"All the Fans are Stupid" — NRG ardiis Ahead of VCT Americas Final vs LOUD
NRG is headed to the finals of VALORANT Champions Tour: Americas 2023. After losing the first round of the playoffs to a surging Evil Geniuses this past Tuesday, NRG continued their trend of beating opponents in a rematch and took a 3-1 victory over EG in the lower bracket final. NRG will face LOUD in the finals, but regardless of the result, both teams, as well as EG, will be competing at VCT Masters: Tokyo next month and VCT Champions in August.
After the win over EG, Ardis "ardiis" Svarenieks sat down with Esports Illustrated to discuss the playoffs of VCT Americas, the changes he and his teammates made that led to NRG’s late-season surge, and the upcoming finals match against LOUD.
Today was a pretty close series until that last map. How did the match go compared to your initial expectations?
I knew we were going to win. We threw the last series against EG, and we should have 3-0'd this one. Before the series, I said to Crashies, 'Listen, I know we're going to win. I'm confident we're going to win. We're 100% in the final.' Maybe it was a bit of overconfidence, but it worked, so who cares? I think EG got overconfident after map 1. They won map 1 and thought they would win the whole thing, so I think there might have been a bit of overconfidence on their side as well.
NRG has been praised by many an analyst for being a great "rematch team" due to your knack for making adjustments before facing an opponent again. Were there things you learned in your last playoffs match against EG that helped here today?
No. Honestly, I think we should have won that first series. We didn't change that much for today because we knew what we had done before was good. The main reason we lost was that we won six pistol rounds, but we got anti-eco'd three times. So we had to make sure to focus on these rounds. I think we only lost one anti-eco today. It's a big difference I think.
This is the first best-of-five series in VCT Americas. Did that change the preparation or match flow from your side?
It didn't change preparation because we already had our stuff prepped from the last time we played EG. We knew what our plan was and what we were going to do to win. The only thing is that it's better knowing that when you turn up at the arena, you play.
Sometimes, when you're the second match of the day, you come here, get warmed up, and then suddenly the first match is a three-map thriller that goes to overtime and you're suddenly out of the mood. What I like about best-of-fives is that when you come here, you're the only game that day. As soon as you come here, you get ready, and you play.
It was a great performance for your team today, but you specifically were highlighted for how well you played individually today. What factors do you think led to such a strong match from you today?
I don't think I changed that much, to be honest. I think, sometimes, shots just go your way. I just do the job for my team so we can win. When things work, it looks very good, but when it doesn't work, you get the flame.
That's how the season goes — when you lose, everyone's like 'Oh, ardiis is s**t, he can't do that' and when things work well, everyone goes, 'Oh, ardiis is the best' so I think I take it all with a grain of salt. It's nice to hear it, but it doesn't really affect me. I don't really care.
NRG came into this spring considered the best NA team in VCT Americas, and then you had a really slow start, but now here you are in the finals. Was there a turning point in the season that caused the turnaround, or was it just a matter of your team gelling more over time?
Photo by Tina Jo/Riot Games
I think the turning point was when we were 1-3 in the regular season. We were 1-3 because we just kept testing new stuff. Everyone was playing an off-agent and things in different roles, and at 1-3, we realized that if we kept going that way, we probably wouldn't make playoffs.
Obviously, our goal going into this season was to win the whole thing, but when we were 1-3 and at the bottom of the league, we were like, 'Listen, we need to change something.' FNS and Chet just said we'd go back to the roles we know, and since then, everyone's been comfortable and performing well, so it's been good.
Your finals match against LOUD is less than 24 hours from now. What's next? Do you try and cram as much preparation as you can, or do you just get a good night's rest and show up feeling your best tomorrow?
Well, we've played four days in a row now. When we go home, we'll have one or two hours to ourselves. I'll go to the gym; other players will play ranked or just chill and have alone time. Everyone just does their own thing during those hours because right now we have a super busy schedule. Even in the regular season, we would only have one or two days off per month. It's been super busy, but I think most of the teams are kind of used to it.
You were the only team to beat LOUD in the regular season and you did so 2-0. How much of a factor will that past result be in the finals tomorrow?
I don't think it's that big. I think it's nice to have because we know we can beat them, but at the end of the day, it's just about who's going to perform on the day. I think they have a big veto advantage, so that might help them a lot, to be honest. They can ban two of our best maps, but I think it's going to be a good series.
Does knowing you already qualified for Tokyo take any pressure off of your team's shoulders heading into this match?
Photo by Tina Jo/Riot Games
Our focus is definitely tomorrow's match, but winning against C9 yesterday was very big for us as players mentally. It was very stressful. When we won yesterday, I was more relieved than I was happy because we had made it to Tokyo and to Champions. It's very hard to get to those events, and the fact that we qualified for both after beating Cloud9 yesterday was a relief.
We all knew we could do it — we know that we're good players and a good team — but there was that mental stress of knowing that you have to win. After that, I was just relieved.
I'll let you decide who to address to close out the interview: Would you like to say something to your faithful supporters who never doubted you, or to those who you've proven wrong in the playoffs of VCT Americas this past week?
Listen, all the fans are stupid. *laughs* When a team wins, they love them; when a team loses, they hate them. There's a lot of recency bias when it comes to fans. If you support me, thank you, but if you don't...God Bless.
