JD Gaming started off their
VALORANT Champions 2026 Shanghai campaign with a rough 0-2 loss against
FUT Esports. This meant that all four Chinese teams started off the group stage without a single game and map win. JDG will now play against
T1 in an elimination match, with the loser’s Champions run coming to an early halt
After the series, Sheep Esports had the opportunity to talk to JD Gaming’s IGL and a stalwart of VCT China, Chang "BerLIN" Po-lin. The IGL still remains optimistic despite a torrid beginning at Champions.
The VCT China teams have struggled in the group stages of Champions so far and are yet to win a game. As a player from this region, what do you think has been the biggest challenge to the teams so far?
Chang "BerLIN" Po-lin: I would say that, for Map 1 of course, that we are not prepared well and didn’t adjust ourselves well enough. Coming to Map 2, although we had our own disadvantages in this map, we were able to fight back and have a sense of competitiveness. I just want to show that all the Chinese teams can fight back like we did in Map 2. Even if we lost in the end, we can fight back to some extent and we are not that weak.
What do you think Chinese teams need to do differently to close that gap between regions?
BerLIN: I think we should definitely adjust our mentality. From Map 1 and Map 2, you can see the difference in our mentalities. Of course, there are other details in the game such as IGLing but most importantly we should adjust our mentality for the better.
The crowd seemed particularly loud and active today. What was it like to have that support from the arena? Did you feel like it had an effect on your team during the game?
BerLIN: For myself, I was too focused on the game as an IGL and paying attention to a lot of details. Therefore, I might have not paid enough attention to the crowd. However, I want to thank all the fans for supporting us and cheering. Even if we did not start well, they cheered for us so I want to thank them and express my gratitude to all of them. We will recover well for the next match.
What are the things JD Gaming has done well so far at Champions and what are the things that the team still needs to improve on to make a deep run in the tournament?
BerLIN: I think it’s more about the discipline and overpeeking at times. Sometimes, we just kill one person and can chill out but someone wants to overpeek. In these cases, we should just back off. We can definitely improve more in terms of discipline.
T1 is your next opponent. What are you expectations coming into this match and what do you think JDG needs to do to beat them?
BerLIN: Firstly, we have a lot of work to do on ourselves in order to improve our details in-game. I think we will use more time to get ourselves prepared and not target T1 too much. Secondly, all the Korean teams including T1 are pretty smart teams so I think we have to focus more on ourselves to perform well in the next match.
You are playing Champions in front of a home crowd against some of the best teams in the world. What is the biggest goal is for JDG? Is it to prove China belongs on the top or to simply focusing on taking everything step-by-step?
BerLIN: We want to prove to everyone in the world that VCT China is strong and we want to prove that we are not just coming here by luck. We have our own strengths. Before that, we still have to do improvements on our playstyles and shooting. After that, we can prove that we are a strong region and are capable of being competitive.
To conclude this interview, what do you believe is the best play of your career?
BerLIN: I think I’m not that different of a player compared to the player I was at 2024 Masters Shanghai. However, I would say our gameplay back then was better and I would say Masters 2024 Shanghai was the peak of my career.
