The second day of VCT Stage 1 Masters Quarterfinals took place with two intense matches. A super close best-of-three completed between Sentinels and Luminosity Gaming. Sentinels came out on top, sending LG to the Lower Bracket. Run It Back was able to speak with both Brady “thief” Dever and Diondre “YaBoiDre” Bond regarding the loss and what could have gone differently for the LG squad.

thief and YaBoiDre discuss loss to Sentinels

thief

Run It Back: When you heard that TenZ was subbing in for Sentinels, did that at all change the team’s approach going into this series?

thief: For sure. He has a completely different play style than what sinatraa does. They’re both pretty aggressive, but TenZ only plays the hard fragging Duelist. Sinatraa can play Sova on some maps. The preparation was definitely different.

Run It Back: You made some incredible plays on Ascent, but Sentinels ultimately pulled through for the win. What did you see that the team overall could have improved on?

thief: Our attacking side was pretty lackluster. We needed to take more control of the map. We were shut down from taking some parts of the map. They ready us pretty well and it just didn’t work out for us.

Run It Back: The team looked very solid coming into the second half of both Ascent and Split. What was the difference that allowed you guys to keep it up on Split and win that map, in overtime nonetheless?

thief: We just started gathering a lot of momentum on our attack side. For us, to have a good attack side on a map like Split is really great. We made the right calls and just kept winning the rounds.

Run It Back: It was late on Icebox when the team started to show signs of life. What do you think could have gone differently in order to get those rounds much earlier?

thief: On our attack side, we were getting stuck. We couldn’t figure out where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do. That was pretty detrimental in the first half. By the time we had guns and had an economy, it was too late in the game. If we dropped a round, we were out of it.

Run It Back: There is still the Lower Bracket to compete in. How motivated is the team to run through the Lower Bracket after losing in three maps to Sentinels?

thief: We’re pretty motivated. I don’t want to lose. Losing to a team like this, probably the favorite to win the entire the event. It was close, except the final score in the last map. I’m still pretty confident that we’ll make it far. I think we just have to show up for the rest of the days and we’ll be okay.

YaBoiDre

Run It Back: Things took a minute for you to get rolling for you on Ascent. Was that because of game flow or a possible lack of opportunities to make things happen?

YaBoiDre: It was a lack of opportunities. On our T side, they had a good read on what we were going to do and they had good rotates. In the beginning, I didn’t get a lot of fights individually. They had a good read on us and their rotates were on point.

Run It Back: So, the stream went down after the first map and came back up in the middle of Split. Was there a long pause? Did it concern the team at all, in regards to staying warmed up?

YaBoiDre: It was like a 20 minute pause when the stream went down. We were all calm, though. We felt warm. The break wasn’t that big of a deal for us. We just went over some strats and stuff.

Run It Back: Split went much differently for you personally and for the team. Is that just a better map for you or were you in a different mindset and not ready to give up the win to Sentinels?

YaBoiDre: Our Ascent is not our specialty. It has been really shaky. But we felt confident on Split. We know our T side is good. We went over a lot of strats before Masters to make sure our T side was good on Split. We felt really confident going into the map.

Run It Back: Unfortunately, Icebox went opposite of how you would’ve liked. What could have gone differently for you guys to take more rounds on the third map?

YaBoiDre: We were giving up a lot of first bloods. We could have abused their mid a bit more. They were droning off and didn’t have anyone in Kitchen. I tried to abuse that one round, but got unlucky. We were giving up those first bloods and weren’t grouping a lot. Our teamwork was kind of off. We were just getting picked off.

Run It Back: You guys are a hell of a team. There is no doubt about it. How confident are you in making a run through the Lower Bracket?

YaBoiDre: I’m pretty confident. We’ve proved that we can hang with the best teams. Sentinels is a top two team right now. I’m feeling confident going into the Lower Bracket. I’m confident in my individual skill and we can pull through.

*Questions and answers may have been slightly edited or altered for clarity and fluidity.*

Stay tuned to Run It Back for more coverage of the Valorant Champions Tour, including Masters tournament details and player interviews!