You had your chance to ask anything you desired to Peter “Governor” No— a streamer-turned-pro player currently signed to Talon Esports and playing in VCT Pacific.
Ranging from his take on who’s the best player in the world to his feelings about Korean BBQ, he was happy to reveal the answers.
Peter “Governor” No may have started off his career as a ranked streamer, but he cemented his authority as one of NA’s most talented duelists in the Challenger series. His team, Turtle Troops, qualified for the circuit as free agents, and after the 2023 season, he joined Talon Esports across the ocean to play in VCT Pacific.
In an exclusive AMA with ONE Esports, brought to you in partnership with Samsung, Governor talks about who he thinks is the best duelist in the world, his teammates on Talon, and his Valorant crush.
Governor AMA with ONE Esports
How does it feel to be a part of Talon and to make the transition between North America and Pacific?
It’s a good feeling for sure. It’s a big lifestyle change in terms of cultural differences. I am Korean American, but my Korean is not completely fluent. So I still do feel like a foreigner. Other than that, I’m definitely excited.
What do you feel was the biggest surprise to you with the move?
Everything is smaller. I mean, I’m kinda tall, but you can immediately tell that everything is really low to the ground. My apartment is a bit tiny, but I’ve learned that’s a normal thing here. Still, that was a bit of a shock to me.
Do you listen to Kpop?
I started recently because I moved here, but I’m not that into it yet. Started listening to New Jeans.
So how is living in Korea? And do you enjoy living in Korea?
A lot of my family live in Korea, so it’s kind of a way for me to reconnect with them and also speak to them. As soon as I got here when I had time off, I saw my cousins and my grandma.
Also, I get to work on my Korean, and I get to communicate better with my parents now because of that. Overall, it’s a really good experience for me.
Do you like Korean barbecue traditions?
When I got here first for my trial, for the full month I was here, I think I ate Korean barbecue every day, especially because there’s this 24-hour Korean barbecue spot that’s open right below our office.
Our practice finishes pretty late, so I would always eat there because it’s, like, the only open thing that was good.
What’s the one thing at the barbecue restaurant that’s, like, your absolute favorite?
Probably the kalbi, which is the marinated beef short rib. I’ll always order if they have it.
Do you have a crush on any of the Valorant agents?
Don’t have a crush, but it’d probably be Jett because she’s Korean.
How is the boot camp experience with the team?
As soon as we all settled into Korea, we were able to talk to each other right after in person. Being in person and actual team boot camps accelerates the process of getting better because you can talk to people whenever you want right after practice.
We’ve been here for three weeks now, but the three weeks we’ve been here, we’ve improved probably four times as much as the month we were all spread out, so I’m really happy about that.
What does your day usually look like?
It’s changed a lot since I’ve come to Korea. I’ve started picking up a lot of new, healthy habits that I didn’t see before. I wake up at 10:00 a.m. I shower, then I do skincare.
And I didn’t do that before, but I’m in Korea now, and everyone here is like a freaking model. So I’m doing skincare now because my teammates all do it, too.
Then I go into the office. It’s like a ten-minute walk from my apartment. I usually get into the office at about eleven. Practice starts at one. So I have an hour to eat, warm up. Then we have nine hours of practice.
We finish at ten. I usually eat food, and then I go to the gym, and then I go home and I try to stream for like an hour or two. I usually get home at one or two in the morning. I do skin care. And then I go to sleep. We do that six out of seven days because we only have one day off, which is Sunday.
What products do you use for skin care?
It’s all in Korean, but I can tell you the process. I have five or six steps. I have cleanser, then I do toner, then I do serum, then I do eye cream, then I do moisturizer.
And then if it’s the morning, I do sunscreen. If you ever interview Crws, you could ask him, because I have all his stuff. I’ve been doing it for three weeks now. I’ve noticed a little bit of a change, but mainly it’s just good for me.
So how was the transition from Challengers North America to VCT Pacific?
My playstyle has changed a lot. Being in APAC, I have my gun out a lot more, and I take a lot more fights.
I remember when I first switched to APAC and I played my first few scrims. I was annoyed. People would do dumb stuff a lot. If you do any of this in NA versus any tier-one team, they’re going to shoot your body and type at you because this stuff is ridiculous.
But I’ve come to realize that the playstyle here is just a different game, so I don’t get upset anymore. I’ve just simply learned to adapt to it.
