100T Cryo: "It’s really important to live out your life, your dreams, and do everything you can to achieve them"

100 Thieves have gotten their revenge on G2 Esports in the VALORANT Champions 2026 lower bracket semifinals with a 2-1 victory, having lost to them in the 1st round of the playoffs. The match got off to a slow start for 100 Thieves with a loss on Lotus. However, the VCT Americas champions bounced back on their map pick, Ascent, before closing out Summit in commanding fashion.

With this victory, 100 Thieves will now play a best-of-five series against the last hope of VCT EMEA, Team Vitality. After the victory, Sheep Esports had the opportunity to chat with 100 Thieves’ Sentinel, Matthew “Cryo” Panganiban.

Matthew “Cryo” Panganiban: “I’m feeling really good. We started off our playoffs run in the lower bracket quite early, so every single match is a blessing at this point. We secured top 3, which is huge, because the last time we were here in Shanghai, Asuna (Peter Mazuryk), Bang (Sean Bezerra), and me couldn’t get past the top 4. It feels really good, man. We are on the biggest stage of the world and we are just having fun.

Cryo: I wouldn’t say anything really clicked. We were just kind of playing our own game. We knew we were a better team than G2 on Ascent, and if we closed it out and went to Summit, it would be over. We just trusted our own gameplan, protocols, and took it round by round.

Cryo: There are some differences, for sure. You kind of need to approach Vyse differently than you would against a Sage. You have to really try and pump out Sage’s utility by throwing fake executes. You can contact a bit more against Vyse because she needs to face-check the angle. They are pretty similar, but there are definitely differences too. I do think playing against a Sage is more pressuring than Vyse on Summit.

Cryo: I’m not sure about the stylistic matchup but every time someone asks me “Who do you really want to play against?” my answer was always Vitality, especially after EWC since we didn’t get to play them. They are looking really solid right now and have iconic players like Derke (Nikita Sirmitev), Chronicle (Timofey Khromov), and Jamppi (Elias Olkkonen). It’s always fun to play against them. I think they were the one team missing this year that I really wanted to play against.

Cryo: It pretty much means everything to me. Winning Champions is the pinnacle of what everyone that competes in this game wants. That’s what we’ve been working towards every single day in this year. A lot of long practice days have all amounted to this. I just want to be in the moment, be present, and at the very least, have no regrets at the end of this event.

Cryo: I wouldn’t say there is a specific motto that I live by. However, if you are passionate about something, just chase it. It’s really important to live out your life, your dreams, and do everything you can to achieve them.

Cryo: I would say it was a bit tough, for sure. I watched a lot of VODs of the top Sentinel players, and see what they do off of reactions, timings, and study what they did. There was also a process of trial and error for myself as well in scrims. The playstyle is obviously going to be very different so I had to get used to that, and it was definitely a long road for sure.

Cryo: I would say it’s mostly on me, but I did like to watch a lot of skuba (Logan Jenkins) VODs.

Cryo: I just want to say thanks to all the 100 Thieves fans. Thank you for your support, no matter what happened over these past 4 years. We are really trying our best to take home this trophy, and you are part of the reason why we get to live out our dreams. Thanks to all the fans.“