"It's my job to take care of everything" EG NaturE VCT Americas Pre-Season Exclusive Interview
Prior to the VCT Americas Kickoff tournament, Riot Games organized a pre-season media day, inviting some of the most noteworthy names in the industry. Strafe Esports received the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with new Evil Geniuses IGL Nicholas "NaturE" Garrison.
It's Not Easy Being Evil
After Evil Geniuses disbanded most of their championship-winning 2023 roster, the organization has managed to cobble together quite the team heading into the 2024 VCT Season. At the helm of this team stands newly appointed In-Game Leader Nicholas "NaturE" Garrison. Coming into the fray after a brief off-season stint with 100 Thieves, NaturE is ready for the new challenges ahead.
"To win as much as possible... I feel like our expectations is to still qualify for Madrid and qualify for all the other events, nothing less. "
[Interviewer] Happy New Year, 2024! Everyone has expectations for this new EG team, so I would like to know what your expectations are leading into this season in 2024.
[NaturE] I mean, to win as much as possible, to be honest. I feel like this year was kind of weird for pretty much every team because a lot of the really good teams got their team very late on in the end of the season, the offseason rather. So, I feel like not many teams have over-practiced more than even some of the teams that just started.
We started [at the] beginning of January with Derrek, since we had lost our C0M, and then we got Derrek, so we started beginning of January. I feel like we kind of started with everybody else anyway, so I feel like our expectations is to still qualify for Madrid and qualify for all the other events, nothing less.
[Interviewer] What are your thoughts on this new format and the scheduling around this format?
[NaturE] I feel like I'm off and on. I think that Madrid, just the qualifier in general, is a little different. I would have much rather had the playoffs where it's not single elims.
Those teams I probably, I think, deserve double elims, but other than that, it's okay. They always try to do different types or styles of events and stuff like that. So, I mean, they're just trying it out. So it's not the worst thing in the world for me. For the regular season, I feel like a lot of us players are pretty happy because the games aren't so early.
Seems like they're going to be around a little later, and I think that's where we all catch our Ws as players: that we're down to have early afternoon games instead of more in the morning. Other than that, the schedule, from what I've been told, it's still pretty similar to how the first split was ran, so I think it's fine.
[Interviewer] Do you have anything special planned for this season? Do you have specific stats or things like that in mind—special comps or maybe something that you can use to put your opponents off kilter?
[Nature] I feel like everybody, especially after the Skye nerfs and everything, is going to bring stuff that’s not been seen before, especially since last year. So, I think yes. That’s probably all I would say. But I feel like everybody has that right now.
There will be off-branded comps from pretty much every team playing this year.
[Interviewer] As far as I know, you haven't played with any of these players before coming into EG, so being thrust into this new roster as an IGL, how do you manage to adapt to the playstyle of your teammates?
[NaturE] There's definitely a balance within the team and how I got used to playing with them. I feel like it wasn't very hard at all. Just because we are five good individual players, we can do a lot of things individually. You know, the bumps in the road is making sure that we're on the same page, for the most part.
I don't really think that we've had many, many issues. Once we've talked about it, getting on the same page in certain situations. I feel like a lot of teams are kind of buying into the system of, ‘you have an idea for the round and how it's going to play out’, but people do their own individual stuff. And that's kind of how Valorant has turned into for a lot of the squads.
So it's a little bit easier for me to go into this team. As long as I have trust in all the players, and I do. So, it's been pretty good so far.
[Interviewer] Even though it's not the same roster as last year, you still have Jawgemo and Potter on your team. Does that put a little bit of pressure for you to hold on to that Championship?
[NaturE] Even if I have Jaw or Potter, even if I had three or four of them, I feel like this game changes so much that no, I don’t really have pressure on me. I also feel like the public kind of makes us at EG not really have pressure because, you know, there’s some definitely mixed feelings. There’s not a million people saying, like, oh, this team has to win again this year, right? So there's not really pressure from that end. I don't really feel pressure for myself.
If anything, I'd be okay with it. It's my job to take care of everything, the pressure and bring us all the way up. So, not really.
