“Until April? Is it until April?” Boostio’s reaction on when 100 Thieves will play next VCT match

The VCT Americas Kickoff tournament keeps on rolling. We've seen our first eliminated teams, with one of them being 100 Thieves. After dropping out of the event from a loss to Sentinels, we chatted with the team's new IGL, Kelden "Boostio" Pupello.

Of course, we discussed the series and what he felt likely gave Sentinels the advantage against 100T. In addition, we got his thoughts on the transition from a world championship team to being eliminated in the first 2024 tournament, and the lengthy off-period 100 Thieves now has.

"You and some of the other guys on 100 Thieves have an interesting history with Lotus. It’s where the knife happened that sent EG to the playoffs. There were some changes made, though, so what led to it being your map pick?"

Boostio: "In scrims, just based off performance, we were a very good team on Lotus. That's pretty much it. We all five players love the map. I don't think anyone has any past opinions of it, like back last year because it's a long time ago. But this year, with this roster, we've been practicing a lot with it and we really liked it. That was definitely going to be our first pick no matter what, and it just didn't go our way. We played bad on that map."

"I know you just said you played bad on that map, but was there anything that you noticed from Sentinels that countered your game plan on that first map?"

Boostio: "I think it was an us thing. Not a them thing. On the first map, for some reason, we were playing very not to ourselves. You could see that in the LEV series, and then you could see it in this series. Second map, we destroyed LEV. We pretty dominantly beat Sentinels on map two as well.

"So, I don't know, it's a little weird. We're just a little slow on map one. It's definitely a focal point that we're going to focus on. Why did we start so slow? We'll see. I mean they were just playing well. They were playing aggressive, they were staying to their game plan. I just think it's more of an us thing."

"In the last two maps, we saw you on Gekko. He’s definitely seen a rise in usage already in 2024. Is this strictly because of the Skye changes or were the adjustments given to him a factor?"

Boostio: "It's definitely the Skye changes, right? You can't really play a soloIinitiator, or you can, but I don't think it's very good. I just think Gekko has gotten a rise because you can't play solo Initiator, and then Sova's not very good on some of these maps. Like Split and Lotus.

"A couple other maps he's good on. He's really good on certain maps like Icebox Ascent, but on other maps he's pretty bad. So, those maps are just weird comps. I guess, it's not weird comps. They're fine, but Gekko and Fade, you could do Gekko and KAY/O.. You can do a lot of things. It's just definitely because of the solo Skye, not because of the Gekko buffs, I don't think."

"You evened things out on Bind. Round 9, Sentinels had the Viper’s Pit down, a lot of rotations and teleport usage. That got you guys the lead and you held it the rest of map two. Walk me through what you remember of that round and the calls that were made to secure it."

Boostio: " So, we had a game plan for their Ultimate. We didn't know where it was going to be, but we were always going to start there, get the mollies out, and then go back to the other site. Throw some util and then come back to the Viper, because he has no mollies and we're just gonna try to run 'em down.

"I think in the mid-round we got bang super deep into U Hall and I just told him to live. 'We're gonna come back to you, don't keep pushing, just live.' So then, we just triple ran up along. I black out during games, so I don't really remember, but I'm pretty sure this is what happened.

"Yeah, we three came up long, I Dizzy'd or Fade Eyed, and then we all TP'd back to bang. And bag had all the space, because we inserted him early. The Viper couldn't stall us, and I think Asuna got a kill Hookah or something as well. So, it was a really good fake by us. We just ended up TP'ing back to Showers, free plant, and then we won the round."

"That basically reset the series. Next to win moves on. Super close until Sentinels pulled ahead at the end. What are your immediate thoughts on why Split didn’t go 100 Thieves' way?"

Boostio: "It just happened, so I don't really have the best idea. I haven't rewatched it either. I think our defense was pretty good. We were playing a little scared, but it was fine. I think we got like five, which is not bad. And then we ended up, I think tying at 7:7, or 8:8, or something.

