[Exclusive]“We will beat whoever it is” 100 Thieves Asuna exudes confidence ahead of VCT Americas 2024 Kickoff

Valorant

12 Feb

Ganesh Jadhav

The VCT Americas Kickoff 2024 is on the horizon and as a prelude to the new season, Riot Games organized a Pre-Season Media Day featuring 1-on-1 interviews and press conferences.

During the aforementioned Pre-season Media Day, Strafe had the opportunity to converse exclusively with 100 Thieves' flex Peter "Asuna" Mazuryk.

The last standing member of the First Strike NA winning roster, Asuna has spent the majority of his Valorant career under the 100 Thieves banner.

Prelude to VCT Americas Kickoff

In the VCT Americas 2024 Kickoff, 100 Thieves are seeded into a group alongside Leviatan, LOUD and Sentinels, three heavy hitters. 100 Thieves are the underdogs of the group with significantly lower recognized firepower.

But Asuna, had some confident words for the tournament and games ahead. He emphasizes on the team's ability and their confidence to win the games.

"I don’t really care who, doesn’t matter to me, we will beat whoever it is. "

[Interviewer] 100 Thieves had a few member changes in the off-season. What are your expectation going into VCT 2024?

Expectations from the season will be making all the international tournaments.

[Interviewer] Kickoff has you (100 Thieves) seeded into a group that is deemed the toughest. What are your thoughts on the opponents, starting with Leviatan and then the rest in your group?

It’s exciting to play against good opponents. We will get the momentum going good after we beat them, I am excited.

[Interviewer] Who do you think would be your next opponent? Sentinels or LOUD?

I don’t really care who, doesn’t matter to me, we will beat whoever it is.

100 Thieves Off-Season Changes

During the 2024 off-season, 100 Thieves bolstered the Asuna, Bang, Cryo core with EG IGL-Coach duo in Boostio and Zikz, along with recent M80 member, eeiu. Asuna expressed his opinion on his new teammates ahead of the season.

"We will definitely be good"

[Interviewer] You have your new IGL in Boostio. How do you(Asuna) think he is fitting in with your core (Asuna, Bang, Cryocells)?

He’s been really good, we have been enjoying ourselves. He’s really funny, he’s really loud and brings a lot of confidence, instills a lot of leadership qualities in all of us, I think it's really important and we enjoy his company.

[Interviewer] 100 Thieves also has a new head coach in Zikz. How is his approach different from the previous Mikes?

Some of the fundamental things we have changed, how you play the game alter a little bit but overall it is pretty similar. But yeah like I said fundamental things, which are big changes and how we want to play. So we are starting with the groundwork and obviously there are small things and tweaks where we would obviously change but no.

Valorant is a game where you are gonna have an identity but the game’s still, there's a certain way to play a lot of situations but we are changing a lot of things as well.

[Interviewer] Another major change this year is eeiu coming in for derrek. What do you think about him? How is he fitting in?

I have known Dan (eeiu) for six years now, I am excited to finally play with him. I have always wanted to play with him ever since Valorant came out. He is really calm, cool, level-headed, and doesn't get nervous at all. So it will be exciting to play with him.

Overall he is the opposite of Boostio so it’s like yin and yang between the two of them.

[Interviewer] How do you think the current 100 Thieves is different from the 100 thieves of 2022, in terms of approach, communication, synergy, in-game attitude?

I have no idea, I think we will see in the matches when it comes. But for now, definitely being loud. Boostio is way louder as a person than anyone I have met. It will be really exciting to play with that because maybe I can bounce off of that and gain a lot more confidence.

So maybe confidence and literally being louder. I think he’s always speaking and giving ideas. But we will see how matches go. Only time will tell but we will definitely be good.

[Interview] During the LCQ last year, while talking to Derrek, he mentioned how you lost your coach at the start of the season and it affected your whole year. Now that you have a stable support staff, would you say there won’t be problems like the previous season?

Yeah, it was definitely unfortunate, we lost JamezIRL and I think he was really big when we were in Brazil.

He was a big help and helped us during the red bull tournament, he was really intelligent, really smart and he was also Boostio in a way, now that I think about it. Boostio is definitely loud as a player, but JamezIRL was extremely loud and he always pumped us up and everything.

I think we really needed him throughout the season, unfortunately something happened where he was let go. Now that we have two coaches it will definitely be a lot easier.

Most of all, a lot of times (during last year), we as players had to come up with strats and do a lot of server time. Mikes also did a lot of stuff but now that we have two coaches and a lot of people are giving ideas.

Me, Sean (bang) and Matt (cryo) are used to giving ideas, Dan (eeiu) also and same with Kel (boostio), should be pretty good but we’ll see how it goes. But I am really confident about this year.

The Meta Ahead of VCT 2024

The six month off-season warrants meta-altering patches. But for Valorant, the biggest change to the patch came with the Patch 8.01 that introduced significant nerfs to Skye, combined with changes made to Breeze, Icebox and Lotus with Patch 8.0 have shifted the meta in a different direction.

