Udotan on the Chinese fans cheering against GE: “That only made me want to win more”

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Champions Shanghai continued with heartbreak during Friday’s matches as Global Esports eliminated EDward Gaming in front of the Chinese fans on their home ground. After the match, THESPIKE spoke to Duelist player Go "UdoTan" Kyung-won from Global Esports about playing against a Chinese team and much more.

Scrims have been going well

GE looked unstoppable on stage against EDG as they won Summit 13-5 and Sunset 13-6. Udotan especially popped off in the second half on Sunset, getting multikill after multikill.

When asked why Udotan thought this series went much better than the previous one against Team Vitality, he brought up the scrims.

“We came in with a lot of confidence today facing EDG because yesterday's scrimmage was really good. We've had some moments where we were really, really satisfied with, so we were able to kind of bring that scrim form onto the stage today as well. And I think that really helped me perform today.”

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Champions Shanghai

Global Esports

2

X

0

EDward Gaming

Group B - Elimination Match, Best of 3 - October 2, 2026 - 9:00AM

13

Summit

5

13

Sunset

6

Global Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

UdoTan

1.50

312

41/26/10

+15

1.58

78.4%

181.5

33%

56%

9

7

PatMen

1.35

260

34/24/15

+10

1.42

86.6%

168.0

31%

83%

5

1

Kr1stal

1.33

243

35/18/11

+17

1.94

78.4%

149.9

24%

50%

2

2

xavi8k

1.03

205

26/21/10

+5

1.24

75.7%

131.8

28%

50%

2

2

autumn

0.68

142

19/24/7

-5

0.79

69.9%

90.5

27%

43%

3

4

EDward Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

ZmjjKK

1.08

237

30/30/7

0

1.00

65.1%

152.1

27%

46%

6

7

Smoggy

0.91

177

24/30/10

-6

0.80

59.5%

112.9

29%

17%

1

5

nobody

0.82

201

22/32/8

-10

0.69

59.4%

133.4

26%

67%

4

2

stew

0.80

165

20/34/12

-14

0.59

56.6%

101.9

47%

43%

3

4

CHICHOO

0.72

146

17/29/14

-12

0.59

78.4%

94.3

31%

40%

2

3

Chinese fans left disappointed

Since the VCT China league started in 2022, EDG has been one of the biggest Chinese teams in the VCT. They lifted the VCT 2024 - Champions 2024 trophy, and their Duelist player, Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang, is a huge star in the VALORANT esports community.

Therefore, the crowd heavily favored EDG and roared whenever they won a round. As a player on the team facing EDG, Udotan had mixed feelings about the win.

THESPIKE: How was it to beat the like biggest Chinese team on stage in front of the fans?

Udotan: “It is kind of sad to see CN teams going home so fast and getting eliminated from Champions so quickly. But only one was about to win today. Somebody had to lose. And I'm kind of happy that we won. So apologies to the Chinese fans.”

THESPIKE: Does it affect the players on stage who the crowd is rooting for?

Udotan: “I mean, when we are doing well, for example, if we win a round, the crowd was a bit quiet, but it didn't really affect me. But when it comes to EDG winning rounds, the fans were going crazy. But that only made me want to win more and made me more competitive. So, for example, if EDG won one round and the crowd goes wild, I'm automatically like, okay, I'm going to do better and show them what I can do.”

Last tournament together

In 2027, the VCT is changing, and since no one really knows what this will mean for the franchised teams, Udotan and his teammates are trying to enjoy playing together while they can. According to him, staying in the moment and not focusing on the future is their plan to make it to the playoffs.

THESPIKE: Have you and the team talked about or developed something that you think gives you a better chance to make it to playoffs?

Udotan: “Well, we haven't really talked about it much, but personally, for me, it's the mindset of not knowing what's going to happen next year. This might be our last event together with this roster. So making sure to enjoy every moment of this tournament and make it count, I think that's what's going to help me be motivated to get to the playoffs.”

THESPIKE: You guys are the first seed from Pacific this time. Has that given you more confidence coming into Shanghai?

“Not really. It doesn't really matter much. We're just one of the sixteen teams that are here.”

Scrimming with wired mice

Because many teams have experienced technical issues with their mice, Riot Games requested that all players use a wired mouse on stage. To prepare, all of the players on GE used wired mice during their scrims the day before the match against EDG.

Even though Udotan plays Neon and other agents with a lot of movement, he doesn’t seem to be affected by the change.

THESPIKE: I talked with Dambi yesterday and he said as a neon player it's hard to play with a wired mouse. I wanted to hear if you have the same problems or if you think you could perform even better without the wire mouse.

Udotan: “Well, actually yesterday's scrim, everybody played with wired mice because we were told that we might have to use wired mice. Actually I think I performed better in the scrims, even with the wired mouse. It didn't really affect my play style the way I play. So yeah, I am still confident even with a wired mouse.”

One match away from Playoffs

With EDG out of the way, only LOUD stands in the way of GE securing a spot in the playoffs. They face off tomorrow, October 4.

THESPIKE: Next up is LOUD. Are you scared for them anyway? Or have you prepared for their kind of play style in any way?

Udotan: “I think they are going to be a tough opponent. But then at the same time, like we have so many Pacific teams back in the Pacific region who play like loud. So as long as we focus on the game and play our game, I think we're not going to have any problem.”

For more VCT player interviews at Champions Shanghai, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG.

Featured image source: Riot Games.