"They are just kids, they are so easy to read": Team Secret's JessieVash after their victory against Team Liquid in VCT LOCK//IN

VCT LOCK//IN 2023, which started on February 13, 2023, in Sao Paulo, is underway. It is the first tier 1 tournament of the year and the largest in Valorant's short history, with 32 teams from all over the world in attendance. The tournament winner gets to take home the trophy and an additional seat for their region at Masters Tokyo.

The tournament follows a single-elimination format, which means each match is extremely high-stakes with no room for error. The 32 teams have been divided into two groups, Alpha and Omega. Days one through six wrapped up the group stage of the Alpha bracket, and day seven marked the beginning of the Omega bracket games.

The first game in the Omega bracket of VCT LOCK//IN was between EMEA's Team Liquid (TL) and Pacific's Team Secret (TS), which the latter won decisively, not dropping a single map. Team Secret's Jessie "JessieVash" Cuyco shared some thoughts about the match with Sportskeeda in the post-match press conference.

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Team Secret's JessieVash talks about being the underdog in their VCT LOCK//IN Omega Bracket matchup against Team Liquid

Team Secret beat Team Liquid in a convincing 2-0 series, first taking Icebox 13-8 and closing out the series 13-7 on Fracture. JessieVash is the primary Initiator for his team and finished the series 39/31/17, with the highest average combat score on the server of 273.

TL were the favorites by a substantial margin going into the match, but an excellent performance from the entirety of TS, with players coming in clutch repeatedly, guided them to victory. When asked to comment on being the underdogs in the match-up, JessieVash responded:

"I do feel like we were expecting a window (sic.). 90% of the time people in the world are expecting us to lose."

Team Secret had qualified for VCT Champions 2021, but failed to qualify for any international events in 2022, losing out to ONIC G in the 2022 APAC LCQ. It was only natural that fans thought Team Liquid had the edge, with players like nAts, Sayf, and Jamppi.

In the end, however, Team Secret's experience of playing together for longer reigned supreme. JessieVash asserted:

"We are [the] better team, since Liquid are playing together for a very short time."

He had more to add about the experience they had on the team. Team Secret has two of the oldest players in the tournament in JessieVash and DubsteP. Compared to Team Liquid, players on the TS side have more experience playing FPS games, which Jessie believes contributed to their first win in VCT LOCK//IN 2023. He ended with a cheeky comment saying:

"They are just kids, they are so easy to read."

The match between Team Secret and Team Liquid looked quite one-sided, and the amount of time the former spent playing together surely had a role to play. Their next match, however, is against NAVI, a team made of the former FunPlus Phoenix core that has played together for over a year and is led by ANGE1, another of the older players in the LOCK//IN.

Team Secret and NAVI are matched quite evenly as they face off against each other in the first quarterfinal of the Omega Bracket of VCT LOCK//IN on Saturday, February 25, 2023, from 9 am PST/ 6 pm CET/ 10:30 pm IST.