After four consecutive defeats in
VCT EMEA,
Fnatic, with their backs against the wall, finally bounced back by defeating
GIANTX to remain alive in the Stage 2 Play-Ins. The runners-up at the last
Champions are keeping their hopes of returning to the competition in Shanghai this September alive.
To do so, however, the Black and Orange will have to go as far as possible without suffering another defeat, which would now result in elimination. With a new system that sees Austin “crashies” Roberts take on the Sentinel role, the team appears to have addressed some of the issues that plagued them during the Group Stage. The former NRG player spoke to Sheep Esports about the changes following the match.
What is your first feeling after the game?
Austin “crashies” Roberts: “Obviously happiness. It's been a while since we've had four losses in a row. So yeah, just happiness.
What do you think has led you to victory today?
crashies: I think we were just very confident in our game plan and each other. We've had really good practice leading up to this game, so yeah, just confidence.
Last weeks were pretty rough for you since you lost two times during the last week of Group Stage and last week against Enterprise Esports. What kind of issue did you meet during those games?
crashies: More recently, during the Enterprise game, I think we kind of owned them in the first map. Then during the second map they kind of surprised us with some things and we thought it was going to be maybe a little easier, at least it got in our heads with the way the first map went. They just kind of surprised us and I think all tier 2 teams right now are surprising everyone in EMEA. They're all winning their games.
On the personal side you transitioned to a Sentinel role in the recent games. How do you feel that it helps the team now?
crashies: Yeah, we swapped a bunch of roles. I think our main thing was just trying to make everyone comfortable. And unfortunately, I was the only one that couldn't get in that comfortable spot because we put Cloud (Kirill Nekhozhin) on Initiator. But I think it just adds more stability. They know they can trust me in that role because I played it in the past.
Is there anything hard in this transition or what are you working on to adapt fully to this role?
crashies: Obviously I haven't played the Sentinel role in like four years or something, so I just had to watch a lot of VODs. I had to just practice really hard and just play it a lot in scrims and ranked and just get the feel for how the game is on those characters. It's very different compared to Initiator. So yeah, just putting in a lot of time and it's been showing thankfully so far. We still have a long road ahead, so just gonna keep working.
Your new head coach Andrey "Engh" Sholokhov already explained most of his work consisted of one-on-one sessions to help the players to improve. How does it feel working with him?
crashies: I enjoy him. He has one-on-ones with players and he bought reviews with you, he just tries to make every player better. He tries to bring out the strong side of them and his ultimate goal is always just trying to make people better and the team better. And obviously he's not super involved with whatever has been said, but he's been doing his best to try and just get in when he can, just to try and make the team better as a whole. So yeah, I've enjoyed working with him so far.
You are still one defeat away from being eliminated from VCT EMEA and also missing the Champions. How does your team feel about it?
crashies: Obviously we are back against the wall. Every game we play we know we can go home and it could be our last. But I think that pressure is kind of what makes us thrive. A lot of teams and a lot of players aren't used to having that pressure. But I think with the core of this team, especially us four, we played in the Champions Finals, we played in Toronto Finals, we've had probably the maximum pressure that we could ever have playing together. So this is just another roadblock, I would say. And we're just going to keep having fun and keep trusting each other every game because it's not over until it's over.
Fnatic never missed the Champions in its story. So the fact that you could miss it would actually be kind of an earthquake for the fans. Would that represent anything particular for you to actually miss the Champions?
crashies: Yeah, obviously it would suck to miss Champions. I think every player and every team's goal, especially at the end of the year, is to make Champs. It's the biggest tournament of the year and it's in China. I've never been to China and I really just want to experience it with this team and just do it for the fans because our fans deserve it. I feel like Fnatic deserves it as an org as well. So yeah, this would definitely suck if we miss it.
Your next game will be against Joblife, so what do you think about the team and the game coming?
crashies: We saw them play a little bit today before our game. Obviously they're a strong team, they just beat PCIFIC. We've scrimmed them a few times in the past as well, so we're not going to underestimate them. And it should be a good game, I'm excited. We're playing against Doma (Domagoj Fancev), who helped us in Paris last year against Paper Rex. So it's going to be a sad game for whoever wins, but yeah, I'm pretty excited to play them.”