Another change is I miss my friends. In terms of people I would queue with, I think every day I would have a duo in NA because I have 100 people on my friends list. In-game I feel like a foreigner because I have nobody on my friends list besides my teammates.
How did you get into the gaming and esports space?
I have been gaming since I was eleven years old. And it stemmed from, I think the first game I played was Minecraft. I think a lot of people’s first game was Minecraft too. When I was 12, I played my first FPS, I played Counterstrike for the first time.
And that’s where it all started. From there on, I just started playing and playing. My mechanics improved from there. I watched Brax’s stream, I got a key, and then from there on, I played Valorant for 12 hours a day.
How did you go from content creation to playing professionally?
Whenever you kill a streamer you get really excited. You go into their VOD, check the highlight, and post
it on YouTube. That’s what I kept doing and that’s what my career started as.
At first, I didn’t care about competing. Streaming was first for me, YouTube was first for me. I think when I had like 40K subs on YouTube I started streaming and on my first stream I had like 80 viewers.
Then from there next month I had 300 average viewers. Next month I had 500. The first year was the biggest for sure. I blew up a bit. But after about a year and I was averaging like 800 viewers, that’s when my passion for competing came up.
But at this point, I was signed already to BBG for content creation. BBG was cool about it. They would let me compete as a free agent. So I had a team called Squirtle Squad. It was me, ban — he’s my teammate right now — and Harmful, Psalm, Jonas.
We won a couple of the Knights tournaments, like $5,000 tournaments. And that’s when everybody on the team got an offer. I got an offer from Complexity, but I was signed to BBG so there was kind of a problem. But they ended up buying me out.
Some advice I would give to everybody that’s trying to go pro — I know streaming and content might be annoying but it’s worth it if you want to go pro to build yourself a brand.
Do pineapples belong on pizza?
My mom likes pineapple on pizza. I don’t mind if you get pineapple on pizza. Just don’t get it on the full pizza.
If we’re ordering together, get it in half because I’m not eating any of that. I don’t like it on my pizza.
Who’s your favorite duelist to play?
It was Jett. I like Raze a lot now though. It’s Raze meta, and I just have more fun playing her now because it’s just like fresh air. I can still play Jett though, too.
Which maps do you love and hate the most?
My favorite map of all time is Fracture. A lot of people don’t like Fracture, but it’s because my experiences are good on the map, on Turtle Troops, and just even in ranked, Fracture is like my best map.
In ranked, it’s probably Sunset, that I hate the most. In ranked, I just don’t know how to get kills
on that map because, especially in APAC, I feel like people just rush A or rush B, and it’s just really boring.
How do you feel about the map pool?
I don’t like it because it doesn’t have Fracture. My least favorite map is in the pool (Sunset) and my two favorite maps (Fracture and Haven) aren’t in the pool.
How would you rank the initiators in-game?
We have Gekko number one. I think Gekko will find a lot of use. I’m going to put Skye at number two.
Next, I think it’s probably Sova. And then you have Breach and Kayo. I think Kayo is good, but he’s just not great for the current map pool especially.
Who is the best duelist player, in your opinion, in the entire world?
The best duelist player has to be somebody who plays the four duelists, which are Jett, Neon, Raze, and Yoru.
But I don’t think there is somebody who can play all four of those agents at a high level. I think PRX Forsaken has played Raze before. He can play Jett and Yoru too, so it’s probably him.
In terms of just aim, it’s between something and Aspas.
What are your expectations for VCT Kickoff and how have you been preparing for it?
As far as preparations go, I think I told you about our days and my daily routine. For the last two months, we’ve been practicing nine hours a day, six days a week. So I think we’ve been working hard. I’m sure other teams have been working just as much, but I think we’ve been using our time efficiently.
We haven’t just been mindlessly playing the game. We’ve been actually talking a lot outside of practice too, just about the game.
We’ve been working hard to work on our individual flaws and our team’s flaws. But overall, I think we’ve utilized this time. I think we’re ready.
What would you be if you weren’t a pro gamer?
I was considering being a dentist. Right now, I’d probably get a business degree. I’m not going to do this forever, but my goal is to make some money, find happiness doing it for a bit, and then go off, get a degree, and then put my money to good use, and make more money.
I have no clue yet what I’m going to do, but I’ve been pretty smart with my money because I know that it’s not going to last forever.
Do you have anything you want to say to any of your fans in Asia?
From Asia, I may be an import, but I’m still doing it for the Thai people. I love you all.