I'm just glad to have them, right? They've been in situations that were, you know, their season almost ended with them doing nothing, and then they went all the way to the top. So, those types of situations are stuff that we can be provided now as the four new players. Having those two know what the bottom feels like and then rise up.
[Interviewer] You mentioned the underdog run that EG had. Do you feel that it is easier now that you have the experience of Jaw and Potter, that it helps the team at all?
[NaturE] Oh, 100 percent. I think it helps the team, especially Jaw in-game, you know, he's going to be the vibe guy for sure. You know, he's been under multiple pressuring situations on stage and stuff like that. We have Apoth that hasn't even played on stage, really. So, having a player like that is really nice. You know, I have my games on stage, but just a few. So, for him to have that amount of experience is really, really important.
New Team, New Faces, New Challenges
Before joining this EG team as an IGL, NaturE has had a bit of experience making mid-round calls and even being a full-fledged IGL in the past. Although these experiences might've been short-lived, they still add to the arsenal of strategies that is expected of an IGL. With Jawgemo and Potter also present to help the squad when necessary, he feels that his task has become just that much easier.
I kind of learned in my time with 100 Thieves... that a much looser style worked for a lot more players.
[Interviewer] You mentioned your stage experience. You've played in teams like TSM and Gen.G, and even a brief stint in 100 Thieves, as short as it may have been during the off-season. Were you an IGL in any of these teams?
[NaturE] IGL, not really on TSM. I did it just for a few days. But I was mid-rounding for the majority of that time there. And then gMd or hazed were both IGLs But I would always, mid-round, always give my input, no matter what.
Gen.G, no, I was IGL when I was on stage, but I did it for, like, probably eight months after LCQ, when we got rid of koosta.
100 Thieves, I IGL-ed for the sub-in, correct, on stage.
[Interviewer] With all of that experience under your belt, how do you think this current roster is different? How do you think they will adapt, based on your previous experiences, different from TSM, Gen.G and 100 Thieves? How do you think this team adapts and acclimatizes to your calling?
I feel like it's a bit of a hard question. I feel like if I were to say, how they were different to my time at Gen.G, I feel like we tried to do very, very structured stuff. And it was hard for some of the players to fall key by key. And I feel like I kind of learned in my time with 100 Thieves, especially since I was the full caller, that a much looser style worked for a lot more players.
I feel like the players that we kind of picked up are, like I said, are very, very good individually, but they also come very, very well in their individual spots. So I am the main caller, but kind of what strides us different is there are a lot of people that are willing to call the round for me. We listen on both sides of the map. Which is something that sounds so basic, but can be very, very difficult in times. So that would be probably the one thing that would stand out with the squad.
[Interviewer] You also mentioned that you were mid-round calling in the past. Do you still do that, or do you hand out the responsibilities to someone else entirely?
[NaturE] I'd probably say I'm majority, and then the rest of them will give their rounds, or if they have a play, like, they will take over the round 100%. But, yeah, majority is probably me for mid-rounding.
Going in-depth on the State of the Game
An IGL's insights into the recent changes in Valorant really offers a different perspective on things. Especially with quite a few changes being introduced just before the start of the season. Having to adapt himself and his team around these changes, NaturE shares some of his thoughts with us before parting ways.
[Interviewer] I would like to know your thoughts on the new map pool. Haven and Pearl being moved out, and what are your thoughts on that? Have any of your comps changed, any of your strategies, or your map picks?
[NaturE] Well, not to say too much. I'll talk about the maps being taken out. I think Haven is a pretty insane takeout.
I think the map is definitely needed to take out, but it's a pretty big pillar of a map, you know? If I think about the map pool, I would always think Haven is in it. So it's definitely a big change for a lot of the teams. A lot of the teams were very, very good on it because they had so many reps on it. So as a new team, to be able to take that map out feels really, really nice.
Also, we didn't really like the map, it’s okay for us. We didn't really like it that much. So that was a big, a pretty big change.
Along with Pearl, it's been out for so long that it's so-so.
