"It gives us a different look": Gen.G Elmapuddy on his team's Viper pick on Fracture against RRQ at VCT Pacific 2023

Week 1 of VCT Pacific came to an end on Monday, March 27, 2023, with a match between Gen.G and Rex Regum Qeon. Gen.G were the favorites heading into the encounter, which ended as expected.

There were some interesting takeaways from the match. One of them was the Agent composition that Gen.G ran on Fracture.

So far, Fracture has been played in the VCT Pacific League only twice. It made its debut tournament appearance in 2021 at the Valorant Champions tournament of the year. The meta on the map has evolved over time with constants such as Breach and Brimstone.

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Gen.G Elmapuddy explains his team's double Controller pick on Fracture against RRQ at VCT Pacific 2023

Gen.G decided to stick to the double Initiator combo with Breach and KAY/O alongside Raze for the Duelist.

The matter of interest, however, is what they did with the Controller and Sentinel aspect of their composition. Instead of the Brimstone and Cypher/Killjoy combo, they also chose to double up on the Controllers, leaving the team without a Sentinel.

When Sportskeeda asked coach Chris "Elmapuddy" Tebbit about the advantage he thought the strategy gave Gen.G over other VCT teams, he responded:

"I think it gives us a lot of stopping power and it makes it difficult for the other team to get information. The Viper is obviously not new tech, and it is something that teams have been using for a long time, but we can use the wall to lurk and so on."

Elmapuddy broke down how the Agent was effective on the attacking and defensive sides of the map. Discussing the attacking half, he said:

"On attack, it gives us a lot more value on a round-to-round basis than a Cypher or a Killjoy. Obviously, Killjoy Ultimate is super impactful there (Fracture)."

Talking about how the Korean VCT partner team approaches the defensive side of Fracture with this composition, the coach said:

"On defense, we obviously lack the Trap Wire or something like that to get the extra bit of information, but I think we have been able to play in a way that we have been monitoring all four directions on Fracture defense well enough, so we don't think we need that Sentinel."

Elmapuddy concluded:

"In fact, with Viper, we get more versatility, and it gives us a different look and lets us play a lot differently than a lot of other teams. That in itself is quite valuable, that is looking different from other teams that we are used to practicing against."

A team without a Sentinel might appear to be at a disadvantage on defense. However, with the way Fracture works, as well as the amount of versatility and control the Viper and Astra combination provides, a well-coordinated team like Gen.G, with k1Ng on the Agent, can really make good use of the strategy.

It is possible that more VCT teams will go back to playing such a meta with time as they realize how good it can be at such high levels of play.