FunPlus Phoenix lost to DRX in Group B 2-1 at Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen. The South Korean squad wasn’t all that great and won mostly because FPX was not able to adequately prepare for the match according to FPX IGL Kyrylo ‘ANGE1’ Karasov.
“To be honest, it was hard, but it wasn’t because they are good,” ANGE1 said in a post-game press conference after the loss.
“They just got lucky we didn’t have enough time to prepare. There was nothing surprising, because their meta was like European meta some time ago. I think, they just got lucky we didn’t come prepared for this tournament.”
FPX only had one day of practice before their first match at Masters Copenhagen with their current lineup due to visa issues with their Ukrainian and Russian players. Before their match against DRX, the EMEA squad had about two days of practice.
FPX have slotted SEIDER in as best they can
.@FPX_Esports make it to 11 rounds! #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/f7WJYW7FIJ
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) July 12, 2022
The team’s defaults have not really improved with the extra day of preparation, according to ANGE1, as they did not have much time to discuss their early round setups from the previous day of games.
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According to their stand-in, Mathias ‘SEIDER’ Seider, the team has done a good job of getting up to speed with their strategies and tactics.
“ANGE1 is super good at explaining everything you have to do,” SEIDER said. “So the thing is, usually there’s not a lot of second thought in the rounds, I know what I have to do, I know my role, and I just do my best to do to that.”
FPX have one last chance to move on the playoff stage at Master Copenhagen in the decider match of Group B, either against XERXIA Esports or NORTHEPTION on July 13.