VALORANT Champions’ playoffs bracket commenced with two Chinese rosters aiming to prove their region’s prowess against hotshot teams of the Americas, EMEA, and Pacific. But, with BiliBili’s exit on Aug. 18, EDward Gaming was China’s only remaining hope for this season. Unfortunately, EDG failed to deliver in a lower bracket round, facing elimination at the hands of LOUD, and EDG’s star player, KangKang, takes full responsibility.
Lauded for his exceptional mechanical skills in VALORANT, EDG’s Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang—popularly known as KangKang—has played a huge part in EDG’s success so far. His caliber with the game’s priciest weapon is uncanny and leaves viewers in awe. Unfortunately, like most duelist mains, he often struggles to remain calm, costing EDG a couple of crucial rounds in a do-or-die series.
In the post-match press conference following the LOUD vs. EDG lower bracket round two matchup on Aug. 20, KangKang admitted to being excessively aggressive and overtrusting himself in certain scenarios.
“I feel like I didn’t really do well in certain things. Most of the reason why we lost today is on me,” he said. “Hopefully, next time, I can correct my bad habits step-by-step. Sometimes, I play too aggressively and over-trust myself.”
Later in the interview, upon being referred to as “one of the best duelists in the world,” KangKang said he feels he’s overrated at the moment.
Considering how massively entertaining he has been since Masters Tokyo, it’s disheartening to hear KangKang call himself overrated. The 19-year-old is outlandish with the Operator and even pulled off multi-kill rounds against LOUD yesterday—exactly what he’s known for. Where he went wrong was his execution, and avoiding it could have led EDG to yet another glorious victory against the 2022 VALORANT Champions winners.
As a defender, KangKang tried creeping into incredibly dangerous territories of the decider Haven map, that too with the Operator, and there was no cover or utility from his team’s side. It worked a couple of times, but he mostly ended up giving LOUD some crucial opening kills.
A burning example of KangKang’s overheating can be extracted from the decider game’s 24th round—a map point for LOUD, and everything’s at stake for EDG at 11.
With the Operator in his hand, KangKang proceeded to push through Haven’s C Main, possibly with the intention of finding an opening kill. It was a huge gamble, considering it was LOUD’s match point, and EDG was on the way to making a commendable comeback.
The worst happened, and KangKang ended up getting picked off by Saadhak, who was waiting near C Lobby with perfect crosshair placement.
Then again, KangKang’s not the only one who made mistakes in yesterday’s match. EDG’s nobody and Haodong made considerable miscalculations as well, so blaming the entire series’ outcome on just KangKang doesn’t seem fair. Smoggy and CHICHOO did their best, but it’s a team game, after all. Maybe, it’s also a lesson for us for our daily VALORANT ranked games.
Having lost the series 1-2, EDG are no longer a VALORANT Champions contender in the 2023 season, while LOUD are now up for a high-stakes battle against Fnatic in the lower round three on Aug. 24.
Related: VALORANT Champions 2023: Scores, schedule, and standings
Published: Aug 21, 2023 07:02 am