I feel like Haven was, like, the biggest change for us. And it was a positive change for a lot of us. We were like, ‘oh, okay, we're down.’ We haven't done too much on this, so we're okay with it. Other than that, our map pool and stuff changing, it's not insane. I feel like every single team, we still have a couple weeks before we even play. A lot of these teams have started from so far back. So, most people are playing all the maps. They don't really have a perma-ban right now.
[Interviewer] What are your thoughts on the remakes of the maps, like Lotus and Icebox?
[NaturE] Yeah, Lotus, Breeze, Icebox, the remakes. I mean, I like the majority of them. I think the Breeze remake was okay. The halls changed where the door was open, I didn't really like that much. But I like that halls wasn't an open area. They kind of just brought it back for no reason, I thought. So, I was like, ‘oh, okay’. And now we have to kind of change the way we play this map again, which is a little bit frustrating. But that's how I feel about the changes. The mid changes weren't too, too crazy. I think B, it gets a little crazy with the crate and the box in the back and stuff like that. So, it's just stuff you have to get used to.
So, Lotus, I like the changes a lot so far. They feel pretty good on both sides, to be honest. I feel like the map isn't perma-attack-sided now. I think defense has some ratty, sneaky things that they can do now to win rounds out. So, it's pretty nice.
Icebox, the change didn't really change the map that much, in my opinion. I don't think, like, any of the changes are too crazy. I guess people would think about the tube window, but the tube window is just, you don't pre-aim anything when you're rotating from spawn as a defender. So, now you just have to pre-aim something. I don't think it's that big of a deal.
[Interviewer] Cypher got a buff, and then Killjoy and Skye got nerfed quite recently. What are your thoughts on these agent changes?
[NaturE] So, the one change I'll talk about, the other agent changes, you know, I think our Gecko got a little bit of something, too. Not in this most recent one, but, with the new flash and stuff like that, he's become very, very strong.
Along with the Skye nerfs are pretty rough, I'm not going to lie. Non-rechargeable utility, you know, I've played my fair bit just in ranked and stuff like that, but it feels very, very bad. The dog change I thought was like, you know, this happened a few patches ago, where, once you bite, you can't move it around. I was like, ‘okay, that's, like, a decent-sized nerf’. It's not the end of the world, the character's still fine, but then the flash nerf really hurt.
The automatic popping, I actually think people complained about a little too much, because I think you can still fake flash and it's just fine. If anything, there are a lot of times that you fake flash, and then the anti players will peek after you kill the guy that you fake flashed. But now the pop doesn't actually pull your gun out or anything like that. It's kind of like tech, but people have figured it out, so that's why I don't think it's too bad.
You just place your fake flash in areas that will still blind the people that are playing anti. So the change, you can still outplay people, so I didn't actually mind that change that much. But just in the ability not recharging, I think the character is kind of D-tier now. It's definitely not very good.
[Interviewer] Do you think these agent changes are going to affect any of your team compositions on EG, or are these changes just not impactful enough to warrant any changes in your current strategies and plans?
[NaturE] I wouldn’t say for sure that it’s changing our comps. But I would say that we are exploring different things. Because we don't know, nobody knows for sure what's the best right now. Because the nerfs kind of happened in, maybe it's been a week, and I feel like people are still exploring other stuff. Every single day we play against a comp, we're like, ‘oh, okay’, I mean, ‘maybe it will work, and we'll see how it plays against us’, right? So, I wouldn't say for sure if it's changing our comps or we're changing stuff like that, but we're doing our due diligence and exploring.
[Interviewer] Thank you very much. That was my last question for you. Thank you for agreeing to this interview, and I hope you have a good day ahead.
For more information on the VCT Americas Kickoff, check out Strafe Esports' piece on the Format, Schedule, Teams and more. If one of the other Kickoffs catches your fancy, we also have previews for EMEA, Pacific, and China. As an additional bonus, you can catch the VOD for the interview on our new YouTube channel. Also, check out our tier list for the 33 partnered teams (VCT China notwithstanding) heading into 2024's season.
Featured Image Source: TSM // VALORANT Esports
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