Secret Gibo: “We don’t feel any kind of pressure because we know that we are one of the underdogs.”
Last Updated on: 6th December 2021, 09:03 am
Team Secret extended their stay in the 2021 Valorant Champions tournament by defeating Japan’s Crazy Raccoon 2-0 to advance to the Group C decider match where they will take on Brazil’s Team Vikings for a spot in the knockout stage alongside Gambit Esports. Contrary to pre-tournament expectations that classified Secret as an underdog team due to their lack of international experience, they arrived at the CR series with fervent momentum thanks to their admirable showing against the reigning Masters: Berlin champion that ended in a close 2-1 defeat.
Despite the negative result, Secret’s head coach Gilbert “Gibo” Sales Jr. encouraged his team to continue playing with the same confidence they exhibited against Gambit for their next opponents. Needless to say, his direction worked to fruition with Secret overwhelming CR in less than 90 minutes of total game time.
Following the series, The Click caught up with GiboGibo to discuss his team’s performance against CR, his thoughts on Team Vikings, a general overview of the team in 2021, boot camping in anticipation of Champions, and much more.
Secret Gibo on facing Crazy Raccoon
First of all, congratulations on beating Crazy Raccoon and advancing to the Decider Match in Group C where Team Secret will face Team Vikings. Considering the high stakes revolving around this series, what did you think of your team’s performance after defeating CR?
Secret Gibo: All of us were confident that we could beat them because we scrimmed with them regularly, so we knew what to do such as what to pick and what not to pick against them. I think there wasn’t much pressure [in facing CR] but I still personally respect them.
Within the series, your team displayed an array of interesting agent selections such as BORKUM playing Omen, witz playing Raze, and JessieVash playing Sage (which was the first time he ever used her competitively). What was the rationale in making those picks against CR in particular?
Secret Gibo: I think it’s about the history of the team on the Split map. That’s the only map that I think we have more than five lineups of agents to play with so we try to adjust depending on what team we are playing against. About JessieVash playing Sage, he was actually a Sage main before playing Sova. So yeah, I think they were all playing their comfort agents. We don’t worry about any lack of mechanical skills on that agent.
I guess it was a sort of strategy that you used specifically for CR?
Secret Gibo: Yes because we just think that if we lock down their comp–actually, we were expecting [to face] Viper, but we were a bit surprised that they picked Sova instead. Thankfully, it worked out.
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Secret Gibo on recovering following the Gambit series
Obviously, you guys had to recover fairly quickly after that first series of the tournament where you lost against Gambit in a series that, frankly, not many expected for it to be as close as it was. In anticipation of this series, what was the message that you sent to your players in order to focus on the task at hand?
Secret Gibo: We all thought we could have won our last match so I just tried to talk to them and tell them that ‘we just do it again. We just fight in the lower bracket.’ Thankfully, they didn’t lose the motivation because of that loss because after all , that was Gambit.
In addition to TS’ impressive performance against Gambit, you gained plenty of new supporters prior to today since they want to see you repeat the same showing against CR (which you did). Do you think that the new wave of support serves as additional pressure for the team in this tournament?
Secret Gibo: We don’t feel any kind of pressure because we know that we are one of the underdogs. For almost one year in the Philippines, we almost thought of ourselves as the top dogs in the country. But going on the VCT stage, you find out that you’re one of the lower-tier teams. Having additional support isn’t pressure but it’s still good for us.
Secret Gibo on team’s performance in 2021 season
By playing in Champions, you reach the culmination of your team’s performance after playing in the VCT. That said, I’d like to know what has it been like to work with this team for this year since before the Team Secret rebrand until now. How did you view the team’s performance throughout this year?
Secret Gibo: First of all, we needed to adjust because before we moved to Team Secret, we were just playing in our own homes. We didn’t have any bootcamp whatsoever during that time, so for the type of players that we have, it was a really big punch to the gut when we didn’t hold any bootcamp. That was the biggest adjustment for us. Secondly, everything else was good. We didn’t really adjust for anything else.
You mentioned the difference in the boot camp and how that assisted you guys in preparation for the tournament. How did the bootcamp fare for you guys? How has it improved your team’s performance for Champions?
Secret Gibo: Oh, yeah. It’s a really big help. It’s been like two months since we’ve last seen each other, so it’s a confidence boost for us because we like to shout at each other. *laughs*
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Secret Gibo on facing Team Vikings
By winning this series, you now move on to face Team Vikings in the deciding match, as I mentioned in the beginning of the interview. What are your thoughts on Team Vikings? How do you guys stand currently against the Brazilians? And how do you think that match is going to turn out?
Secret Gibo: With the way that Brazilian teams and other Filipino teams operate, I think there is a close resemblance of it which is why I’m really comfortable matching up against them. But I’m not confident that we will beat them. There’s a lot of work to do.
