“There’s two different 100 Thieves,” Derrek on the team’s recent shortcomings

100 Thieves was the one team every NA VALORANT fan expected to be on top in 2023. They have shown signs of the greatness expected from them, but the VCT Americas standings do not represent that. Just ask Derrek "Derrek" Ha, who spoke with esports.gg after a Week 6 loss to LOUD.

After being another stepping stone on LOUD's way to an undefeated season, 100 Thieves has fallen to 3-4. Derrek gave us his perspective on the loss, his thoughts on a few key moments, and details regarding the team's apparent on-again-off-again nature.

"This was the first time 100 Thieves has suffered back-to-back losses during VCT Americas. With only a couple of games left in the season, are you guys sort of in crisis mode?"

Derrek: "Obviously, there's a lot of pressure to make playoffs and just win out, but we've been in this situation before. We've played with our backs against the wall in LCQ, and it just seems like we always tend to start tournaments slow. Towards the end we ramp things up and I'm pretty confident in the next two matches."

"Okay, so let's talk about Ascent. A simple question, what happened so that the team just couldn't get anything going in the second half on your attack?"

Derrek: "It just felt like we were giving them a lot of space to do what they wanted to do. A few rounds that they pulled out, stuff that caught us off guard, like when someone ran up A Main with a Judge and just destroyed our A Main default.

"There were rounds where we kind of miscommunicated. Aspas got an Op pick Mid and he wasn't traded. He literally jumped off Cat, got a pick Mid, and then still was not traded. Small things like that. They just add up and they make the score line look much worse than we felt it was."

"Then onto Split, it was obviously a much closer game. With LOUD's timeout before the final round, do you feel like 100 Thieves used that time wisely?"

Derrek: "I think we had a good plan. We were shifting them around the map a lot and we kind of had an idea of how they were playing. When it came down to it, less spammed two in the Mid smoke and it was just depressing from there. He just spammed two and then our Mid to B was just screwed from there."

"If there was one or two specific moments that you feel would've shifted Split in your favor, what would those be?"

Derrek: "Probably the 11:11 round where Aspas got one with the Shorty back site. Then Skye killed me. I think 9/10 times we get those trades pretty cleanly and we take the site, it's 12:11, and we probably close it out. It's just one of those rounds where they did their job and we didn't do ours."

"And regarding your performance. A lot of moments in VALORANT come down to timings and opportunities. With that in mind, how do you feel you did out there against LOUD?"

Derrek: "I think I did okay. I have have high expectations for myself. I called one or two rounds on Split that were very decisive and I think helped us get some rounds back. I called the round on attack when we Astra walled B. I called that one and then I also called another B pop. I think my mechanics today were a little better than okay. And then team play was a little better than okay, I'd say."

"After the loss to NRG, I spoke with bang and he said one of the main issues the team is facing is that you're not playing together. Not being on the same page and making little mistakes. Do you also believe that's the reason for 100 Thieves' shortcomings?"

Derrek: "Yeah, I mean again, there's two different 100 Thieves where it was the one that you get on Ascent and then the one you get on Split, where we're playing together. They might catch us off guard here and there, but usually our spacing is good, the comms are good, Peter's (Asuna) doing his thing going in first, just going crazy, and the trades go our way. Then you get the other 100 Thieves, you know, on Ascent. Just no spacing, communication might be a little iffy, and yeah, it shows."

"Is it something the team has made a point to work on and something you feel might be easily fixable?"

Derrek: "I wouldn't say it's easy. If we had the answer, we probably wouldn't be in this situation, but it's something you work on day by day. It is easy to say, 'We'll fix it, we'll fix it, we'll fix it,' but then you keep losing. It's like, 'Are you really fixing it?' I can guarantee we are doing our best to not let these things happen, but sometimes when the enemy makes a play and throws off your momentum, yeah, it seems like things don't go your way."

"Well, to end things on a positive note. With the league winding down, what is the bright side of your experience in VCT Americas thus far?"

Derrek: "I think the bright side is just honestly the fan meetups after every game. Just seeing how much support we have. The line is always through the parking lot basically, when we go out. It's a very surreal feeling knowing a lot of people support us. I just wish we could, you know, do better for them. We'll do our best to."

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