After Saadhak and LOUD defeated Sentinels during VCT Americas Week 4, he sat down with esports.gg to discuss the series.
LOUD in-game leader Matias "Saadhak" Delipetro is no stranger to marquee matchups. With plenty of international events under his belt, including a VALORANT Champions 2022 victory, the spotlight brings out his best.
That remained true in a battle against Sentinels to kick off VCT Americas Week 4. It was finally the defending champions all on stage once again. The core of LOUD versus the two players who jumped to SEN. LOUD prevailed in a hard fought series and esports.gg spoke with Saadhak upon its conclusion.
Saadhak details playing against former teammates and his thoughts on LOUD being undefeated
"We heard Sacy say in a pre-game video that he was treating this like any other match. I have to ask, was there any extra eagerness among LOUD to play against your former teammates?"
Saadhak: "No, not really. I think I agree with him. For us, it's another thing we have to face. Of course, we face Sacy and pANcada, but we just have to play and show what we have.
"It wasn't anything special or something like that. We just came here to play, came here to practice, came here to win. And for us it was another day on the job, you know?"
"What about Marved? He was a big part of that OpTic and LOUD rivalry. Were you guys excited to see him join the starting Sentinels roster for this match?"
Saadhak: "I mean, for sure. When we heard about it, we were a little bit surprised. We immediately understood that it wasn't going to be easy. Those guys, like, not only him, but Sacy and pANcada, they are world champs.
"They won an International, so it was going to be really hard. And we have just so much respect for him. He's a really great player. He makes the difference in a lot of the rounds. So yeah, he's really good."
"With second place at LOCK//IN and several weeks of VCT Americas completed, it is safe to say we all know what the team is capable of. After winning against Sacy and pancada, what do you have to say about the two players brought on to replace them?"
Saadhak: "They're really good players. They're really talented. They're young talent, you know, they have a lot to learn still. Mainly like psychologically, they have a lot to learn because they're really young. This is their first international in a way.
"For tuyz, this is the first time he's away from home playing. So, I think those guys are just what we need right now. They've been playing really well. They've been learning a lot and I'm really happy to have them on my team."
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"Let's talk about the match now. Sentinels were struggling to find their identity. They didn't seem too confident in their roles and their executions on Pearl in the past. It was your map pick and they won by a large margin. Simply put, why do you think that happened?"
Saadhak: "They took us by surprise. They had a really good anti-strat plan on that map. And we didn't show up in the way we usually do. We didn't have that much intensity.
"So for us, losing that map was a wake up call. I mean, props to them. They prepared really well. It didn't really feel like they were a 'just a couple of days' team. They seemed really, really prepared and played really well."
"Well, it was all in your favor the rest of the series. A close map on Haven and you held on to take Ascent. Were you worried at all, heading into their map pick after losing your own?"
Saadhak: "I think we delay a little bit. We took our time to adapt, but once we adapted, it went really well for us. Losing the first map for us kind of fueled us.
"It made us want to win even more. It was kind of a wake up call for us. So, coming into the second match, we were really emotional and we wanted to win really bad, you know, so it was really good for us."
"It's certainly possible, but it probably isn't likely that you remain undefeated throughout the entire league. Do you, at some point, want to finally lose that first series to take any pressure off your shoulders?"
Saadhak: "There's no pressure at all for us, because we keep it to ourselves. We don't really care what other people have to say. We don't really care about people who talk. We keep it in our bubble.
"We just keep training. We just keep improving. We just keep practicing nonstop. If we lose, that's okay. If we keep winning, perfect. For us, it's just practice and trying to get better every single time."
"Up next is a match against Evil Geniuses, who seem to be in the middle of some adjustments like Sentinels. Regardless of that, what does this super week do in terms of your preparation and the team's stamina? Since you have to take on two teams without that week of rest in between."
Saadhak: "It's been really fun for us. Mainly because, as I said before, tuyz and cauanzin, this kind of experience. We had it before with Less and aspas at Champs.
"We have to play, then we have a day to rest. Then we have to play and have a day to rest. So for us, we have the experience already, but for them it's kind of new and that's really, really good. It's been a really fun super week for us."
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