After two weeks of VCT EMEA 2023 action, the teams many expected to see at the top of the standings like Fnatic, Liquid, and NAVI are where they were anticipated to be. But the story of the season so far has easily been the surprisingly (and sometimes hilariously) awful play by the Karmine Corp VALORANT roster.
As of week two, Karmine Corp are sitting in the bottom four of the standings, outside of the VCT EMEA playoff picture in ninth. But to put in context how overwhelmingly poor their play has been, they are posting a -34 round differential, which is the same as the other rest of the teams in the bottom four (Heretics, KOI, and BBL) combined.
Karmine Corp have won the least total rounds in the league, with just 46. BBL Esports, the team in last place with an 0-3 record and only one map win to their name, have won 33 more rounds than Karmine Corp, and have only lost 10 more.
The number don’t lie, but Karmine Corp have also failed the eye test as well numerous times via a multitude of different mistakes. Several critical errors were made in their big loss to Team Liquid: extremely late pivots with not enough time, questionable buys that crippled their economy, and throwing man advantages.
Nivera forgetting to buy after celebrating a second-half pistol round win that stopped Liquid from winning Karmine Corp’s pick of Split 13-0 was the icing on the cake. And to make matters worse, Karmine Corp’s beatdown at the hands of Liquid was the most-watched EMEA VCT match of week two, according to data from Esports Charts.
But the players themselves know something must be done. Following the result, the team’s in-game leader ScreaM, who finished with just two kills on Split, called the state of the team “a disaster,” and said that the team has “[zero] individual confidence.” Still, the veteran said that he doesn’t doubt himself or his teammates but he called on much-needed support from the fans.
KC will need all the support they can get in their next two matches as they take on both Vitality and NAVI in the next couple weeks.
