“I Deserve To Be Here.” Leviatán Tex 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 Leviatán member Ian “tex” Botsch.
New Year, New Expectations
Tex is one of the newest cadets for Leviatán in the new 2024 season, having joined in the off-season to bolster their forces. Having competed in the North American VCL in 2023, tex and his team – The Guard – found themselves ‘ascended’ after winning VCT Americas Ascension that same year, beating out M80.
Despite that, fate had other plans for the members of The Guard, and some of the members were picked up by G2 Esports – but not tex. Now, he finds himself on an Argentinian organization, set to compete in the same league as his former brothers.
“Some unexpected teams might randomly lose; it really only takes one game.”
[Interviewer] Happy 2024! How are you and your team feeling heading into this new season?
[tex] I think we’re all full confidence and I think we’re in a good place right now where we’re happy with how we’re progressing, and I think we’re here to play.
[Interviewer] Heading into this new season, what do you think of the current format, for Kickoff, the path to Madrid and then the regular season afterwards?
[tex] If I’m not mistaken after groups, it’s single elimination right? Yeah, so I just think that’s a little interesting. I think it would be better if it wasn’t single elimination right after the groups, but other than that, I think the format looks good.
Just regular groups into playoffs into finals.
So yeah, other than that, I think the single elimination is a little rough though. I think some crazy things might happen for this tournament. Some unexpected teams might randomly lose; it really only takes one game. So yeah, it’s interesting.
[Interviewer] Now that the Kickoff Groups have been revealed, many anticipate the most exciting matches to come from your group, where you have Sentinels, 100 Thieves, Loud, and of course Leviatán. What were your initial thoughts on the groups and your placing?
[tex] Umm, everyone says we got the hardest group, but I’m not too worried about it. If you want to qualify for Madrid, you’re going to have to beat most of the teams anyways, so, I’m really not too worried about the group.
I think we have a really good matchup against 100 Thieves. That will be a really good game for us. I think it will be a good first game for us.
I didn’t think I would get a super team first game, but I think 100 Thieves will be a good first matchup. Nothing is free, no team is free – we don’t think about it like that. We’re just going to do our thing against all these teams and make it out of groups.
Uncertainty, Challenges, The Struggle of the Climb
Ian “tex” Botsch began his career in the depths of Tier 2 VALORANT. Having played for several American teams, he eventually landed his big break with NRG. However, after NRG was made a partner as part of Riot Games’ new partner team scheme, tex found himself adrift.
He eventually landed on The Guard, where he proved himself to be a deadly adversary and a potent competitor. Along with the rest of the roster, they dominated the North American challenger scene. Moreover, they did the same at Ascension, with the finals coming down to the two best teams from the NA VCL.
“I couldn’t give it my 100%...”
[Interviewer] In preparation for this interview, I watched another one that you did shortly after joining Leviatán with Lucas Benaim, and in it you spoke about dipping into a new culture. I wanted to ask, how are you adjusting as a whole to the new environment. Of course, it has to be a fairly large adjustment, coming from the NA VCL.
[tex] I think I adjusted really well. I really love the Latin American culture. Some people tell me they think I should have been born in Latin America with the way I act and the way I vibe with my teammates. So overall, I think it’s been really good for me.
There’s definitely been some uncertainty for me at the beginning, you know, before I joined. Is this the right move? What if it goes wrong? What if the culture is too different?
I tried out with them, and the first day after I tried out with them, I knew I loved my teammates. We had so much fun that first day, and I feel like we instantly had chemistry. They made it pretty easy for me to just fit in.
[Interviewer] I see, I’m very glad to hear that. I’ve been following your career for a number of years now, and I wanted to ask you about your experience going through the NACL last year, through The Guard, coming through Ascension, and now playing in VCT Americas. What are your expectations for the season and the big shifts that you’ve undergone with this new arena you’re playing in now?
[tex] So yeah, it definitely feels nice to play matches on a stage and not just in my facility. It was kind of sad you know, missing VCT last year. For me personally, I gave it my 98%, but I couldn’t give it my 100% because I kind of felt bad being in challengers.
But I think it just feels amazing to be able to play onstage, all my matches are on LAN now. No more onliners just wide-swinging me now. That feels good. I mean it just feels amazing being in Tier 1.
It also felt amazing winning Ascension. It kind of gave me a feeling of ‘I deserve to be here’. It’s not like a ‘they picked me up and I got lucky’ kind of thing. It was not like I knew them. It was really based on just skill and what I bring to the team and my experience. So, overall, it feels good.
[Interviewer] You mention that you feel that you ‘earned’ the spot, but The Guard was already considered one of the best teams in NA – in terms of the NACL obviously – but also when compared to other NA Tier 1 teams. That’s not even considering that among the many Challenger Leagues, the NACL was likely the closest to Tier 1 in terms of distribution of talent. Do you think that all that considered, was there a jump between where you were last year and where you are now?
[tex] Yeah, I mean 100%. The competition is going to be way harder now, playing in Challengers, it just didn’t feel rewarding winning. Honestly, we expected to win everything.
