Kusqt discusses Knights’ comeback at Paladins World Championship

Jake “kusqt” Jenkins has been a veteran of the Paladins scene since its inception and has made one of his most impressive tournament performances at the 2019 Paladins World Championships.

Melissa “BestTaco” Posada caught up with Kusqt after the Knights takedown of Natus Vincere and Envy at the Paladins World Championships to get his thoughts on the event so far, and how his chances look for taking home the trophy.

“We’ve been prepping for this our whole season,” Kusqt said, ecstatic. “I’ve made it to four Worlds so far, and this is the furthest I’ve ever been in the event. Envy played so, so well, but we played just as well, so we were able to get the win.”

But the Knights almost didn’t make it out of their match against Envy alive, down 3 points on the final map of the set. However, it was the Knights’ poise that ultimately led them to victory.

“We just took it one point at a time, and we get the comeback mechanic, so we just kept focused,” he enthused. “They’ve been here before, we’ve been here before, so there’s nothing to be nervous about, right? We played as best we could, and we ended up pulling out the win.”

Kusqt, perhaps more than any other member on his team, has been in high-pressure situations before, appearing in four Paladins World Championships. He reflected on what it meant to him to get that far in his career.

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“[This time], it’s good that I don’t have to spend as much time at the bar,” he joked, clearly at ease with the situation. “I can’t wait to get up on the stage again, it was my biggest goal for Paladins, and all we have to do is win it now.”

For a team like the Knights, that is quite the statement. No one expected them to get this far in the World Championship, especially not with their side of the bracket, including heavy hitters like Na’vi and Envy.

“We’re an underdog team, eight seed,” he enthused. “We took down Envy. We took down Na’vi, who were former World Champions. If we beat those two teams, we can beat anybody.”

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Pittsburgh are already calling their shots for the Grand Finals, calling it “destiny” that they made it there. Simsloo has never lost a match on LAN before, so they’ll be putting that good luck to the ultimate test in the Grand Final.

The Knights will now have to go up against Ninjas in Pyjamas, a juggernaut in their own right, on Sunday at 12:45 PM Eastern.