After narrowly avoiding elimination in the group stage following a poor start,
Nongshim RedForce were unable to progress any further in the competition. The team suffered back-to-back playoff defeats, ultimately finishing in the top eight. Their run came to an end on Friday against
100 Thieves, with the series concluding in particularly difficult fashion as they suffered a 13–1 defeat on the third map.
Having delivered inconsistent performances throughout the tournament, Lee "
Dambi" Hyuk-kyu endured a difficult final match in his first
VALORANT Champions appearance, despite showing flashes of individual brilliance along the way. The Korean Duelist reflects on his experience in an interview with
Sheep Esports.
What’s your first feeling after the game?
Lee "Dambi" Hyuk-kyu: “I'm very disappointed. I remember yesterday's match (against Team Vitality) better than today's match. If we had won yesterday's match, we would have been able to survive. We would have been able to prepare better, and we would have been able to do better. I'm very disappointed about that. I also think that this is the last match of the year so I wish I could have done better.
What do you think went wrong in today’s and yesterday’s game?
Dambi: To be honest, I didn't think I had a high level of individual skill during these Champions, today's game included. I think there are a lot of things that I could have done better. I'm very disappointed that I didn't have a high level of individual skill. I kept practicing until late at night, but nothing came of it. I think my priority right now is to find a way to improve myself as a professional player. I think that kind of interfered with me playing on the stage, because that affected the rounds that I had with my opponents yesterday and today as well.
Summit was a map your team could handle pretty well since the beginning of the competition. How do you explain that today it felt much more difficult for you?
Dambi: First of all, I think 100 Thieves is a very good and solid team. It came down to who got their game plan executed first. I thought that our team would be able to do it, but they were a step ahead of us. They were a little bit faster than us. I think that was why they came out with the win against us today.
With you and Paper Rex being eliminated today, the Pacific region had a really tough tournament. How do you explain this difference between the regional league and the international competition?
Dambi: To be honest. I used to think that VCT Pacific teams were the most difficult ones to play against. Here at Champions, I get to play against different regions. It really hit me that every region has very different styles and different colors. It's not that one is the strongest by definition. I do think that in the Americas, they have teams that play like EMEA, that play like China, that play like Pacific. But in Pacific, there are no other teams that play as the Americas does. So I think that's why Pacific was having a little bit of a rough time adjusting to the different playstyles. I think that would be the biggest difference.
If we look at the whole year, are you satisfied by your season, your performances, and your improvements since last year?
Dambi: Needless to say, I think this year was definitely a better year than last year. Because last year, when I first started competing, I still didn’t know if I would be able to lift an international trophy. This year we managed to do it; I managed to do that pretty early on there. It was very fortunate to be able to do it so early on. And as for my personal performance, I think I'm more aware of what I need to do to be able to win when it comes to my game, so that is a huge growth on the professional side. Also, off the server, I think I was able to be more mature as a person by bonding with my teammates and just spending a lot of time to be able to become one with my team. I think I was able to grow both on and off the server and would definitely say that this was a better year than last year.”
