Following GIANTX's high-stakes win against Sentinels in their first game at the VALORANT Champions Paris, Karel "Flickless" Maeckelbergh sat down with us to discuss the team's performance on this serie. He also discussed their preparation before the tournament began, how they handled the arena atmosphere, the pressure, and their priorities for the rest of the tournament.

What did you think of GIANTX’s overall performance today in this big win over Sentinels?

Karel "Flickless" Maeckelbergh: "It was an amazing game, truly amazing. As usual, we played a really poor first map, we’re kind of known for that at this point. But on the other two, I think we were excellent. On the second map we had full control; in my opinion we played insanely well. On the third, we started poorly, but after that we locked in and gave them no room to play.

Let’s go back to Sunset. You completely dismantled Sentinels there, with Eduard-George "ara" Hanceriuc’s pushes and your effective utility. What was the key to winning that map?

Flickless: On Sunset, we played really aggressively without fear, and I think that’s the biggest reason we won it so comfortably.

How were you feeling during and after the match excitement, relief, nerves? How did you manage those emotions?

Flickless: During the game, I wasn’t thinking about anything outside the server, so it felt fine. After the game, when everyone was asking for autographs and photos, that got a bit stressful. Meeting everyone was honestly more stressful than the match itself. It’s super new for me to play on such a big stage like this one.

How did you and GIANTX prepare for today’s match against Sentinels?

Flickless: I’ll be honest, we haven’t had much practice yet. You might have heard Ara was sick and without a PC for three or four days. We played only four or five scrims with our assistant coach standing in, and we actually won scrims against some very strong teams with him as Duelist. Those actually went pretty well. With Ara, we only managed two scrims last night. That’s all we’ve done since arriving in Paris. Otherwise, we were just grinding ranked and focusing on individual form, because we didn’t have Ara with us.

Heading into this match, how confident were you in your form and abilities? Did you feel at your best?

Flickless: I wouldn’t say I came in at my best, we can still do much better. But we were pretty confident about this game. We expected a good veto, we didn’t think there would be a map we couldn’t play. Going into the match felt good.

Sentinels are known for their firepower. How did you and the team plan to counter their strengths?

Flickless: There wasn’t really pressure on us. It’s easier when not many people expect you to win. In EMEA, people put us really low on tier lists. We actually prefer being rated low. Then you can surprise people, and it feels much better when you do. It’s an advantage, no expectations and no pressure.

Group A includes powerhouses like Paper Rex. How do you assess the group’s difficulty?

Flickless: We just need to approach the games the same way—no pressure, enjoy it, and play our game the way we know how. That’s it. Paper Rex are a really good team, they proved it by winning Masters Toronto. I’d say they’re somewhat similar to BBL, very aggressive. We need to treat it like playing BBL expect some unpredictable stuff because they have great individuals. Someone might push a smoke and just kill everyone, so we have to be ready for anything.

This is your first time, as we said, on the Champions stage. How did the live environment and large audience affect you?

Flickless: It definitely feels different, so many more people. But I don’t think it affected us much because we had a supportive crowd, including Spanish GIANTX fans. They honestly helped us stay in the game. Sometimes we even said in comms, “They’re singing for us.” In EMEA, we didn’t have that as often, usually the crowd cheers for the other team. Now we’re at home, in a way. I hope they keep supporting us.

What’s the biggest lesson you’re taking from this match to apply to the rest of the tournament?

Flickless: Go into the game relaxed. It’s not so different from EMEA, it’s just a bigger stage. We need to stay calm, focus on what we know, and not overreact or change what works. Just play our game.

Based on what you saw today, what will GIANTX focus on improving as you prepare for upcoming group matches and the playoffs, if you qualify?

Flickless: Starting better on our first maps, we’ve had issues there, we tried to help each other the whole first game, telling each other to chill. It’s not just one person, it’s all of us supporting one another. And not panicking. We still have a lot of young guys, and sometimes we try to say too much at once; it sounds like panic when everyone talks over each other. We need to talk a bit less and say more useful things.

If you had to rank your team among the 16 at Champions, where would you place GIANTX?

Flickless: I wouldn’t put us at the top yet, we still have a lot to improve. I’d place us somewhere in the middle. Next year we’ll be better.”