Living A Dream — Why Pressure Drives C9 jakee To Be Great
- C9 vs NRG VALORANT match sets up a battle for the final spot at VCT Masters Tokyo.
- Who is the favorite going into the C9 vs NRG VALORANT match?
- What does s0m have to say about the team’s loss to Evil Geniuses?
- When will the C9 vs NRG VALORANT match take place?
Los Angeles, California — Cloud9’s Jake “jakee” Anderson walks out onto the VCT Americas League stage to a sea of supporters donning the iconic blue and white colors that have become synonymous with Cloud9 right before their series against Leviatán.
Yet, something that could not be ignored was that playing against Leviatán was not an expected set of events for those who followed Cloud9 throughout the VCT Americas League season. After their 8-1 regular season performance, Cloud9 were expected to qualify for VCT Masters Tokyo through their series against Evil Geniuses.
Instead, Cloud9 found themselves stunned by Evil Geniuses as the scrappy underdogs secured their spot at VCT Masters Tokyo. As a result, Cloud9 went into this series against Leviatán looking to fix the thing they struggled with most against Evil Geniuses, their mentality.
“We took a big mental reset after the EG series,” jakee shared. “It wasn’t like our strats or anything that was lacking. Mentally, we were just really nervous and felt off.”
Cloud9's Morning Routine To Beat Leviatán
Cloud9 after their win against Leviatán.
The VCT Americas League playoff schedule puts all teams in tricky situations where small fixes need to be prioritized over major changes. So, going into yesterday’s series against Leviatán, Cloud9 placed priority on making sure their morning routine was in check to mentally reset and get their mind in a healthy spot. This was something that jakee highlighted as a major shift from their preparation before Evil Geniuses.
“Before Evil Geniuses, we didn’t do a morning workout or place priority on getting our minds right. So going into Leviatán, we really put emphasis on the morning workout,” jakee said. “All of the team was there for this workout, we were all working together, did our usual routines, which really helped us a lot today.”
While Cloud9’s emphasis on non-game-related aspects of competition really helped the team pull out a victory against Leviatán, jakee highlighted Jordan “Zellsis” Montemmuro as a big catalyst for the team’s success that day.
“Our confidence was through the roof today and everybody was shooting,” jakee said. “Zellsis was probably the biggest part of why we played so well, though. He helped us mentally reset all of last night and he was helping with a lot of the calling today.”
Regardless, jakee was the top performer statistically across all three maps in the C9 vs LEV VALORANT match boasting a 1.21 Rating and 51 kills. His play on Omen opened up many scenarios for Cloud9 to win clutch rounds that ultimately helped him lead the team to a match with NRG later today.
When asked what helped unlock this level of play, it was again about fixing the things outside of playing VALORANT.
“I used to take a lot of caffeine in order to play, but I noticed myself have low energy after crashing which created a lot of nervous energy,” jakee explained. “But today, I didn’t take anything at all and I just felt amazing and on top of the world.
Pure Love For VALORANT Drives jakee's Work Ethic
Cloud9 after a victory in the VCT Americas League playoffs.
For most, the pressures to make VCT Masters Tokyo under a rigorous schedule of nonstop games can break even the best VALORANT players. Yet, for jakee, it’s moments like these that reaffirm his passion and love for VALORANT.
“Honestly, I kind of like it,” jakee laughed before explaining his reasoning. “I really love the playoff schedule of being able to play back to back to back because I just love playing and thinking about this game so much. I want to dedicate my life to this game because I am in love with it.”
He shared his 16-hour schedule built around constantly improving as a player not because he is forced to do it, but because he “truly loves it”. This natural love for competition has created a system where he embraces the natural stresses of being a pro-VALORANT player.
“It’s just fun and it will never stop being fun for me,” jakee said. “I’m living a dream out here and it’s wild to say I get to do this for a living. That alone makes me want to give this game my everything.”
Cloud9 vs NRG for VCT Masters Tokyo
Cloud9 will match up against NRG where the stakes couldn’t be higher for both teams. Winning today means a spot at VCT Masters Tokyo and VCT Champions 2023 while losing means you drop into the Last Chance Qualifier.
For jakee, he had one final message to send to the VALORANT community before getting ready for that series.
“Qualifying for Tokyo is everything and I want to send them home more than anything,” jakee said. “That’s pretty much it.”
