“Our Goal is to continue to grow as a Team” T1 Carpe talks about VCT Pacific expectations
In the third week of VCT Pacific, T1 took on Paper Rex. Going into the game T1 looked like a stronger team and were undefeated in the league. The game started on Pearl where Paper Rex’s unrivaled chaos took T1 by surprise and they couldn’t hold onto the sites. T1 lost the first map. Going into the second map, T1 answered strongly but PRX’s defense once again bested T1 leading to a 0-2 loss for them. After the game, Strafe had an opportunity to interview Lee “Carpe” Jae-Hyeok. In an exclusive one-on-one interaction with T1 Carpe, he talks about the team, adjusting to the game and VCT and more.
Q. What do you think went wrong in the game?
T1 Carpe: “I made some mistakes with the basics in the game. Paper Rex were able to play their own kind of game which gave them the win today.”
Q. After the slow start to the team, you started the season really well and are looking to be one of the strongest teams in the Pacific. What did you(T1) change?
T1 Carpe: “We looked back at our mistakes during Lock//in and we prepared the different team plays for upcoming matches and then in the beginning we did really well. But it didn’t work out for us today. But Hopefully we will be able to learn from today’s mistakes and get better in the upcoming matches.”
Q. How are you adjusting to Valorant?
T1 Carpe: “Valorant is similar to Overwatch, with different skills and maps. But one thing about Valorant is that it is similar to CS:GO. Right now I am trying to adjust to the game and adjusting to the VCT”
Q. You played a lot of DPS in Overwatch, Why did you switch over to the Initiator role in Valorant?
T1 Carpe: “First of all it was the decision for me to be the initiator was decided by me and the team. In the past, I have played a lot of DPS in overwatch but what makes me different is that I knew the basics and did the shot calls and made sure that my teammates were aware of what was happening in the map”
Q. You switched to controller for the first time on Fracture, How was it different from initiators?
T1 Carpe: “I played the controller role today for the first time. Brimstone as a controller I had a good understanding of it. We prepared for it well but it didn’t play out well”
Q. What are your thoughts on the newest agent Gekko?
T1 Carpe: “I think Gekko is a good agent. I think the teams are not really sure how the teams will incorporate it in the team composition. But we are looking into it”
Q. What are your thoughts on GenG as an opponent? How’d you prepare for them?
T1 Carpe: “I think GenG is a big competitor for us. They are like a big challenge like Paper Rex today, we’d look back on our mistakes of today and work on it”
Q. What are your expectations from the season of VCT Pacific?
T1 Carpe: “Our Goal is to continue to grow as a team. We may not be perfect but by the time it is Masters and Champions we are in the perfect form and go further in the competition.”
Q. Who do you think will be your toughest competition from the rest of the season?
T1 Carpe: “All the teams playing are our biggest competitors but DRX has been exception so I think they’d be our biggest competitor”
T1 will face GenG next in the VCT Pacific Week 4. GenG is a fellow Korean team who had a bad start but started VCT Pacific in good condition. GenG are undefeated in the competition. They will be T1’s litmus test before facing DRX in the forthcoming weeks. GenG themselves have yet to defeat the “STRONG” team. T1 will be the start of a pretty rough series of weeks for GenG too.
VCT Pacific action resumes with Week 4 starting on 15th April. Follow VCT Pacific's Twitter for all the updates regarding VCT Pacific.
Credits: Riot Games // VCT Pacific
You can also follow VCT Pacific on Strafe.