In one of the longest games in VCT NA history, Faze Clan and Quan “dicey” Tran outlasted EG in quintuple overtime on the decider map Ascent.
Faze won five straight attacking rounds in overtime, in one of the longest games in VCT NA history, giving them five total match points. In those rounds, Faze went 1-4 but got ultimately won the most important round.
Three hours and three minutes total were how long it took for Faze Clan to cross the finish line and advance into the Upper Semifinals. Two overtime maps and the marathon on Ascent pushed these two teams to their mental limit. And for Faze Clan, winning a meek 16% of the pistol rounds, it was an uphill battle on every map.
I talked with Quan "dicey" Tran after the win to see how Faze stay composed in the manic final moments. We also talked about how the team stayed focused in the clutch situations and found enough energy to overcome the pressure. And we talked about Kelden “Boostio” Pupello pulling out the Phoenix, sticking to the fundamentals under pressure, and cleaning up the play heading into the next round.
Faze dicey on beating Evil Geniuses in the NA LCQ
Dicey, that was a wild series, it took three and a half hours to finish. You guys had five match points. How did you keep up the energy in those moments and stay confident?
Dicey: "It went to five OTs, so after the first two OTs, we were still focused. We’re down. We’re hyped, but we started to ease off a bit and started to get a clear mind because we kept tossing. And, some might even say we were getting a little demoralized, but once, you know, we make some of these miracle plays. These cool, hype plays, that our players are pulling off - me, my teammates, it gets us re-motivated back in."
"Once we hit that fifth OT, we were just saying, we deserve this win. We’re losing because we’re giving up these advantageous situations. We’re playing bad, but I don’t think they were outplaying us
"And, once we hit that fifth OT, we were just saying, we deserve this win. We’re losing because we’re giving up these advantageous situations. We’re playing bad, but I don’t think they were outplaying us. And, once we hit that fifth OT, it was, guys, let’s not do anything crazy. Let’s not try to make any hero plays. Let’s play our game and close it out. It was pretty good going into the fifth OT."
As for you individually, you ended Stage 2 with dominating numbers. You were the highest-rated Chamber. What did you do in the break between Stage 2 playoffs and NA LCQ to keep that form?
Dicey: "Once stage 2 ended, I took a little break to clear my mind, refresh. Enjoy being back home and away from the computer for a little. But, I still played Valorant, you know, at night and stuff like that, but we never really practiced. When we started practicing again, we told everyone we had a great run in stage 2. Our comms and our performance, individually and as a team, was pretty good. Let’s go back to the practice trying to imitate that, trying to improve."
"That’s exactly what everyone on my team did because we all wanted the win. We all wanted to make it to Champions, so we gave our all in practice. It carried over and everything we did in stage 2 prep, four our stage 2 run, we did while prepping for the LCQ run. We did the same exact things. Hopefully, we get similar success or even better"
Focusing on the team, Faze was one win away from a trip to Copenhagen in Stage 2. Many look at you guys as the favorite to make it to Champs. What will it take for this team to take that next step?
Dicey: "We just need to focus on not making too many mistakes. We got to stick to the fundamentals and I noticed, that sometimes we get nervous a little, not really like crazy nervous, but sometimes you tend to forget the fundamentals. Sometimes you just want to peak and get this kill by yourself, but you need to wait for your teammates and play like we were practicing when we had nothing on the line.
"We would wait for teammates, we don’t try and win the round ourselves, just things like that. We just have to stick to our fundamentals to place and go to Champs and think that’s what we’re lacking the most."
Back to Ascent, despite the win, you guys dropped four defensive match points. What was going wrong in those rounds?
Dicey: "Probably just clean up the comms. I feel like our team thrives off each other's energy. So, if one person’s too, too hyper, too hectic we just got to dial it back down. And, everybody’s on the same page, calm and focused, and just ready to play. As long as we keep the energy at a normal level, and everyone’s on the same page, then we should be fine."
On Breeze, you and EG did a role reversal a comp Faze basically popularized. Jawgemo went onto the Neon and Babybay moved to the Jett. Were you prepared for EG to pull out the Neon?
Dicey: "We were, well, actually, no we weren’t. We weren’t prepared for the Neon, but we reviewed how he plays it as a player. So, we kind of had the idea of how he moved around the map. How he likes to play. So, when the Neon came out, you know, it was a surprise, the pick, but we were still able to deal with it kind of or try to deal with it because we had a good idea of how he plays in general. The way he rotates and things like that."
Even more surprising than the Neon was Boostio’s Phoenix on Ascent. How difficult was it dealing with Boostio and did the pick throw you?
Dicey: "That really surprised us. That caught us off guard, you know. I did not expect him to pull out the Phoenix and he looked really good on the Phoenix. And, I feel like the Phoenix…it was hard to play against because he caught us off guard, but was easy to play against because they didn’t have an OP up for the majority of the rounds. And, I feel like that was easy to take advantage of and it was kind of like a double-edged sword for them. It was good because it was unexpected, but it’s harder to play without the OP because I feel like the OP right now is too oppressive."
The pistol rounds skewed heavily in favor of EG forcing you guys to play from a deficit often. EG ended Stage 2 as the best Pistol team. What went wrong in the pistol rounds?
Dicey: "I feel it’s just another thing we need to focus on because I feel like some of those pistol rounds were winnable but we ended up tossing them or choking. They’re also pretty good, like EG was a really coordinated team, especially on pistols. They had some really good strats and overall they're just a good team. So, I’m not surprised that we didn’t win as many pistols as we would have wanted."
It seemed as if Icebox was firmly in control and then slipped in the second half. What happened to let them back on that map?
Dicey: "I feel like we were whiffing more shots second half and they were running some strats that we just weren’t prepared for and we just kind of caught us off guard. I think it was a collective problem with them pulling off strats that we weren’t in position for and it came down to us missing a lot of shots. I know I missed a couple of shots in the second half that probably could have won us the series, but it is what it is."
You guys will face 100 Thieves or NRG in the Upper Semi’s. Two teams you beat in the Stage 2 Playoffs. How do you feel Faze matches up with those teams and has anything changed since then?
Dicey: "I feel like we will still perform how we did when we played them and I feel we should win. Most importantly, I think it’s going to be a good game. If we do win, I do think it will be a close game, like today was. It’s going to be a hard-fought battle that’s going to last long. It will probably go to a couple of OTs, so against either of those teams were like pretty evenly matched, so I feel like it should be a good game."
Faze will face the winner of NRG and 100 Thieves on Saturday, July 6th