X10 Crit’s Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut talked to the press after the loss to the former champions Gambit about inspiring the Southeast Asia region to commit to VALORANT and his and teammate Patiphan “Pati” Chaiwong’s future in the game
Despite a rousing success of an event for the Thailand-based X10 Crit, the players are going home unsatisfied. Upset that they couldn’t find a win over their scrim partner Gambit, they had visions of a deep run. Even if the team is leaving Germany empty-handed, beating the former runner-up at Masters Berlin, Envy, and decimating the talented Brazilian side Vivo Keyd is reward enough.
X10 Crit’s Thanamethk “Crws” Mahatthananuyut talked to the press after the loss to the former champions Gambit about inspiring the Southeast-Asia region to commit to VALORANT and his and teammate Patiphan “Pati” Chaiwong’s future in the game
“We were really proud of ourselves that we got to the quarterfinals, '' said Crws on the team's performance at Champions,”but when I’m standing here right now, it feels we could’ve done better and we could've gone for the semis or finals.”
From the start, the 14th ranked SEA team (according to VLR.gg) exuded the underdog confidence needed to advance through. Even after their worst performance of the event against Envy in match one, their confidence wasn’t shaken. The loss only strengthened their resolve and set up an epic comeback the next time they faced Envy.
“It’s kinda sad that we didn’t even make it because first we beat the team that was one of the finalists, and then now, we play the champions of the previous Masters, so it was unlucky for our group. It was just unlucky”
Picking Fracture against Gambit
Russia’s Gambit entered the event as one of the favorites to win the whole thing. For Crws, it was unlucky to face off against a Gambit team that knew exactly how they wanted to play specific maps - especially Fracture, which X10 elected to pick first.
“We scrimmed them and it was a really tight scoreline,” said Crws after the loss.”We used everything we were gonna do in the real game. We didn’t get to play Fracture against Envy or Evo. We wanted to play it once because we scrimmed it really hard, but then, it was unlucky that we played against them [Gambit] and it didn’t come out as planned because they played the opposite of what we were going to do”
The 9-3 first-half scoreline showed a Gambit team that studied and knew where X10 players would be playing on-site. A combination of innovative mid-pushes from Gambit made it difficult for X10 to get any sort of read on Igor “redgar” Vlasov’s calls on the defensive side. The buy-rounds didn’t go as planned and X10 spent the map semi-buying into full-buys to keep up.
Regardless, X10 found a way to push this to a deciding map three, beating Gambit on their map pick Ascent. Gambit had a 88% win percentage on the map heading into the matchup. However, the information plays from Itthirit “foxz” Ngamsaard on Sova and Pati’s ability to create space on Jett pushed it into the decider.
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Just Having Fun
For Crws, it was less about worrying about strategy and more about relaxing and trusting their instincts. The X10 controller spoke about their mindset, and how the tighter the game became, the more unbalanced Gambit made them
“We just have fun. We just do what we think is right. And when we just have fun and try to play the best we can. That’s what happened in the first two series. Where my teammates and I were just having fun on stage and not thinking too much” said Crws.
Only after a crucial round loss when the map was tied at 7-7 on Breeze, did the confidence begin to unravel, opening up the door for a Gambit victory.
“On that round, I wasn’t cautious. I went in too early, compared to my teammates. It kinda disrupted the flow and that caused us as a team to think too much about what we were going to do, like, because it pressured us to do something that we hope is gonna go well. When we think too much, it’s just, like, a double edged sword, kinda disrupt the whole flow of the game”
The Future of X10 Crit and the SEA region
Now that the event has concluded, it’s time to look towards the future for the SEA region and X10 Crit. A smaller region that managed to overtake North America, Asia-Pacific, and Brazil, getting in two playoff teams. It was a major success for the entire scene. It could give impressionable young players in the region a reason to commit to VALORANT as a profession
“We can prove to many organizations in the scene that SEA players will do good on an international stage, so they could invest more money in the scene and people will be willing to play the game as an occupation.” Crws went on to elaborate, “because in our scene, i'll say, there’s very few people that would risk everything to play the game as an occupation. So, I hope this is a start for a bigger esports scene in SEA”
As for Crws and his teammates' status, he will need to take time to evaluate his next career move. With star duelist Patiphan reportedly retiring after Champs, there’s a chance the X10 Crit roster could dissemble. Crws hinted at the idea of him stepping down to retire as well
“I’m not even sure if what we’re going to do or if I’m going to retire. I’m just not sure. We don’t know what we're gonna do in the next few months. We’re just here to play our hearts out and think about everything else later”