Asuna elaborates on his interpretation of changes and the meta during the interview.

"I think it will be a lot more balanced"

[Interviewer] Obviously you have transitioned seamlessly into more of a flex role in the last two years playing agents like Skye, Kay/O, Harbor etc. In the past few weeks, Skye has been nerfed substantially, how do you interpret this nerf?

I have never been a big Skye player, I haven’t abused that agent so I would say works out nicely. Dan (eeiu) also isn't a very big Skye player so it's fine for us.

I think her kit is still really strong for fast paced teams, you might want to play like that for one map or two maps.

It was a very big nerf but she still has her place in the meta, we’ll see if we run it but excited. It was a good change.

[Interviewer] How do you think the meta will shape up going into 2024?

I think it will be a lot more balanced, it won’t be anything like one agent is a lot stronger than the other but Cypher and Killjoy will have their fair share of maps where they are good, like Ascent will still be Killjoy, Breeze will be Cypher and stuff like that.

Obviously if a player is really good on Cypher like nAts, maybe they will run Cypher more often but yeah it’d be interesting to see how it shapes up.

[Interviewer] Cryocells was a really good Chamber during the agent's hey day. Do you think with the current state of the agent (pre-8.03 Patch), is there is a leeway for Chamber to find himself on a certain composition?

I have no idea! I have no idea! But y’all will find out on February 17th.

[Interviewer] What are your thoughts on the map pool? What are your thoughts on the Icebox’s return, the changes on the map?

I like Icebox, I think it’s good. The changes are definitely kinda weird but I really like playing the map every single time. Sunset’s added I think it is a really good map, we’re really good at it so it’d be exciting.

[Interviewer] Do you think the Icebox changes impact how people approach the map?

I think it will lead to the teams exploring mid a little bit more. Maybe the B site will be a lot harder to hold, very difficult to see. We are still testing things out a little bit more but we will see.

[Interviewer] What are your thoughts on the new Lotus?

I think the Skye nerfs definitely impact Lotus more than the map changes, Skye being nerfed and it was really big for information on the map. You might see a lot less Skye, a lot more other agents. Going away from double controllers towards more initiators, I am not too sure but I think it will be really interesting.

I think the map changes were really good on the map. It was very attacker sided, especially with the orbs, especially the b orb. I abused it a lot, spamming Raze ult, It was annoying playing defense on the map.

Now the B orb is gone, it definitely makes the map a little bit more balanced because attackers will get that orb for free.

[Interviewer] Which agent do you think we will see much more of in VCT 2024?

Gekko, you will see a lot more Gekko, with the buffs and Skye nerfs, Riots really forcing him. But we will see if few teams run it because you know it's very difficult to get full value out of his kit because you’d need the rounds to go longer, but we’d see.

Now you have the choice to run Gekko and make the rounds go longer or Skye and you can just run it down because now the skye flashes don’t recharge, but if you want to use them and the utils are really good to take a site.

I think you might see more of Kay/o on conventional maps because he is a strong agent right now. He is not a very strong agent in ranked but in pro matches he is very useful.

[Interviewer] Would we see Asuna dawn a new role? Or would you still play the flex role?

I don’t think I am playing more agents, just more of the agents I am known for.

VCT 2024 Format and Teams to Watch for during the season.

The VCT 2024 format was a hot topic not too long ago. Riot's schedule was subject of scrutiny and Asuna has his unique take on the subject! Additionally, he talks about his choice of teams to look out for in 2024.

"Am not gonna complain about it, I will work with what I was given"

[Interviewer] The VCT 2024 Season Structure was a center of conversation not too long ago. What are your thoughts on it?

I would always love to play more matches! Valorant’s my life, that’s what I have really. If there’s more games there’s more games, that’s how Riot made the league and I have got to do. Am not gonna complain about it, I will work with what I was given.

[Interviewer] Is there a particular team you are looking for? A team you are looking forward to facing in VCT Americas?

I think probably EG, they know what the winning formula is. They have players who have won in Jawgemo and Potter, they know what it takes to win. I know Derrek is insane at the game, I think EG will be a lot better than people think.

[Interviewer] Are there other teams similar to EG where people don’t expect them to perform as well?

I don’t know what people expect from these teams but T1 because they have rossy, he is also really good and very vocal and he has good ideas. If he has more time, he’d be good for them.

For EMEA I don’t really have much but I am curious how N4RRATE does. He played with Mad Lions and said a lot of good things about him when we were watching the games!

100 Thieves start their VCT Americas 2024 Kickoff journey by facing one of the strongest teams on paper in Leviatan, on 17th February 2024.

Follow the VCT 2024 action on Strafe.

For more information on the VCT Americas Kickoff, check out Strafe Esports' piece on the Format, Schedule, Teams and more. If one of the other Kickoffs catches your fancy, we also have previews for EMEA, Pacific, and China.

As an additional bonus, you can catch the VOD for the interview on our new YouTube channel. Also, check out our tier list for the 33 partnered teams (VCT China notwithstanding) heading into 2024's season.

Featured Image Credits: Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games