XLG NoMan: "We only lost because we lost to ourselves"

It's almost as if history repeats itself at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters London 2026: a Xi Lai Gaming vs NRG opening match, where the result goes 2-0 in favour of the reigning world champions. Prior to the match, many hoped that the result would look different during their second encounter with NRG. Unfortunately that wasn't quite enough.

Falling short and facing elimination is a tough scenario for Hong Kong-Welsh player James "NoMan" Man Ga-kit, eager to play in front of a home crowd filled with family and friends. Following the loss, we had a chance to talk to NoMan about the team's preparation for London, who his best player in the world is, and what playing in front of a home crowd means for him.

Reflections from the game

THESPIKE: Talk me through that game, especially the triple-sentinel on Lotus. It looked like you were going to run away with it, but NRG came back and won out.

NoMan: This comp is something we've had for a long time, since VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions, so we know how to play it. To be honest, that map loss was completely on us. NRG played well, of course, but it was basically on us.

THESPIKE: And keiko.

NoMan: And Georgio "Keiko" Sanassy, yeah. He was a demon, just killing everyone. Proper Englishman.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters London 2026

Xi Lai Gaming

0

X

2

NRG

Swiss stage, Best of 3 - June 6, 2026 - 2:00PM

6

Pearl

13

11

Lotus

13

Xi Lai Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

happywei

1.01

210

34/33/6

+1

1.03

75.9%

137.1

33%

86%

6

1

Lysoar

0.97

167

26/33/19

-7

0.79

75.9%

113.5

23%

67%

2

1

WsLeo

0.89

191

26/34/17

-8

0.76

67.0%

132.8

21%

36%

4

7

NoMan

0.86

192

27/30/8

-3

0.90

65.5%

111.4

34%

42%

5

7

Rarga

0.84

160

25/31/12

-6

0.81

76.4%

101.1

41%

44%

4

5

NRG

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Keiko

1.87

370

60/29/8

+31

2.07

79.6%

229.5

31%

88%

7

1

brawk

0.96

194

24/26/21

-2

0.92

73.9%

142.7

17%

67%

2

1

mada

0.95

184

30/27/8

+3

1.11

69.1%

121.7

25%

43%

6

8

Ethan

0.90

184

27/31/15

-4

0.87

78.1%

116.8

21%

33%

4

8

skuba

0.78

145

20/25/17

-5

0.80

69.6%

101.2

20%

40%

2

3

THESPIKE: What do you even do against someone like keiko? Do you change up, run different looks at him?

NoMan: There's nothing like that. At that point you're just giving him good bites. No one goes plus-30 when you give them bad bites. We gave him the bites he was comfortable with, and that was our mistake.

THESPIKE: Do you put the comeback down to anything in particular? Nerves near the end?

NoMan: There's potential to say that. What I felt is we were trying to rush the win, which is a problem we've had for a while. Taking fights we wouldn't have taken at the start of a half, when the gap wasn't even that big. So maybe confidence is part of it. But we only lost because we lost to ourselves, especially on Lotus. I'll give them Pearl, they did really well there. Lotus was on us.

XLG's preparation for London

THESPIKE: It's been a while since you stepped on stage. China had the biggest gap of any region. What did you do differently in prep going into this, after VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters Santiago 2026?

NoMan: I think all the regions got the new patch at different times. We were relatively early, so we played our playoffs before the Neon nerf landed. Coming into here, we knew Neon was going to be nerfed, so you have to rewrite the script on a few maps. That's what we did. NRG were maybe more fresh in terms of game state, because they played really recently in the EWC qualifiers.

THESPIKE: Tactically, what was the prep like on the agent side?

NoMan: We played a lot of Neon. Our Lotus comp didn't quite have the same touch this time. We'd seen how NRG played their Lotus against Leviatán, and we felt the comp from Leviatan got a bit taken from us. Lotus was fine, but there was a lot of mix-and-matching in the other match, though. We hadn't played a lot of the agents, and we didn't really have a settled Phoenix player, so we were figuring out who would play it.

THESPIKE: I noticed that. Arthur "Rarga" Churyumov looked slightly uncomfortable on it.

NoMan: In scrims he's doing really good, so maybe it was a match-day thing. We were flip-flopping. I started on Phoenix, he played Jett, then we swapped over. A lot of the work was just figuring out which agents people were hyper-comfortable on, and then building a game plan around that.

THESPIKE: Speaking of comfort, you came up as a duelist, a Jett player. How does it feel going back to her?

NoMan: It feels good. Jett is the agent I've played the most and she's my most comfortable.

THESPIKE: How do you weigh that against the flex role? What's your favourite?

NoMan: My favourite is playing flex. I really enjoy swapping on and off roles. It gives me a holistic approach, and I get to enjoy different facets of the game. But no one's going to say no to a top-tier duelist. Everyone wants to be that great player. I also quite like flash initiator. It's a mix and match. What's good for this team is that we have shooters, so I'm just trying to facilitate them as best I can.

THESPIKE: Is that where you'd say you bring the most value?

NoMan: I do think so. My mechanics are pretty average, I'd say. What I do is bring out the better in my teammates.

"happywei is the best player in the world"

THESPIKE: Speaking of a teammate, Teng "happywei" Minwei was tapping heads on Lotus. From where you sit, how does he stack up against the other star players across the regions?

NoMan: I've said it multiple times: he's the best player in the world. I get to see more of him and less of everyone else, sure, but when I walk into a server, I'd genuinely pick him over any other player out there.

THESPIKE: How do you facilitate a player like that?

NoMan: Two sides. Tactically, I'm very vocal on info and planning, so that he can switch his brain off for a second and just focus on his crosshair. That's where I help him. And then out of the game, the mental side, keeping him positive and happy. Those are the two.

NoMan's homecoming

THESPIKE: Stepping away from the game a bit. How long have you been in London? Have you taken the boys to see or do anything fun?

NoMan: First thing they wanted was the classic British trope, fish and chips. They loved it. I tried to get them onto a meal deal and nobody wanted one. When I was at uni, that was the go-to lunch. But they wanted proper food, so we did a full English breakfast. Can't go wrong with that. And if we lose two in a row, we might need a Spoons visit to drown out the noise.

THESPIKE: You mentioned in our interview back in China how much qualifying for London meant to you. You've got friends here, family here. Did any of them make it today?

NoMan: Eight of my family and friends came. It was such a special occasion. Whenever I have family around it calms me down so much, and I think that's why I can perform. Sometimes being with them drowns out the importance of the event, and it makes me realise I haven't seen them in so long. The event is important, obviously, but when you're on stage and you see them smiling and laughing, it's a completely different experience.

THESPIKE: Thanks so much for your time, and good luck with the rest of the event.

XLG faces a do-or-die against their brothers in Dragon Ranger Gaming on 9 June to survive in the Swiss Stage. Tune into THESPIKE.GG to watch it all unfold.