Sayf not impressed with Valorant Masters field after Guild exit

After Guild Esports were eliminated from Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen, Saif ‘Sayf’ Jibraeel said that his expectations for teams at international events have changed.

“People aren’t as scary as you think they are,” Sayf said in a post-match press conference. “Whether it’s FPX or Fnatic, you go in there and you shoot their heads right off, and it’s not as scary as when it was at home.”

While Guild were the first team to exit Valorant Masters from the playoff stage, the EMEA team managed to take down OpTic Gaming, arguably the favorites to win the tournament, and Latin American squad KRÜ Esports.

“The only thing I’m going to bring back is that people aren’t that good, bro,” Sayf said when asked what he is going to take away from the event. “It’s all I’m going to bring back.”

Guild Esports impress in Valorant Masters debut

Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

Guild Esports will compete in the EMEA LCQ for Valorant Champions qualification.

Masters Copenhagen was Guild’s first major VCT international event. The only player with prior Valorant Masters experience was the team’s IGL, Jose Luis ‘koldamenta’ Aranguren Herrero, from his time on G2 Esports in 2021.

Others on the squad aren’t unfamiliar with LAN events, having played on stage in other titles, except for the team’s Raze player Nikita ‘trexx’ Cherednichenko.

“First game we played against OpTic, who won the last masters, and we show how we can actually play, we showed them our confidence as well… I think as a first LAN, it’s an insane experience and we did well,” trexx said about his first time on a big stage.

Guild came into the event with little fanfare as they lost to FPX and Fnatic in two 3-0 sweeps in their local qualifier. But, after overtaking OpTic in the Group Stage, the team shed off some of its underdog narrative.

Guild will move on to the EMEA Last Chance Qualifier in August for Valorant Champions qualification. They will have to battle against the best of the rest of EMEA, as Fnatic and FPX have qualified through points, to have a chance to challenge international teams again.