100 Thieves has really picked up steam in the Valorant scene as of late. The original roster did not work and they decided to start with a clean slate. 100T kept Spencer “Hiko” Martin on board and let him build a team that has proven its worth. One addition to that team was Joshua “steel” Nissan. Following the 100T victory over T1, Run It Back was able to speak with steel. He gave some extremely thoughtful and thought-provoking answers. This FPS veteran is nothing but intelligent when it comes to playing Valorant.

100 Thieves’ steel on learning from the younger players and becoming the IGL

Run It Back: When it comes to Haven, being down at the half, was there any worry? Or did you guys just get ready to dig in and bring things back?

steel: I think it was a little bit of both. My takeaway from the first half is that it wasn’t really the calls or setups that we had in terms of preparation. It was all a confidence thing. It was about doing things with deliberate means, going somewhere with purpose. I feel like we just didn’t do it with the confidence that we normally play with. Going into the second half, I wasn’t worried that we weren’t prepared enough for the game. It was all down to whether or not, we show up as individuals, in terms of mentality. Once we started winning the early rounds and the clutches, I knew we’d gain the momentum and just roll through with the plays that we had. In combination with our individual ability, I knew we were going to close out.

Run It Back: Would you say that both maps went according to plan, or even with the victory are there areas to learn from and work on?

steel: There’s always something that you can learn. I think it’s easier to learn from a loss and there’s more to learn from a loss. There’s definitely things to work on from this game [vs T1]. After we give this a watch back and see what they were doing, how our reactions were, and if there were any holes in our setups, I think we’ll go and address those. For now, we’ll just focus on our game. They played a different style, such as using Breach on Haven. We haven’t seen many teams use that. The way they played Bind, on their attack specifically, it was kind of new and kind of different. It was weird to look at. I don’t know if studying that will help us for other teams, but it’s still always good to know.

Run It Back: Looking at the Counter-Strike Liquipedia, it has you labeled as one of the most well-known in-game leaders in all of North America. When you were asked to IGL for 100 Thieves, was there any hesitation at all?

steel: I wasn’t initially asked to join the team as the IGL. I was offered to experiment as the IGL a few weeks after being picked up. I guess I was going to be a secondary IGL. Someone to help with mid-round calling or ideas and be the Sentinel player. After running practice games for a few weeks, I was asked if I would like to try it and see how it works. I said I’d give it a shot. Everyone was happy with it and it just stuck, so we continued on that route.

Run It Back: Looking at some of the other players on the team, as a veteran FPS player, have you taken on a sort of mentor role at all for the likes of Asuna and dicey?

steel: Kind of yes and kind of no. A lot of what they want to do and their personalities will always dictate what direction they want to go. I think we offer that experience to them, but it’s up to them whether they want to take some of that and incorporate it into their game style. If they want to listen to us. Obviously, nobody’s perfect and nobody knows everything. Whatever my perspective is, or nitr0’s or Hiko’s, it might not necessarily be something they agree with or resonate with. We offer some things and it’s up to them what they want to incorporate.

Run It Back: Is there anything, as the newer younger players, they have taught you?

steel: There are a lot of things I picked up, regarding the game, the agents, how it’s played, and how the maps are played. They’ve been playing this game longer. I joined 100 Thieves in September, so I’m relatively new. Whereas they may have picked in up in Beta, playing full time, doing tournaments before I even signed. I was still playing CS events in late August. I definitely did learn some things from them. Not fundamentals, but definitely about agents, how the maps work, the different cool things, and gimmicks you could do.

Run It Back: What are you looking forward to, or expect, for the remainder of the tournament?

steel: Obviously, the end goal is to be the winner. I feel we have done everything in this preparation to be able to look back and think we did everything we needed to do. I think we’ve accomplished that. Whatever the results are, we think we are capable of winning this entire thing. We’re just taking it match by match at this point. Tomorrow [Saturday] is Sentinels, the following day, I think is likely to be Envy. It could be Envy or TSM, but we’re focused on Sentinels. We start with them and when that’s done, we focus on the next thing.

Thank you so much for taking the time to deliver some incredible answers, steel.

*Answers may have been altered slightly for the sake of clarity.*

Stay tuned to Run It Back for more player interviews and further coverage of First Strike!