"At the end of the day it was just people playing bad and not hitting shots." Ethan on Evil Geniuses loss

100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses went face to face in their hunt for the first win at VCT 2023 - Americas League but in the end it was 100 Thieves that prevailed. THESPIKE.GG was granted the opportunity to conduct an interview with Ethan "Ethan" Arnold and Kelden "Boostio" Pupello breaking down their thoughts on the game, coming off a loss, individual performances and more.

Ethan and Boostio explain reasons behind loss

THESPIKE.GG: That was quite an unfortunate loss. What were the emotions running like immediately after the result became apparent?

Boostio: I mean it sucks to lose and everyone feels bad. But I still believe that we are still early in the season and only two matches have passed by so it shouldn’t be that big a deal. That being said, everyone is disappointed with the result but are finding ways to move past it.

Ethan: Frustrated. I know that it is still early to be too concerned but losing does not feel good. I believe we can come back from this though.

THESPIKE.GG: You guys were coming off a loss against Cloud9 just last week. This loss puts you at an even worse position. Do you think there will be more pressure to perform in the coming weeks?

Boostio: As I mentioned earlier, it is still early in the season so I don’t think there will be a ton of new pressure. We will try to take each match as is and try to win two matches to draw the record and see our path from there.

Ethan: I believe that it definetely adds more pressure, but not too bad considering that it is still early in the tournament. There’s a set number of games we need to win to make the playoffs and that's our focus right now.

THESPIKE.GG: Where are some of the areas you think the game went south, both on Haven and Icebox?

Boostio: I think we were tied by the first half on Haven, but then lost the pistol round and then the round after. After we were down 8-6, they had enough money to buy good guns and it all went downhill from there. On Icebox, we won the pistol round but then we lost the Anti-eco. Losing an anti eco is very bad for the momentum because you essentially had a free ride that you couldn’t capitalize on. However, I have to say that their omen comp is extremely effective, and they played the map well. The omen introduces a lot of control, different from normal base comps. All I can say is that they played the map well.

Ethan: Our pistol rounds are a hit and miss, but the rounds after are especially terrible. On Haven, the second half pistol essentially took away a good chance for winning the map, and on Icebox losing the second round after pistol was just terrible. Apart from that it was just a bad showing from us, people were playing well off each other and that’s something we need to work on as a team.

THESPIKE.GG: Do you have any thoughts on Icebox leaving the map pool, considering that you were unable to establish a good score on it

Boostio: Not really. I don’t mind it as much. I mean we are not the best on it but that’s pretty much it.

Ethan: I know a lot of people don't like Icebox, so I personally think that's it not the worse news that its leaving the pool.

THESPIKE.GG: Any thoughts on Bind coming back?

Boostio: Well, Bind’s interesting. Personally, I am divided into liking Bind and disliking it. It has some features that make it a very good map. I mean I don’t really know when it’s going to be in VCT and we can actually play on it so I don’t have a lot of thoughts on it.

Ethan: I personally don’t like Bind. I know a lot of people do but I think that it is kind of glitchy and does not sit well.

THESPIKE.GG: If you were to rate your individual performance on a scale of 1-10, what would you give it and why? especially after a slump last week

Boostio: A five probably. My calling on Haven was not up to the mark, and there were a couple of rounds where the loss was entirely on me. Even on the anti-eco round, I was amongst the first players to die, granted Stellar hit an amazing shot, I could’ve done better. Losing an anti eco is never good.

Ethan: I would maybe give myself a five or a six. There were things I could’ve done otherwise but at the end of the day, VALORANT is a team game and if one player is doing good without any support it is going to be meaningless. At the end of the day it was just people playing bad and not hitting shots.

THESPIKE.GG: If I am correct, this was one of your first times trying out Skye with Evil Geniuses? Do you think that change was impactful?

Ethan: Skye is very good and can be extremely useful to any lineup if its played properly. But for it to work you need an entire comp supporting it.

Make sure to check out our VCT 2023 Hub for all the information about the VALORANT events this year.