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In the lower brackets of VCT 2022 Stage 2 NA Challengers playoffs, FaZe Clan defeated Luminosity Gaming to progress further towards their goals of a VCT Masters qualification.
The best-of-three matchup ended in a 2-1 victory for FaZe Clan. Despite failing to win their opening encounter on Split, FaZe managed to topple Luminosity on their map pick, Fracture, to even the scoreline.
Ultimately, it came down to an all-out encounter on Breeze, where a 14-12 overtime victory for FaZe Clan helped them secure a spot in the Lower Round 2 fixture of the tournament. FaZe will take on 100 Thieves in a Lower Round 2 matchup of VCT NA Challengers on June 20, 2022, at 4.30 am IST/ June 19, 2022, at 4.00 pm PDT/ 7.00 pm EDT.
babybay talks about FaZe Clan's performance after victory over Luminosity Gaming at VCT 2022 Stage 2 NA Challengers Lower Round 1
In a conversation with Sportskeeda Esports' Adarsh J Kumar, one of FaZe Clan's veteran players, Andrej "babybay" Francisty, shared his thoughts on the team's performance so far in VCT 2022 and their expectations for the remainder of the Valorant season.
Q: The VCT Stage 2 NA Challengers has witnessed the most remarkable campaign from FaZe Clan in recent times. How do you think you performed in this matchup against Luminosity Gaming?
babybay: I think we performed pretty well today. It was still a close series, but we were a lot calmer today compared to the other day. That's what really brought us out on top.
Q: Luminosity is one of the only two teams that FaZe Clan lost to in the Group Stage of VCT NA Challengers. What do you think helped you grab a win over them this time around?
babybay: I think this time around, we just had more reps in. I think we should have beaten them the first time we played them. But that was with just three days of practice with flyuh. I honestly thought we were going to win a lot easier against them. But it is what it is. A win's a win no matter what.
Q: FaZe had a disappointing result in Stage 1 of VCT NA Challengers after an early elimination in the Open Qualifiers. Coming into Stage 2 of VCT, what do you think has led to your success in the tournament so far?
babybay: We had a disappointing performance in Stage 1, but it was a completely different roster. The roster that we had at the time had the potential to be really good for sure. I just felt like we just didn't have the time and players that had the experience on that specific roster to make it run like that.
When it came down to Stage 1, we had a lot of players who just hadn't played at that level of play yet. It definitely showed up in our gameplay. Going into this next stage, we had a brand new roster with just me and Quan (FaZe dicey), and by picking up flyuh to come back from the other roster, it just felt way better and made a lot more sense with what we were trying to accomplish.
Having seasoned players like our IGL, who is very, very good, and having supamen, who I've played before Valorant for years and years in CrossFire, is definitely an awesome thing. We have a really good team energy and team vibe.
Q: After playing Jett for the majority of your Valorant career, you started finding success on Neon recently. What is it about the Agent that suits your playstyle?
babybay: Honestly, when Neon first came out, I thought the character was kind of trash. I didn't think it was that good. But I also hadn't played her in scrims. I think it's just very hard to play the character in ranked and get proficient like that. So it's more of a character that you need to use with your teammates.
Once, we randomly just started to play it because we watched OpTic play it in the Masters and win. Every day that went by that I scrimmed on it, it felt like I was getting way more proficient on the utility usage and the timings and the intuition of how to play the character. So I'm very comfortable with the character right now and I think she's really strong.
Q: What are your thoughts on Pearl, Valorant's upcoming map?
babybay: My first impression of the new map getting into the map pool is, thank God, that Split is getting removed. I hate that map. But honestly, I haven't really had the time to go in-game and check out the whole map, but I know there's a lot of hype around it. I'm excited to play something new.
Q: Riot Games is expected to install a franchising system for Valorant in 2023. Considering your background in Overwatch, what are your thoughts on a league system potentially replacing VCT?
babybay: I came from a game that was already franchising - the Overwatch League. I like the concept of it, I like having a league. Obviously, we don't know how this is going to work. I don't know anything about franchising or if we are even going to have a franchising spot. I'm sure there's going to be some type of league that revolves around it.
I'm excited to play it. Hopefully, it's on LAN, so we can all play in these tournaments and play on stage together. That's the way the game is meant to be played, you know. Not online 24x7. So I'm very excited to do that and I think you're going to see the real good players starting to shine when the LAN comes around.
Q: Faze had a disastrous defeat to 100 Thieves in the previous match of VCT Challengers. However, you may have the opportunity to redeem themselves in the next match if 100 Thieves falls to the lower bracket as well. What are your thoughts on that?
babybay: We play the loser of 100 Thieves vs. XSET. Obviously, we want to get revenge on 100 Thieves. It was just a brutal way to lose; just lose in general. It kind of sucked, it felt like we were in the driver's seat. I mean, we were in the driver's seat every game, but they just came back. We want a rematch on that.
There's no bad blood between our teams. We need to get our dignity back, you know. So we want to play them. If we have to play against XSET, we'll play against XSET. At the end of the day, if you want to make it to LAN, you have to beat everybody.
Q: FaZe Clan has never qualified for a major Valorant LAN event such as the VCT Masters. Being a fan of LAN tournaments, how badly do you wanna play in front of a live audience at VCT Masters: Copenhagen?
babybay: I've been trying to make it to LAN for years! For two years now, or maybe a year and a half, I've been trying to make it to a LAN. I wanna go to a LAN so bad. I love the environment.
I've always considered myself more of a LAN player than an online player. In Overwatch, I was pretty trash online. But when it came down to playing on stage, I leveled up by 10. I was a star player on LAN. So I'm really excited to do that.
Especially with a lot of these kids online, they don't get as many nerves as I know they would have playing on stage. I think that's why some of them are so cracked. But I think when it comes down to it, when there's a lot of pressure on, when there's a crowd and stuff like that, when it really matters is when I show up the most. So I wanna make this run, I wanna make it there and win; win some games.
