"In a game like Valorant, where there are going to be a hundred agents at some point, you have to learn a lot more things than playing the one agent, one role" C9 Zellsis about playing multiple roles

Coming in as the heavy favorites to win the event, Cloud9 defeated Sentinels to play KRU in the Upper finals. After an intense best-of-three, Cloud9 lost to KRU after a dominant first map win. After the game, Strafe had an opportunity to sit down and chat with Cloud9's Jordon "Zellsis" Montemurro. Following is the complete transcription of the C9 Zellsis interview. 

Q.  Sorry about the loss. What do you think went wrong in the game?

C9 Zellsis: “I think with Pearl we just didn’t go with our original game plan and then they kinda hit a stride with momentum against us. Maybe we tried to do a little too much, like we kept playing into them rather than playing into us. I think maybe we were just overconfident. So I think that was kinda the issue for map 2.”

Q. Did you expect the Chamber-Killjoy composition on Haven at all?

C9 Zellsis: “Haven I don’t really know what the issue was, I have to go back. I know I died individually a couple of times on defense that kinda cost us. I think we expected a few comps out of them, we didn’t really know what they were going to exactly play but we had an idea. We kinda knew they’d play Chamber, maybe something else, you know. But we were ready.

Q. Anything that was especially troubling while facing KRU?

C9 Zellsis: “I wouldn’t say we were caught off guard with anything they were doing. We had an idea of everything they were doing. We just didn’t execute it very well. They're super confident right now so whatever they are doing just worked. I, myself individually, haven't been playing well. But those guys have been playing really well. I mean Klaus, Keznit have been dropping 20 kills a half, consistently. When you have someone doing that every single map, like NagZet on Pearl, I think he was like 16-1 at one point. When you have a player like that on any map, on any team, the game is going to go easier for your team because people pick up the little things. So that was the main reason, they were just shooting better”

Q. What was the focus on before coming into the LCQ?

C9 Zellsis: “I think we kinda focused on getting more compositions. Like today, you saw on Haven, we played a different composition than we usually do. I think the big thing for us, after we lost and took our break, was we just, We knew that we should’ve qualified, we were super close, like there weren’t any issues or problems. It was just like little things we weren’t doing, little things other teams were getting away with.

So we just wanted to iron that out, we just wanted to work on the little fundamentals, so those were like what wins you games not the big things. Obviously, we didn’t expect to go into lowers this early, I mean I expected us to go through grand finals, to be honest, not with ease but not with this much trouble. But we just gotta go back to the drawing board and then in four days show up again and make sure we are ready to play”

Q. In a previous interview, you told me that C9 as a team had a problem keeping up the spirits high during intense situations. Does that bother the team at all now?

C9 Zellsis: “I mean, it’s still, I mean our main issue still is energy and making sure everyone’s confidence. Like today, I hadn’t been feeling well which is no excuse but the team energy holds on me personally in the game because you know Matt is usually the other guy that helps with that but he can’t do that once we are on-stage or on the server. So a lot of those rides on me, making sure everyone is talking, making sure the energy’s high, making sure everyone’s confident. I couldn’t do that today, during pearl and after on haven, and then I haven’t been playing well individually either, so it’s just really hard. Next match I will make sure I am there for my team, making sure that I am playing better and making sure the mood is higher.”

Q. Do you think a fixed role might help you individually to perform better?

C9 Zellsis: “I mean I don’t agree with the whole thing like if you are a duelist main, you can’t play Sentinel or something like that. There are always ways to learn and always ways to play different things. Especially in a game like Valorant, where there are going to be a hundred agents at some point, you have to learn a lot more things than playing the one agent, one role. Maybe if you are the best player in the world, you can play that one agent, that one role the whole time.

Personal Experience:

Personally, I don’t think I have a playstyle problem with any agent I play with, I think I am flexible and I can learn anything. If you give me two days of scrimming, I can learn any agent, I always try to be like super open minded with the agents I play, especially with the guys in the future I want to be able to fill the gaps in the future and play the roles I need to play for the team and be really good at it so we can be more flexible and people can play more comfortable agents. If, me playing Harbor on one map and KJ on another, Cypher or whatever the agent might be on the map, If that allows Xeppa, leaf, jakee or runi to play other roles or different roles then I am okay with playing any role.

I just have to make sure, I need to get my utilities right, I have to make sure I am not making any game changing mistakes. I have to make sure I am looking at my percentages when I make a play because usually you know, it’s me doing my thing and they are relying on me so I need to make sure I have higher percentages. But I don’t really see an issue with playing different agents, I used to do that back in the day when I went from Raze to a killjoy so I don’t have an issue with that”

Q. What are your thoughts on the recent Chamber picks by multiple teams?

C9 Zellsis: “I think it is kinda like a pocket pick, I wouldn’t say, I mean with some teams you might see it become like their main comp. I think a lot of teams would do pocket picks with it unless they have, you know, a one trick Chamber or what not, they can make it work on a certain map.

KRU does a really good job with playing Daveeys on the Chamber and the other maps, they change things, I think they do a really good job with that. It will be the case with other teams, they’d be like, We are going to change one thing and we’d bring in Chamber. I don’t think he is as op as he was or as bad as he was and you can get away with it but I still don’t think he is in the middle of the bounds of playing or not playing. He still needs a little bit of a buff for something to be playable. I just think Jett is like, I still think Jett is like superior”

Q. Who’d you rather face Leviatan or Sentinels?

C9 Zellsis: “I would rather play Sentinels just so I could get more clout. I am gonna be honest, I am gonna be egotistical, I don’t think we are losing to either Sentinels or Leviatan. I think we are good on every single map so a best of five favors us heavily. We just have to make sure that we come energy high, we come confident, we don’t let off the gas pedal after the first map. We just gotta make sure everyone’s talking and everyone’s confident”

Despite their attempts, Cloud9 eventually were eliminated from the LCQ in the game against Leviatan. The VCT Americas LCQ saw two LATAM team battling it out to secure Valorant Champions. You can follow the updates regarding the same on VCT NA twitter. 

Credits: Riot Games // VCT Americas 

You can also follow VCT Americas on Strafe.