So, when we did, it was like – yeah, we won, just like we said we would.
We won because we really were better than everyone else.
So, I would say the biggest jump now is just the Riot support and being on-stage, and just having harder competition and having something real to play for.
[Interviewer] Now you’re moving on to a different team now. Under the shotcalling of Kingg now, as well you now have a new coach, Goked. Last year when I spoke with Goked, he placed a lot of emphasis on his expertise as a tactical coach. Could you speak about your experience so far working with these two individuals?
[tex] So yeah, I think Goked brings a level of strategy to the team. Like he’s a really big part of it. He’s always bringing rounds; he’s always bringing his ideas. He’s always laying out how he thinks a round should go and he really brings most of our strats.
Kingg brings some too, and they kind of really work together to mold the team.
And I think working with Kingg has been amazing as well. I think he’s so gifted individually. As a player, he’s so gifted. He’s really smart too. It’s usually one or the other.
Either players are really gifted but might not be the most insane smartest player, or vice versa; and it really feels like Kingg has both.
That’s really rare, and it’s nice to have your leader like that, with that much talent and knowledge. Overall, them combining and working together, it’s been really good and they bring a lot to this team – I mean a lot.
The Perks of a Professional: In-Depth Takes from the Pros
When approaching any new changes to a game, one of the best people to ask for their opinion comes in the form of the best players. It makes sense when considering they would be the ones that have furthest honed their understanding of the game’s intricate mechanics and would therefore be in a prime position to offer commentary.
[Interviewer] I also wanted to get your thoughts on some of the in-game changes. Some of these changes do relate to you as you have played sentinels as your primary role. Of course, you are aware of the Cypher changes that have come through in the last couple of months and then the Killjoy changes as well. What are your initial thoughts on the overall strength of the sentinel role as a whole right now?
[tex] I mean, I think the sentinel role is in a really good spot right now. I wouldn’t say it’s broken, but I also wouldn’t say it’s underperforming.
I mean, I don’t really understand the Killjoy turret change, for example. That makes no sense. I feel like there’s a million other things in the game that you can fix. I don’t think the Killjoy turret was really the problem right now.
But that’s really not that big of a difference anyways. You can still do the same turrets and stuff. It’s just annoying now because like if you’re doing an on-the-fly turret, like it might randomly not hit a spot that you thought it would.
Added a little more randomness but also more skill. Now you really have to have an actual skill in putting your things down. But I think the role of sentinel is good now. The Cypher buffs were obviously really big, really huge for the agent, made it kind of meta on some maps now. But I think overall it’s in a good place.
[Interviewer] Do you think the changes were big enough to impact your own team’s choice of sentinel?
[tex] Yeah for sure, the Cypher and Killjoy changes have definitely impacted what we play and on what map. Definitely did a lot of experimenting with those two agents on maps where they might not be normal. Because of the new stuff you can do. The new tripwires you can do now was definitely the biggest change. So, I mean, definitely impacts comms and how we have to play against other sentinels, etc.
[Interviewer] Kickoff is reportedly going to feature the new post-patch Skye, with non-rechargeable flashes. Has this sudden change impacted the team in any way?
[tex] Uh yeah…I probably can’t say too much but it’s definitely weird for all teams, even people we scrimmed. There are random comps we’ve never seen before because of the Skye nerf. It’s definitely impacted the game a lot.
Skye was a very impactful agent, because it was basically an info initiator and a flash initiator in one. People would just put a Skye in their comps and it would kind of fix two holes that a comp might have.
Now you kind of have to deal with not having flashes or deal with not having info or play two initiators. It’s definitely impacted my team and other teams, a lot. So, it will be interesting after the patch is played in matches, those comps are going to get interesting.
[Interviewer] On the current map pool, Haven is out, Pearl is still out. Breeze and Icebox is back in. And there are the map changes, Icebox to a lesser extent but of course there are quite a few changes on Lotus. What are your thoughts on the current available map pool?
[tex] Yeah, I’m kind of sad that Haven’s gone. That was one of the maps that I felt really took a lot of skill as a team. You know having good rotations, having good setups, having good lurks. I think Haven was a big team-oriented map, so I think it being gone added a little bit of randomness to the game.
But for example, I think the Lotus changes were good, I really like the Lotus changes, I think the Icebox changes were ok. It’s not too different but it feels a little better playing. But I’m happy it’s back, I really enjoy playing Icebox. The changes were really good overall. I’m happy they realized Lotus was really rough before they fixed it. And I understand why they fixed it.
I think Riot only wanted one three-bombsite map in the pool. I’m sad they took Haven out for it but at least they fixed Lotus.
[Interviewer] Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak with you tex. Best wishes for your games and hopefully, we will get a chance to speak with one another again in the future.
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. Also, check out our tier list for the 33 partnered teams (VCT China notwithstanding) heading into 2024's season.
As an additional bonus, you can catch the VOD for the interview on our new YouTube channel.
Credit: Leviatan
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