FURIA qck: “I’m only 18 so we are going to learn with this tournament and vie for the future.”
FURIA Esports was eliminated from the 2021 Valorant Champions tournament by losing to KRU Esports 2-1. Despite trouncing KRU’s surprise moves in certain portions of the series such as winning the Latin American representative’s selection of Fracture for Map 1, FURIA couldn’t muster enough strength to win as they fell in Ascent and Haven in consecutive fashion to return home much earlier than anyone in the team anticipated.
Among FURIA’s lineup was Gabriel “qck” Lima, who recorded a 218 ACS, 54/47/14 KDA, and team-high 7 +/- with Cypher, Sage, and Skye in the series against KRU. From being a primary duelist at the start of his Valorant career to being a supportive member in FURIA, qck experienced one of the most intriguing careers in all of the VCT this year, which undoubtedly reached a peak by appearing in Champions, Valorant’s world championship event. Unfortunately, playing in two matches was as far as it went for qck, but having tasted bitter defeat while also identifying his fatal flaws during the tournament, he will begin work to improve himself for a better chance of going further for next year.
Following the defeat to KRU, The Click spoke with qck for an interview about the series he just played, his reflection on the 2021 season, his future, Brazil’s chances of succeeding in Champions with their remaining representatives, and much more.
FURIA qck on series against KRU
I offer my commiserations for the loss against KRU Esports. I’d first like to know your initial reaction after being eliminated from Champions.
FURIA qck: It’s a very bad feeling. However, it’s just the beginning of Valorant tournaments so we will have many other opportunities going forward since I’m very young. I’m only 18 so we are going to learn with this tournament and vie for the future.
You were a part of a very entertaining series so I’d like to talk a little bit about that. First off, in Map 1, you played in Fracture, a recently introduced map. Were you surprised by the Fracture pick made by KRU and what was FURIA’s strategy behind their agent composition in the map?
FURIA qck: It was not a surprise for us actually. We had factored it as one of our own options as well. We think we played very well even though we had some turning points in this map that could’ve made the game easier.
KRU went on to win Map 2 which led to Haven, so what was FURIA’s approach for that map?
FURIA qck: Our play [in the map] didn’t work very well. We weren’t able to get some info nor deny info for the enemy team, so we believed we needed to improve on those fronts in the next few rounds on this map.
In Haven, you selected Skye for the second time in this tournament. Before Champions, you never picked her in any capacity so what made you want to select her for this map?
FURIA qck: This was actually a team decision. My agent was supposed to be a surprise for KRU, and since I’m a flexible player, I needed to make this kind of move.
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FURIA qck on the 2021 VCT season
Talking about your specific role on the team, you started off as a duelist and primarily played as Jett, and then when you joined FURIA, you moved into a more supportive role. What was the process like for you to go from being a duelist to being a supportive type of player?
FURIA qck: It was a very hard transition, but I thought that was necessary to the team so I gave all that I had to make it work and present the best situation and agent pool for the team.
Looking to the rest of the team, FURIA underwent a very eventful 2021 season. Although you were repeatedly on the brink of qualifying for the VCT Masters events, you weren’t able to do it at each occasion. How do you view the team’s year in general within the VCT?
FURIA qck: Even though it was a difficult year, the defeats we experienced enabled the team to evolve. I think that FURIA was the most regular team in the season so all the defeats ended up paying off for us. We are here [in Champions] and it was because of everything that happened in the season in addition to the learning we received from our failures.
Even though you are eliminated, do you view this appearance at Champions as solace due to the fact that you couldn’t qualify for prior VCT Masters events?
FURIA qck: Yeah, it was a great accomplishment for us to be in Champions. We could see that we are not at a low level. We could have won this championship. We were very close in the two games that we played so it was good to see the level that the team displayed.
FURIA is leaving this tournament much earlier than you or the rest of the team anticipated. Although this elimination is still very fresh in your mind, what is the biggest regret that you feel had it gone the way you wanted, you would’ve remained in contention for Champions?
FURIA qck: There are always some regrets in the path. However, we need to take this as a positive experience and try to get all the learnings even though we would’ve liked to redo certain things 100 times over.
FURIA qck on Brazil’s chances of winning Champions
As you leave, Team Vikings and Vivo Keyd remain in this competition. How do you view Brazil’s chances in this tournament with them still being alive?
FURIA qck: The teams are huge. I believe they have a chance to be the champions. Vikings showed that against Gambit yesterday. We saw that match and we could see the level that they are at, so I believe they could leave here as champions.
What will the future look like for qck? What is going to be the things that you will focus on to improve and make sure that such a result like what happened today doesn’t happen again?
FURIA qck: As an individual, I need to make some technical progress such as improving my aim. However, I believe our biggest mistake in Champions was not playing as a group so we need to play more as a team than what we did today.
