Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

When the VCT Americas Play-In draw show concluded, the internet was buzzing at the idea of seeing M80 go up against Sentinels. A coach-and-IGL pair going up against their old team. People were already writing in the matchup even though M80 still needed to get through one opponent — ENVY.

The top team from the North American Challengers circuit was carrying a 15-match win streak against a struggling ENVY. It felt inevitable we’d see the matchup everyone wanted, with the analyst desk at Riot Games Arena even picking 7-2 in favor of M80. That was until ENVY had something to say about it.

ENVY took down M80 2-0 to secure its spot in the second-round matchup against Sentinels, in what could awkwardly be called an upset victory for a VCT team over a Tier 2 squad.

Ult Orb caught up with Christian “nightz” Smith after the victory to talk about how he and the team have grown since the beginning of Stage 2, how they beat M80, and the narratives around it and their upcoming match vs. SEN.

Watch Entree’s full interview with nightz here: