After securing another victory this week,
Fnatic remain undefeated in
VCT EMEA Stage 1, despite competing under unusual circumstances. Just hours before the match, the team announced that Sylvain “
Veqaj” Pattyn would be unable to play due to health reasons and would be replaced by assistant coach Casper “
Desmo” Rasmussen.
This did not prevent Fnatic from securing a 2–1 victory over GIANTX, despite a difficult opening map. Following the win, Austin “crashies” Roberts spoke with Sheep Esports about this unusual match and how his team managed to come out on top.
What is your first feeling after the game?
Austin "crashies" Roberts: “Obviously really happy we could win today. And a lot of me just feels really bad for Veqaj. He's going through a lot recently. Today was just special because we did it for him.
As you say, it was a kind of special game without Veqaj and with your coach Casper “Desmo” Rasmussen in the lineup. Do you think it was a good performance for your team given the circumstances?
crashies: I think we scaled and got better throughout the series. The first map, we were trying to figure out how the vibes and everything would work, so we were just messing up little things and just trying to get into the game. But I am proud of how we recovered and how we fought back.
What did you think about Desmo's performance today?
crashies: Obviously he was holding his own. I think he was doing things a lot of people didn't expect. I think he even surprised himself, so I'm really happy that he performed, and I think he was very important to our win today.
Did you have the time to practice with him during the week?
crashies: No, we didn’t.
So it was your very first game with him on the roster?
crashies: Yep. We found out this morning, and even this afternoon, that Veqaj wouldn't be able to play. We had like four hours maybe until the game. So yeah, we didn't even scrim with him. We didn't do anything. I think it helped that he knew our strategies, obviously because he's our assistant coach. But yeah, we didn't practice or anything like that with him.
Before today’s game, your team was already qualified for the playoffs. First game, as you said, was quite hard. Did you feel like there was a bit of laziness knowing that you already qualified or what was going wrong according to you?
crashies: I don't think there was laziness or anything. I think we went into it knowing that we qualified for the playoffs. But we didn't really have that much intensity, and they were also playing for a playoff spot, so it was like we were down here and they were up here in terms of intensity. So that was something we talked about a lot after we lost the first map, and going into the second map was just to bring up our energy and bring up our intensity, and we just came out the gate swinging on Bind.
Apart from that, your team performed pretty well the last weeks, you're 4-0 now. Are you satisfied with what you've shown since the beginning of the split?
crashies: Yeah, I am pretty satisfied, and everyone is, to be honest. Everyone has been putting in a lot of work, and I want to give a special shout-out to Boaster (Jake Howlett) and our coaches because I think they've really helped us get into the meta and where we want to play right now, and they've been working really hard to find our identity, and it's been working well so far, so yeah, shout-out to them.
How would you say Boaster helped you to get into the meta? When I talked to him in the first week of the Stage 1 he told me that he has been practicing his own skills, doing a lot of aim training to be better and maybe help your team. Would you say that it helped, or is there any other aspect that you would say is important?
crashies: It has helped, for sure. I think even today he had an ace and he was one of our top performers. Against Vitality, he was the MVP of that series. He spoke to you and said he was putting in work and I think you can only see that it's been working, right? He's been putting in a lot of work and I think we all have so I think we just have a really good system right now.
Where do you think you’ve been improving the most compared to Kickoff?
crashies: I think we have massively improved since Kickoff. In Kickoff, we didn't really know what we wanted from the meta and certain things like that. But even today we had a very good week of practice leading up to today, and I think we've always been improving every week, every day. Everyone comes into practice with a good mindset, ready to win, ready to improve, and yeah, I think we've been only improving.
About your opponents, from what you've seen, is there any team that has been surprising you or the level is just as you expected?
crashies: I'm not really surprised by anyone's level right now. I think all the teams that went to Santiago are in a weird spot. They didn't have much time to change from the Yoru meta because they were at a tournament. So I wouldn't really say I'm surprised by anything really. I kind of expected us to also do good because that's usually how Fnatic does. They don't really qualify for the Kickoff events and then we just work really hard, and the coaches work really hard to get us back on track. I wouldn't really say I'm surprised though.
Do you agree with some players that recently expressed that for them the level of the league overall wasn't that high at the moment?
crashies: I would definitely say it's not in a strong place right now. It's not one of the stronger regions, but I don't think that's the fault of anyone. I think EMEA is just trying to figure out the way they want to play this meta, and every team has a different identity, right? So I think like every team is just trying to figure out how they want to play each game in every practice. So I do agree with some players that it's not at the strongest level right now, but I don't think they're super far behind and that they can't be competing for titles in international events and things like that.
Your Fnatic teammates from League of Legends are traveling to Paris this weekend for what is called LEC Roadtrip. Is it something that you would like to see on VALORANT in the future?
crashies: Yeah, it's very cool to travel, and I think that Roadtrips are cool because you don't have to always qualify for them; for example, if you go to playoffs, they'll go to a different venue, a different city, and things like that. I think it's just a cool experience for players that don't really get to qualify for international events. It gives them a little taste of what it's like to travel with their teammates, experience a different culture, and things like that. So yeah, I would definitely love to see that.”
