The starting week of VALORANT Champions Tour Europe, Middle East & Africa Challengers has been hard for Turkish fans to watch. Both of their representatives, SuperMassive Blaze and BBL Esports, closed the week with a 2-0 loss.
BBL’s new Jett player Doğukan “QutionerX” Dural talked about the rough loss they had against Guild Esports, who he wants to face in the group and the differences between playing against EMEA teams and playing in the qualifiers in Turkey. He also left a short, but impactful message to BBL fans.
BBL vs. Guild
BBL lost to Guild 0-2 in their EMEA Challengers league match on Sunday. QuitionerX provided some insight into the series.
In our first match of #VCT EMEA adventure, we lose 0-2 against GUILD team. See you in the next matches. The adventure is not over. #VCT EMEA serüveninde ilk maçımızda GUILD takımına karşı 0-2 mağlup oluyoruz. Gelecek maçlarda görüşmek üzere. Macera bitmedi.#FORZABBL pic.twitter.com/AtROMVPD17
— BBL (@BBL_esports) February 13, 2022
“Firstly, the series did not start the way we expected it to,” he said. “We were a bit disconnected from the match and they played better than us. But we were still good, we answered their efforts but we never won the breaking points of the matches and that lead to a score like this.”
Despite winning pistol rounds on both maps, BBL lost 6-13 on Breeze and 9-13 on Haven, closing the first week with a loss.
0-2 Guild.
— QutionerX (@QutionerX) February 13, 2022
Who’s next?
But this is ultimately just the initial week of a long tournament, and QutionerX already has his targets set: The other Turkish representatives, SuperMassive Blaze. “In our last series against them, we were ill,” he said. “Now, I want to play a series with them on equal grounds.”
He also mentioned that he wants to face his old teammates, CyderX and Izzy, once again, now that there is no illness to set him back.
The differences between playing at home and abroad
Though it doesn’t effect him much, QutionerX also went in depth on the differences between playing Turkish and foreign teams.
“For me, there’s not that big of a difference in playing against Turks or playing against foreigners,” he said. “There is only slightly more tension here since it’s very easy to counter Turkish teams as a Jett player. I am very comfortable as a Jett since I can guess what skills will be thrown at me from a Turkish player.
But in here, we can face very different stuff. For example, in our series today they took A Lobby in a different fashion. We may encounter different stuff, but in my opinion Turks have better aim than foreigners. I still stand by that.”
BBL are facing off with Fnatic next week, but QutionerX isn’t rattled.
“I don’t really care who’s against me,” he said. “I won’t fear or back down from anybody. I won’t underestimate anyone either. We’ll play the same game we’ll play against any other opponent, at least that’s how I see it.”
As his last words for this interview, he left a message to the many BBL fans watching this tournament around the world. A rather short message that expertly conveys the adaptability Turkish teams show in tournaments and how they believe their efforts will pay in due time:
“Stay calm.”
