NRG keiko: "This is definitely the best version of us"

NRG secured its spot at Champions after maintaining an unbeaten run throughout VCT Americas Stage 2, continuing the team’s pursuit of back-to-back international titles after winning against LOUD on Friday, August 28. After a difficult start to the year marked by changes to the meta and adjustments to player roles, the reigning world champions found greater consistency in the second stage of the season.

In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, Georgio “keiko” Sanassy reflected on his first season with NRG and the importance of reaching Champions in his first year with the organization. The player also discussed the team’s adaptation to the current meta and the changes compared to the roster that won the previous Champions.

Georgio “keiko” Sanassy: “Pretty good. I’m just excited. We had a pretty good game today, but we still have a lot to learn about our mistakes. We’re feeling confident. There are still things to work on, and it gives us some extra time to prepare for Brazil.

keiko: It feels good. It’s definitely been a bumpy road for us throughout the entire year, trying to figure out the meta and our roles within the current meta. But I think we figured it out pretty well. We just need to refine it and keep getting better because the job’s not done. We want to try to defend the title. I’m trying to defend their title for as long as I’m with them, to be honest. Obviously, they want to win as well. I think I’ve also had more passion to win and try super hard to make sure that we qualify and win as hard as possible, just because after London it was super rough getting grouped.

keiko: I think we had a really good read on the meta even before EWC in London. We just didn’t have good enough roles for it. I think right now, we figured out the roles for us and what’s good on every single map. Before, every single map had someone flexing to something different. Right now, we have people flexing between the same type of playstyle, which is pretty different to roles. You can see Ethan (Ethan Arnold) on Phoenix on some of the maps. He’s an Initiator player, so having him with flashes and walls to create pressure and question marks on some maps is really important. On some maps, he’s playing Omen. Sometimes mada (Adam Pampuch) is playing Neon. Neon and Phoenix are Duelist roles. So, yeah, we’ve figured out our roles a lot better now.

keiko: Yeah, I think this is definitely the best version of us. I think we can be a bit better. We just need to improve a little bit more. We’re going strong into Champs, so I’m happy.

keiko: I think the biggest thing this year was how hard we’ve had to adapt to the meta. For them last year, the meta was very, very good for them. They had two Initiator players, a smokes player, a Sentinel player, and a Duelist player. They had perfect roles for the meta. They didn’t really play double Duelist on any map like every other team. They played what fit them. This year, I think we adapted and tried to lean towards the meta because there are some agents that are really, really strong, so you kind of have to play them. There are some roles on double Duelist maps that you have to play just because they’re so strong. I think we also adapted this year. I think it’s one of our strong suits.

keiko: The current meta is pretty clear. I think everyone knows that Neon, Phoenix and Chamber are really strong. Yoru is coming back into the meta. Any sort of double Duelist is strong because double Initiator is very weak right now on most maps. There are some maps where it works, but obviously the best-in-slot agents are Neon, Phoenix and Chamber. You kind of want to be running a lot of that on different maps. There are some maps where you can run Jett, but I think our read on the meta is pretty good. We know which maps we’re playing really good comps on and which maps we’re not playing meta, which is a little bit more comfortable. I think some players care more about being comfortable in certain roles. We’re just trying to have a mixture of comfortability and playing to the meta.

keiko: We didn’t know we were playing LOUD until yesterday, so we didn’t have insane preparation. We kind of just focused on ourselves, focused on the new map that’s coming out, and focused on comps, roles, and everything to get us ready for Champions. Our mindset wasn’t, “Okay, we’re going to try to qualify.” We wanted to play and just get better each day and make a good run in Champs. Not just play for the next match and go for cheesy comps or something like that.

keiko: I’m not sure what I think about Brazil, not going to lie. I don’t know much about Brazil, but I’m excited to go since it’s a new country I’ve never been to. The last time I was on the South American continent was in Santiago, and it was amazing. The crowd and the people there were really, really nice. I’m hoping for the same in Brazil. I’m sure it’s going to be very passionate and loud, the same as Chile was. I think it’s going to be very similar to that, so I’m excited.”