GX westside on VALORANT Champions 2026: "We’re heading in the right direction, but we need to commit"

Miłosz "westside" Tomasz Duda spoke with THESPIKE after their VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt to discuss the series, the inclusion of Tier 2 teams in the race for VALORANT Champions 2026, areas the team needs to improve, and much more.

The victory against Eintracht Frankfurt

THESPIKE: How do you feel about this series against Eintracht Frankfurt, especially after such a dominant performance from you on LotuS, followed by two challenging maps?

westside: "To be honest, after the first map, we thought the series was going to be a bit easier, but we were surprised by how challenging the next two maps were. I think there were also moments where we didn’t play as well as we could have. We started both the second and third maps at a significant round disadvantage, so we always had to fight our way back into the game. Overall, it was good. It was a good series."

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2

GIANTX

2

X

1

Eintracht Frankfurt

Upper Bracket Round of 16, Best of 3 - August 6, 2026 - 3:00PM

13

Lotus

5

9

Ascent

13

13

Summit

9

GIANTX

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Jesse

1.21

227

47/39/27

+8

1.21

75.4%

145.7

28%

70%

7

3

ara

1.13

241

55/42/4

+13

1.31

82.3%

154.3

28%

50%

8

8

neT

0.99

191

40/46/24

-6

0.87

72.9%

133.2

27%

57%

4

3

Flickless

0.94

192

41/43/23

-2

0.95

68.4%

121.0

21%

24%

4

13

westside

0.78

151

37/46/7

-9

0.80

68.0%

105.5

41%

54%

7

6

Eintracht Frankfurt

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

MONSTEERR

1.17

249

55/44/12

+11

1.25

69.2%

163.7

35%

45%

5

6

Jamelinho213

1.06

236

52/49/7

+3

1.06

61.3%

144.0

30%

43%

12

16

Fizzy

0.89

172

40/45/16

-5

0.89

68.5%

114.6

28%

71%

5

2

musashi

0.88

176

37/40/18

-3

0.93

72.4%

119.0

21%

80%

8

2

azury

0.79

157

32/42/22

-10

0.76

69.7%

105.3

28%

33%

2

4

THESPIKE: What are your thoughts on having Challenger teams competing for a spot in the Champions through this format?

westside: "If I’m being honest, I think it’s actually really nice. If I were in Tier 2, I’d obviously want the opportunity to compete for a spot at Champions as well. I think it’s great for all players, especially younger players from Tier 2 who want to make the jump to Tier 1 in the future. It gives them a chance to show what they can do on a big stage and prove themselves against top-level competition. I think it’s a really good opportunity for every Tier 2 team."

THESPIKE: You are one step closer to qualifying for Champions 2026. With limited time left, what do you think the team needs to improve or focus on to get the most out of this roster’s talent?

westside: "I’d say our main focus should be on winning the early rounds and avoiding slow starts. Like last year, we were sometimes down 0-5 and had to fight our way back into the game, or we’d lose the first map and then have to win the next two. I think we need to start strong from the very first round, set the pace early, and not let the game snowball in our opponents’ favor."

THESPIKE: We’re currently in a meta where Phoenix is having a big impact, and you’ve been sharing that agent with Flickless. How do you decide who will play Phoenix in a given game, and how strong do you think the agent is in the current meta?

I think Phoenix is still really strong, even though he got nerfed a bit. I still think he’s going to be played a lot because he’s probably one of the strongest secondary duelists.

As for Cypher, we’re deciding which maps make the most sense for us to play him on. For me, it’ll probably be maps where you need to hold the site more and play around your setup. For Flickless, it’ll be Cypher on maps where he can play more around rotations, moving across the map and gathering information.

It’s more comfortable to sit on site with my traps and setup and make the most of them. With Phoenix, I play more independently, using the flashes and creating opportunities for the team. I feel like I can play more around myself on Phoenix compared to Cypher."

THESPIKE: You have to change your playstyle quite a bit between Cypher and Phoenix. How do you switch your mindset when moving from a defensive role to a more aggressive one?

westside: "For me, it works pretty well. Last year, when we went to Champions 2025, I was playing Cypher on every map. When I got put on Phoenix, I was actually happy because it was something different and fresh. I could play more around myself, take more aggressive peeks, and just do things I couldn’t really do on Cypher. It was more fun for me, and now it feels like things are a bit more balanced."

THESPIKE: At the beginning of the year, you said that you were one of the best Sage players, but sentinels have been one of the weaker roles in the current meta. What do you think could be changed to make the role more viable against strong duelists?

westside: "I think there are a few options, but I don’t know if any of them will actually happen. There are a lot of things you could change. I think Vyse, for example, is still playable, but why would you pick Vyse or another sentinel when you have two duelists who can just teleport or dash through everything you’ve set up?

I’m not really sure what the solution is. You could nerf the duelists and the double-duelist meta even further, or you could buff some of the sentinels. For example, I think Deadlock could be really good at stopping these aggressive pushes because her traps can punish duelists when they dash in. But then you have GravNet, which has a 60-second cooldown, so you basically get one use per round and can’t really get much value out of it."

Roster changes and synergy

THESPIKE: Now that Flickless is the IGL, how has the communication changed? What does your process of working together look like on the server, and how is it different from when Cloud was the IGL?

westside: "The biggest difference I feel between Flickless and Cloud as IGLs is their approach to chaotic situations. Flickless is very calm and controlled, even when things get hectic, and he’s able to keep everyone composed. Cloud was more energetic and would adapt his calls to what was happening in the moment, putting more energy into directing the team."

THESPIKE: Since the start of the year, GIANTX has seen a lot of changes. After having time to develop chemistry as a team, where do you feel the roster stands entering the Play-Ins?

westside: "I think we’re somewhere in between right now. There’s probably one step we need to take that could make us really strong and give us a chance to make a run for Champions. But we have to take that step forward. If we don’t keep working on the things we need to improve, I think we’ll just stay where we are, and it’ll be difficult for us to get to that next level. I think we’re heading in the right direction, but we need to fully commit to it."

THESPIKE: You said that the GIANTX 2025 roster’s close friendship helped make you stronger as a team. Now that Grubinho and Cloud have moved on, how would you describe your relationship with your former teammates, and do you still keep in touch?

westside: "With Grubinho, we don’t really keep in touch anymore. I think we’ve just moved on, you know. He’s still playing the game, but he’s not on a team right now and mostly plays for fun. I don’t know if he’s planning to come back competitively in the future, but if he does and starts grinding again, I think he can still be a really good player.

With Cloud, we still have some contact because we sometimes play against each other in practice. We’ll talk from time to time when we see each other in-game, so we still keep in touch, but of course, it’s not the same as it was before."

THESPIKE: Despite everything that has been happening, how would you describe this GIANTX roster? For example, do you guys feel more complete, or what do you think is the missing factor from this GIANTX roster?

westside: "For sure, there are still things we need to improve, but it’s not like it was at the beginning when we were constantly trying to fix everything we weren’t good at. I think one of our biggest strengths right now is that we have a really good relationship with each other. We’re trying to build our chemistry around being good friends and good teammates, and I think it’s slowly starting to work. We’ll see how it goes in the next game."

Message to the fans

THESPIKE: Is there anything you’d like to say to the fans?

westside: "Never give up, you know. Even if things are going badly, you can always start from zero again if you reset, stay focused, and keep going."

GIANTX will continue their VCT EMEA Stage 2 run on August 8 against FUT Esports. They are now just two victories away from qualifying for VALORANT Champions 2026.

For all things VCT-related, make sure to stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG as we continue to update you with the freshest game and esports news.

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