"I don't think there's really a huge gap in between regions" - Ewok on RRQ's first international victory at Champions Paris

Rex Regum Qeon have achieved their first international victory after a 2-1 victory against Bilibili Gaming at VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions. The VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Pacific Stage 1 champions fell short of expectations at VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Masters Toronto 2025, yet bounced back despite a consecutive loss to Fnatic in their opening bout. Following their victory, Adrian from THESPIKE.GG had the opportunity to talk to head coach Martin "Ewok" Ewok, discussing regional parity and playstyles, the team's mental journey, and the cultural differences within their mixed-nationality roster.

THESPIKE: Stylistically, BLG plays very different from Fnatic. I noticed on Lotus that both teams were going at it really aggressively, which is obviously the main playstyle in Pacific. Was it hard adjusting to having to play various playstyles? For example, Fnatic being really slow?

Ewok: Yeah, no, for sure. There's definitely a big pace change between Fnatic and Bilibili. It's also just because a lot of our practice is like that as well, because we practice a lot against specific teams, SEA teams and also Chinese teams. Because everyone kind of steals from each other, learns from each other, the playstyles are kind of similar.

So that's something more familiar for us with BLG. For sure. Fnatic's playstyle is something that we're trying to improve on, especially the defense side. But the attack side we felt like was fine in both, only Sunset had some crucial shooting mistakes, I would say. But overall, there's a big difference, but we're trying to adjust to both.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions

Bilibili Gaming

1

X

2

Rex Regum Qeon

Group B - Elimination Match, Best of 3 - September 20, 2025 - 1:00PM

13

Sunset

7

8

Lotus

13

4

Abyss

13

Bilibili Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Levius

1.07

223

48/42/11

+6

1.14

66.5%

141.4

34%

62%

8

5

Knight

0.95

189

41/38/16

+3

1.08

69.5%

129.6

26%

33%

3

6

nephh

0.88

179

35/36/20

-1

0.97

64.5%

110.4

21%

36%

4

7

whzy

0.71

160

31/47/16

-16

0.66

69.9%

109.3

29%

33%

5

10

rushia

0.71

153

27/42/18

-15

0.64

68.2%

106.4

25%

55%

6

5

Rex Regum Qeon

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Monyet

1.22

223

46/36/26

+10

1.28

76.5%

142.3

26%

60%

6

4

Jemkin

1.22

246

51/37/7

+14

1.38

75.3%

149.6

39%

79%

11

3

Xffero

1.01

189

39/34/17

+5

1.15

71.0%

117.7

25%

53%

8

7

Kushy

0.95

169

35/41/23

-6

0.85

73.1%

108.6

32%

36%

4

7

Crazyguy

0.92

165

34/34/23

0

1.00

69.2%

121.8

26%

40%

4

6

THESPIKE: It was a massive turnaround from the Fnatic game, especially on Abyss. Jake "Boaster" Howlett was going at it on your team last game, but this time it was a 13-4. What was the talk after the Fnatic loss and how did you guys reflect on that?

Ewok: Well, it's a map we were still confident in, so it wasn't really affected because of the Fnatic loss. I think we probably should have got nine against Fnatic on the attack side, so ending at 7-5 was like "we know we could have done more."

The big adjustment was the defense side. Of course, we didn't know what BLG was going to play: if they would play the same as they played before, or something new. But their comp is something that we actually played before, so we kind of know how the comp works. We haven't played it in an official- it's a bit of a leak, but we have played it before since we test a lot of comps. This then also helped us to adjust to when the enemy plays since we know its strengths and the weaknesses.

THESPIKE: Mentally, how did you guys bounce back from the Fnatic loss?

Ewok: For us it's kind of more of the same since we know how to handle that situation where there's disappointment at the start stage. Stage One, we started with a loss. Stage Two, we started with a loss. Playoffs, we started with a loss in Stage Two as well.

