KC suygetsu after winning VCT EMEA Stage 2: “There are not a lot of players who really deserve trophies”
Karmine Corp are officially the VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2 champions. The last trophy the French organization led by Kameto won came in 2024, when they claimed Kickoff, the first title in the organization’s history.
Since then, dark times have fallen on KC, as they struggled to achieve significant results. This year had not been their best either, but the team has now completed a remarkable journey from the bottom to the top of Europe. This is what it means to go from zero to hero.
THESPIKE sat down with Dmitrii "SUYGETSU" Iliushin after Karmine Corp’s victory over Team Liquid in the Grand Final to discuss the series, the Spanish crowd, his long journey with KC, his relationship with the organization, the incoming VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Champions Shanghai and much more.
Winning a trophy with KC in front of the Spanish crowd
You have been with KC for two years now, and you have had a lot of highs and lows. What does this victory mean to you personally?
It means a lot, to be honest. There are not a lot of players who have won trophies and really deserve them. So this trophy means a lot to me.
THESPIKE: You have been in the project for a long time, at least two years. You have seen many different rosters and finished in different places. You are a player with incredible achievements, but this one feels a bit different because KC believed in you and you believed in them from the start.
What is your relationship with the org and with Kameto like?
suygetsu: Pretty good, yes. Three days ago, I think we were eating steak together. We were talking about GTA roleplay, because he is really into it, and I used to play it too. So we are kind of close with everyone. We are like a family, I would say.
THESPIKE: That is something noticeable from your vlogs. The VALORANT team, the owner, the League team, you are all together. You spend time together, and that is very nice to see. You have built a really good environment, and this is the final achievement of a very long journey, but it is still not done.
How was the crowd today? Compared to Friday, there were a lot more people, to be honest. It was insane.
Honestly, I expected it to be against us, and it ended up like that.The crowd was full against us. I used to play against that kind of crowd, so it is fine. I was a little disappointed, because in the end a lot of people left. I felt like, of course, they probably did not know us as players, but we were fine with it. Most of the people were cheering for Liquid more than for us.
THESPIKE: You were playing in Spain, and there was all the KOI stuff and the rivalry with KC. So it was kind of expected. But it is never nice to see a lot of boos and all that. I wanted to ask you something about the team, because this year you developed a lot, but there were also many changes. Ahmed "ZE1SH" El Sheikh became head coach, Dastan "dos9" Zhumagali came in, and Simone "simoz" Giovannini joined as an assistant coach.
Relationship with the coaches and N4RRATE
How do the coaches work with you?
suygetsu: From the beginning, when Andre "ENGH" Sholokhov was in, Simoz was helping me a lot individually as a player, how to play my role for the team and how to get value from it. Right now, Ahmed is just working with Simoz and he is not touching us, so they are just working with each other. And our performance coach works with us mostly of course.
THESPIKE: With that, you also reunited with Marshall "N4RRATE" Massey, because you already played together in KC. Then he decided to take a small adventure with Sentinels that did not go the right way, and then he came back and actually won.
When N4RRATE came back, were you happy to have him back with you?
suygetsu: When he just arrived, I was told that he is kind of into a toxic vibe. But I used to play with toxic players in my team. For example, I had Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky who was also irascibile.
So yeah, but Marshall, to be honest, he is like a totally different person. Because he used to play in KC, he had a different attitude. Right now, he is acceptable, he listens to other people, he is a different person.
THESPIKE: It is very nice to hear that it is acceptable and you are getting along a lot better, like we are seeing. You are in a completely different mood. In the past you won VCT 2022 - Stage 2 - Masters Copenhagen with FunPlus Phoenix, like generally, you were just winning, getting good achievements, and then suddenly things did not work anymore.
Personal struggles in a long career
Has there ever been a moment where you just thought, what should I do next? How do I manage to get back from this downfall? Will I ever get back to where I belong?
When you are losing, of course, you always have these thoughts. It is a matter of how you are going to deal with them. There are some people who deal with their emotions incorrectly, and they go more down. But in this moment, it is very important to ask for help if you do not know what to do. Because there are so many situations where you went in the wrong direction.
If you have the right people around you and you ask them for help, it is always going to be good. Also, if you listen to yourself, if you have your expectations, it is not bad to doubt yourself. It is never bad. But it is more about how you are going to deal with it. If you still want to do it, you will always achieve your goals. This is the most important.
THESPIKE: Yes and it is also game-related. If you start doubting yourself when rounds are not coming in, you will eventually perform worse. It is always good to know what you are doing wrong, but not to start crying over yourself. As far as we know, momentum is very important in VALORANT, whether it is inside a game or inside a whole season. Once you start winning, you just keep winning.
Until something goes wrong, then it is hard to step back. When you are playing on such a big stage, the momentum is probably even bigger, because the crowd hypes you up and all the things start going in a team’s way. We saw it today. You were winning a lot of rounds, then Team Liquid started winning every round, then you eventually broke it and it switched.
For you as a player, what is your approach to this momentum stuff when you just start losing rounds and you do not know how to come back?
suygetsu: I will say, most of the moments when you are losing, you are losing probably by yourself. Because somewhere you did not communicate properly, somewhere you missed your position, etc. In this moment, it is important to move forward. And that is it. There is nothing more.
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THESPIKE: Speaking about crowd and fans, KC fans today were not that many, because obviously we were in Spain. Some weeks ago,I had the chance to speak with Martin "marteen" Pátek from Gentle Mates, who also played in KC. He told me that KC fans are the type that when things go well, they are very supportive and they are there with you, and they are very insane. But when things get rough, they tend to be pretty toxic sometimes.
Do you agree with him? What is your experience with the KC fanbase?
suygetsu: Just check the last post when Gentle Mates lost. I think it is going to tell you a lot of things. But in general, fans are always like this. I was playing even in an org where fans were even worse because of betting. Betting fans are worse, of course. I will say, at least for me, half of the hate I was getting was understandable and acceptable. Because, of course, we were losing from groups.
Blaming fans for having hate towards you when you are losing, I think it is bullsh*t. You need to just stay on your side and be focused on yourself. Do not read this stuff. Fans are always fans. They are going to be happy when you win, and they are going to be sad when you lose. Of course, it is part of the journey, part of esports. People taught me, like my previous coach ENGH said, in sport, actually, people get more hate.
THESPIKE: Yes, a lot more, like in football.
suygetsu: We are not getting even half of it.
Heading to Champions Shanghai
THESPIKE: Now EMEA is done and we are going to China, Shanghai and there will be even more fans.
Did you have the chance to see China’s walkouts, the big crowds, big venues? Are you hyped about going there?
suygetsu: Yeah, of course. It is VALORANT’s best region, I would say. They are doing pretty much everything for it, and I am excited to go there because of this. They have everything, pretty much. It is going to be my first time in China. So that is nice.
THESPIKE: Everyone is saying that EMEA is not looking that good this year. It is not getting that insane. Kimmie "Kicks" Laasner told me that all those Tier 2 teams are also coming up as a result of the region being slightly worse.
What are your expectations for the tournament?
suygetsu: Of course, for us individually, it is going to be to win this tournament. But we are not focused on this, actually. Today, we were not focused on winning the trophy. We were more focused on how to get into it. So we are going to be just focused on details. We are going to be focused on how to achieve things, how to stay positive, how to talk with each other and just share our goals. And that is it.
After this victory Karmine Corp are officially heading to Champions Shanghai as EMEA's First Seed. The teams which will represent the region at the event alongside KC are Team Liquid, Team Vitality and FUT Esports. If you want to know all the VALORANT teams qualified for Champions Shanghai 2026 check this article.
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