Boaster: “We were shooting, we just weren’t thinking”

Valorant

May 30, 2024

Lee Jones

A return to international competition for Fnatic hit a hiccup early on as a 2-1 loss to Gen.G immediately sent the EMEA champions to the VCT Masters Shanghai lower bracket. Speaking to the media in a post-series press conference, Fnatic players still seemed confident in their chances at the tournament and are looking ahead to their upcoming do-or-die series against FUT Esports.

Image credit: Riot Games

“We were definitely shooting, we just weren’t thinking.”

Asked about positives that could be taken from the series, IGL Boaster noted that Fnatic “could’ve won” and perhaps “should’ve won”.

“The positive is that in the lower bracket run we’ve just gotta grind out, and if we play them again I think we’re gonna beat them. Today I think we played really well up until we didn’t play really well.”

Image credit: Riot Games

“We weren’t in the flow state in terms of reading what was going on, what was abusing us on defence, and we weren’t taking risks or anything. We were kind of just doing our bits and bobs and just getting caught with our pants down.”

Boaster also spoke of first game ‘jitters’ given that Fnatic was returning to global play for the first time since Champions last August.

“Now we’ve got the first game out of the way I think it’s hopefully gonna be a lot nicer process for us and we can all just relax and start winning.”

Mindset and mental going into the Lower Bracket

Boaster was later asked about the team’s mindset heading into the lower bracket, where any subsequent defeats will mean elimination for the two-time global event winners.

“As soon as we get back we’ve gotta reset and get back on the grind. We’re not out of the tournament, and if you wanna go to the Mercedes Benz Arena and play in front of the big Chinese fanbase then this is it. We’ve come all this way – to lose now in a rubbish fashion is not what I signed up for. I wanna stay in it for the long run and I wanna win the trophy.”

“We’ve got to maintain positivity, keep the energy up. We’re not out of the tournament and when we get back into that room it’s no messing around. It’s full into full focus, fix what’s going wrong and let’s go into the game.”

“We were definitely shooting, we just weren’t thinking.”

Finally, on a positive update on the health issues faced by Leo, coach Elmapuddy insisted that “he’s fine”.

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