"But then the eco round where, we did the ramp control again, and I kind of didn't play in the right position. I wanted to be a little bit more aggressive, flash for my teammates, and I ended up getting picked.

"That made the whole setup fall apart. I think that round is to blame on me, I think for a lot of this series. As a player, if I had to self-reflect, I definitely think, not even stats wise, just as an IGL, some of where I was positioned was pretty poor this series.

"So, that definitely sucks for me. I'm definitely going to reflect on it. And I think map three is a lot to blame for me. There was an eco round, I die, or an anti-eco and I die. My whole team setup falls apart because of me I think. Then they ended up snowballing. It was like 9:8, then it was like 10:9 or 10:8. By that time, it felt pretty hard.""

"We’ve heard it mentioned a few times now, how you’re the energetic one on the team. Being the spirit of 100T after last year was so draining for the squad. As that type of teammate and as the in-game leader, still being fairly new to the roster, what kind of role are you taking on when it comes to losses?"

Boostio: "The role I take on losses? Thank god we're only a month into the season. First two games of the season and it's not even a regular season. You barely get any points. You get to go to a Masters, which is cool, but you still get barely any points.

"So, I'm trying to tell the boys that it's fine. I feel terrible. The loss sucks. I won a lot last year. So, to be honest, this loss feels just as bad as like Tokyo Grand Finals to me. This one was a lot closer than the Grand Finals one and I don't know, it just sucks losing, especially getting kicked out of a tournament.

"And last year, I didn't get kicked out until Grand finals of Tokyo and then I won Champions. So, I definitely haven't had this feeling in like eight or nine months, and it sucks a lot. But I did tell them it's the beginning of the year. We're a new team, who cares?

"It's fine. It's going to sting right now, but we have the whole year. If you're going to get sad, let's get sad if we get kicked out or don't make it in July. Get sad then, but for now, try to keep your head up. I know it's going to suck for the day, a week, whatever, but we have a lot to look forward to."

"What’s been the most difficult part of the transition, moving on from the world championship Evil Geniuses team to 100 Thieves, now eliminated from VCT Americas Kickoff?"

Boostio: "The hardest part? I don't know. I've never thought about that. It feels pretty easy overall. There hasn't been any hard parts, but I guess, on EG as the IGL for so long. I think anyone could say this, but I was the IGL for so long.

"I was with the core that I've been with for years and then when we picked up Ethan and Demon1, of course they added stuff. They're some of the best players in the world, but I was still more comfortable and I knew exactly like what to call, what to do.

"But I think since I'm coming into a new team, it's not going to feel as natural. I think that would be the hardest part. I definitely think as the game got tighter, I didn't feel any pressure, but I definitely thought my, IGL'ing got a little worse.

"I really didn't play too good today and I think that can attribute to trying to lead a new team, trying to call the best I can, but then if I mess up mechanically, it's on me. So, I guess that, but like I said, it hasn't been hard at all. I'm really excited for the rest of the year."

"And I have to ask for your honest opinion. What are your thoughts on not having another official VCT match until the month of April?"

Boostio: "Until April? Is it until April? That sounds boring. I would say boring. Practice is good and all, that's what you need to do. That's the hard work you do, but just because that's what you need to do and it's hard work.

"You could still, not dislike it, because we work very privileged jobs, but practice does suck sometimes. Especially when you have to do it for almost two months. So, not having a match is definitely going to be a little boring, I think."

"Lastly then, when a team has that lengthy time off, do you work on new things, try to fine tune what maybe didn’t work quite right, or even just perfect what was successful? How is that time spent?"

Boostio: "When you have this much time off, you can do a lot of things. I think everything you mentioned you could probably do. I think the most important part is that we played together for the last month-and-a-half, got real tournament practice together, and I think that's really going to help us fix a lot of our issues. We have a month-and-a-half, two months to do it. That sucks, but we will come back stronger."

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