EG Faded on trying to reach Champions: "You've got to have faith until the very end"

Evil Geniuses secured their place in the VCT Americas Stage 2 playoffs after winning against KRÜ Esports on Sunday, August 23th. The team underwent significant changes during the split, with assistant coach Daniel “Faded” Hwang moving up from EG Academy to the main roster and bringing Javan “zerona” Varela and Jake “Paincakes” Hass with him.

In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, Faded reflected on what the qualification means after the team’s difficult first stage and discussed the process of integrating the new players into Christine “Potter” Chi system. The coach also addressed EG’s inconsistency throughout the split, the team’s mental development and the difficult path toward Champions, which requires a Grand Final appearance.

Daniel “Faded” Hwang: “It means a lot to not only me but also for the rest of the team. The work that I put in day in and day out, they are always trying to push themselves to the maximum. Being able to actually show it means a lot to everybody. For me, coming from the Academy into the main squad, bringing two of my players up and seeing how they've been able to synergize and work in Potter’s system in such a short period of time and to see results from that, I think is incredible.

Faded: I think it's being on the same page. I really felt that the guys really understood what we wanted to do with all the maps that we're going through. Even though we lost on Lotus, everyone was very confident and everyone knew what went wrong. Especially going into the second and the third map, everyone made those adjustments. Seeing them playing for each other... a lot of the time when people play for themselves and play individually, the results don't usually go your way. That's something that the team really showed today: when they're on the same page, they are very, very strong.

Faded: I think it's just really being able to play to our game plan and being able to support, especially with DGZ (Douglas Silva). I think DGZ is a very selfless player, and he's willing to sacrifice his statistics or his score in general just to try to get that win for the team. Especially with making these changes early in this split, it's very hard to get teams to compete at this level together in such a short period of time. We're kind of seeing the results of time. You can't cheat time. With us going from match to match, of course, there's going to be inconsistencies, especially with the growing pains. If this roster was together since the start of this season, I'm sure the results would be very different. If they had more time, we would be in a very different place right now. But the fact that we're able to even make it into playoffs with how short a period of time we had compared to a lot of the other teams in playoffs, I think they've been doing a good job of continually building and growing together.

Faded: That's actually a really good question. Potter kind of brought me in for a lot of the mental side of things, especially with the players. The way that Potter and I work with the players really is to synergize them. Stage 1 was very difficult for DGZ, supamen (Phat Le) and bao (Bao Nguyen), but they're very, very strong people. Not just in the game but outside of the server too. They're very good-hearted people. As soon as we brought in zerona and Paincakes, they bonded instantly. It's always tough when you have to make changes throughout the middle of the season. I've experienced that in the past. This is a group of guys that really want it.

They're not only spending time when we're in practice, but outside of the server together, continually building the bonds. That has a huge effect on their mental. Even when we lose, I don't hear people blaming each other. Everyone's taking ownership for what they messed up on. That's a sign of very strong character within people. I think DGZ leads that. He's one of those experienced players in the server that really takes big accountability for what he's doing, and he's always trying to be better for the team. that's what all the individuals on the team do, and that's what really helps speed up the recovery on the mental aspect. Credits to all the players and Potter especially.

Faded: Yeah, I 100% believe in this team. I think today was a glimpse of what this team can do when we're at the top of our game. Every single one of these players, pound for pound on an individual level, they're talented players. Mechanically, their game knowledge, everything, and Potter's game plan is built around these players. I think there's a very, very good plan going into playoffs. Don't get me wrong, all the playoff teams, credits to them. Very strong coaching staff, very good players, and it's going to be a tough battle, but I definitely believe. I think every single person in our practice room and every single person in our organization believes that we can do this. You’ve got to have faith until the very end. I genuinely think, especially with this next week of practice coming up to get ready for these playoff teams, it's going to be a battle, and I think we're all ready for it.

Faded: I think just cleaning up our game, just in some of our micros, making sure that we stick to the game plan, continuing developing the mental aspect. As strong as we were today, we're all human. At the end of the day, mentality is a huge part of this game. Just making sure that we're constantly training, and also developing game plans, being on the same page and the fundamentals. I think the fundamentals are some of the most important things that even some of the best teams are always working on, always improving on. That would definitely be one of the biggest points that we need to make sure to keep up, keep growing and being consistent with.”