We know it's not over just because we lost one series. So for us a lot of times it's a little bit of a wake up and to just know where we're a little bit lacking because from scrims it's sometimes hard to tell. So a little bit of knowing where we need to improve which is something that's really important for us. And then the mental side we work on continuously, win or lose.

THESPIKE: You've been talking a lot about your domestic records and how you guys are playing domestically. How has this team philosophy changed from last year to this year? Last year beating Gen.G Esports was such a massive success for you guys, but this time you guys are top contenders for Pacific every time. How did that team philosophy shift over the year?

Ewok: I don't think our team philosophy necessarily changed. We made some additions in the backroom staff in terms of manager and as well as sports psychologist and then just some improvements overall. The calling I think has been easier, since the English is easier with Ngô "Crazyguy" Công Anh. But to be honest, I feel like we were a good team last year as well, so there's not that much change for me since my philosophy has stayed the same since year one.

I think the players have improved as well. No shade to previous players, but we just play better together. And that's been my goal since the start: really to try and improve the roster slowly. I've always said that the goal is to make it to international events and then be competitive there, so that's what we're trying to do here.

THESPIKE: So you mentioned bringing Crazyguy in, and how him being able to speak English is a lot better as a leadership role. You've got a lot of different nationalities on the team. Has communication been difficult because of this?

Ewok: Yeah. There's no one except Evan “Warbirds” Moormann, where English is his native language. So it's an adjustment for sure, but I feel like we handle it pretty decently. It's something that a lot of other teams are going through as well. It could be a weakness, but we build a lot to try and make it a strength.

THESPIKE: Are there any particular ways you guys build on that or patch up those sort of differences?

Ewok: A lot of times there's misunderstandings because of language barriers, saying something in a different way, or just cultural differences in terms of what someone takes as offense, or what is too direct. We just need to talk openly. It's very important to be able to kind of share when someone's talking to you in a way you don't really like, or then to say, "this is a good way."

I try to help a lot with that in terms of being a mediator as well. If there's maybe conflict or just disagreement between players, where it could just be a misunderstanding, which is something that happened a lot in the last three years in terms of two players saying the same thing or thinking the same thing. But when the talking happens there's sometimes miscommunication there, so I try and help as much as I can in terms of bringing down the heat and discussing it in terms of, "you guys are saying the same thing, but differently." So, yeah, mediating.

THESPIKE: We've been talking about cultural differences. I mean, you're from South Africa and RRQ Is an Indonesian org, while having three Indonesian players on the team. Since I assume you've learned a lot about Indonesian culture, what's been your favorite part or what's been the biggest adjustment?

Ewok: To be fair, since I moved over to Indonesia, which was four years ago already, I felt very at home. Everyone was very welcoming to have me there as well. I think because of the warm reception, I was more open to learning more about their culture. I can understand quite a bit of Bahasa Indonesia now. My speaking is not the best, but I can understand quite a lot of it, and I understand much better in terms of how it works in their culture and also understand the differences between the Indonesians as well. It's not just they're all same: they're all from different spots as well in Indonesia, so there's cultural differences there as well. I've been with the players for a long time already now and Bryan "Kushy" Setiawan is the most recent one, but I feel like I have a very good relationship with him as well.

THESPIKE: Coming into this tournament, everyone is saying that Pacific is the best region: they've won the first two titles this year. As the coach of one of the top contenders of the Pacific League, what's your view on that?

Ewok: I don't really give too much thought to it, to be honest. For me, I feel like among international teams, anyone can win. It's very tight. If you get to practice against a lot of teams, you get to see how similar the skill level is as well. Even though some of the matches you see are 2-0, but if those same teams play another day, you maybe see a different result, so I don't think there's that huge of a gap in between regions, really.

THESPIKE: Thank you so much for your time, Ewok. Good luck in your next match.

RRQ face off against MIBR in an elimination match to qualify for playoffs on 22 September. To catch all the action at Champions, tune into THESPIKE.GG.