“I’m kind of like the pillar for NRG,” s0m on maintaining his role after win against KRÜ 

NRG has failed to meet expectations thus far during VCT Americas. Their luck might turn around after a win against KRÜ Esports, however. The confidence has returned and Sam "s0m" Oh has been a big part of the success the team has been able to find.

Following the bounce back victory over the LATAM team, we spoke with s0m. He has been a member of NRG since 2020 and has now find himself with a blossoming pro career. He's certain that NRG is getting back on the right track, despite being incredibly humble with his answers to our questions.

"Usually I stray away from the basic questions, but tell me. How fired up is the team after shaking off the losses and winning this one?"

s0m: "We're pretty fired up. Obviously, the start of the season wasn't how we wanted it to go, but I think having this win under our belt kind of just reminds us that this is how we should be feeling. This is how we're going to perform from now on. I feel like it's pretty good for our confidence as a team."

"KRÜ is at the bottom of the standings and their woes continue after your victory. Do you feel like this win was the one that will right the ship?"

s0m: "None of these teams, including KRÜ, we don't underestimate anyone. Everyone's pretty good at the game. So, even this KRÜ win is good for our confidence as a team. And even individually, if they are quote unquote the worst team, I don't think it matters that much. A win's a win and I think it's just good for us."

"I spoke with ardiis and I asked him when the sense of urgency will kick in. He said it already had, even before the loss to Cloud9. Well, 100 Thieves is next. At what point in the league might you personally get worried that things are too far gone?"

s0m: "I think I speak for everyone on the team. We're basically beyond that point. This definitely wasn't the start of the season we were looking for, but I think going forward we're going to be a lot better. Especially with this win, it's going give us a lot more individual confidence and as a team. Going into these next few matches and basically all of our matches, we're going into it with full confidence."

"What's it going to take to beat 100 Thieves and keep up the winning ways?"

s0m: "If we play like we did today, I think it'll be a good game. I don't want to confidently say that we will win against 100 Thieves, but I think it'll be a good game. It could go either way. I'm just hoping that we all show up and we play our game."

"Let's talk about your time in VCT Americas so far. We've seen a lot of role swaps from NRG, and of course comments about that from the community, but you've stayed on Controller the entire time. What about that role makes it right for you?"

s0m: "I think Controller, specifically, is just best suited for me compared to the rest of my teammates. I'm kind of like the pillar for NRG, in terms of Agents. If there's one thing that's the same across all the maps, it'll be me on Controller to build around it and base around it."

"Right now you're in the top 10 players for a handful of categories, such as overall K/D, KAST, total clutches, and clutch percentage. Is that sort of success just from opportunities or do the Controller Agents help you lock things down?"

s0m: "I think it's a little bit of both. I think another thing is that FNS sets me up well. T-side, CT-side, basically everyone on the team actually sets me up pretty well. In post-plants or pre-round, we'll talk about things. Then it's just best suited for me, where to go, where to default, or where to flash or smoke. I just base myself around that and I just find opportunities for myself."

"As I'm sure you've been told, you had some big shoes to fill inside of the former OpTic core. You've clearly filled those shoes just fine. So, what do you think? Where do you rank yourself in terms of Controller players or even overall among the players in VCT Americas?"

s0m: "How I think I'm doing individually? I think I'm doing okay. I can definitely be doing a lot better or a lot more. Especially with how we started our season. I definitely want to do more for the team and I feel like I am not doing enough. But I have the most absolute confidence in myself and my team that going forward through this season, I'll be able to pick it up even more."

"And lastly, from W streamer to W pro, just tell me the one thing you've learned or the one thing you've experienced that's impacted you the most after making it to the main professional VALORANT circuit."

s0m: "The one thing, I guess, is my mentality. Being a streamer, it's definitely a lot more relaxing and I can just do what I want on my own schedule. But becoming a pro full-time and only focusing on pro play, being at the highest of the high, definitely changed my mentality a lot.

"For example, I don't stream as much. That's because when I do stream, I play VALORANT and I play a lot more loose. I play just to entertain. When I'm not streaming, I can focus on my individual mechanics and certain strats or smokes. Certain things that I can do in the game that I maybe don't want to show on stream. But yeah, the biggest thing is my mentality."

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