FURIA Head Coach shaW responds to FNS: "We are still very far from our ceiling"

After four consecutive wins and a flawless run at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Americas Kickoff, FURIA will now attend VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters Santiago 2026 as the first seed from the Americas. Despite their great run of form, however, the team's Head Coach, Ian "shaW" Jardim, feels confident that FURIA haven't found their ceiling yet.

That is exactly what shaW had to say in an interview with THESPIKE Brazil, where he took the chance to respond to recent comments made by streamer Pujan "FNS" Mehta, who argued that "this FURIA team, this is the best they'll play."

I have a lot of respect for FNS’s history, but I still think we are very far from our ceiling. And when I say very far, I really mean very far. Because when you’re getting close to your ceiling, it means you have a lot of very good maps. I think we have some very good maps, but not many maps yet. I think we can still bring some other maps up to a higher level. So, as a team, we are very far from our ceiling. There are so many things that I know we can still improve, ultimate combos, small details, that I can’t see the ceiling he sees.

Room for Growth: The Next Level

The way shaW sees it, if FURIA want to keep evolving, then they need to focus on improving their level on certain maps. Despite feeling like the team's growth is far from done, though, coach shaW feels confident they can aim for the title at Masters Santiago; or at the very least a top-5 finish.

I think we can get to a point where we can solidify our map pool more. Our focus now is to improve some things that we feel are not that good and also have time to look at the teams we might face. I’ve already understood very well that this is a team I can pass on few things to and the guys adapt quickly. I can say I would be very happy with a top-2, top-3, top-5 finish, but I will really be very happy if we win.

After going winless throughout VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Americas Stage 2 to close out a sorely disappointing 2025, FURIA's turnaround to start the new year has been remarkable to watch. Thrilling as it must be, however, shaW does not want to get lost in the moment. The 2026 VCT Season, afterall, has only just started.

The main thing I felt throughout this run [in Kickoff] was that we managed to show that we could improve against teams that mattered. So, for us, that gives us a great deal of certainty, which is this: the first thing is that we have potential; the second thing is that it’s only the beginning of the year. So, this happiness… we talk about it a lot. Everything we’re experiencing is really good, but it’s only the start of the year. So let’s take care of our mental so we can have longevity and achieve even better results, because I think the teams that fail to keep playing well are the ones that end up breaking apart along the process.

After shocking just about everyone in the Americas, FURIA will now arrive in Chile as the sole Brazilian representatives at Masters Santiago. The tournament will run from February 28 until March 15. Having secured their region's first seed, however, FURIA will get to skip the Swiss Stage altogether and head straight for the Playoffs, where they await to find out who their opponents will be.

You can find the complete video interview with shaW in the original Portuguese below:

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