear is not being able to show up in important moments.
Do you have a message for RRQ fans?
Monyet: Iâm sorry that we lost today. If we hadnât thrown some rounds, we should have won convincingly 2-0. Please keep supporting us. I hope we can make it far in Toronto. Thank you, everyone."
Header Photo Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
