BLIX.GG sat down and spoke with Robin “ropz” Kool from FaZe after their 2-1 victory over NIP, which secured the international side’s place in the Grand Final at BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2022 in the Royal Arena.
BLIX.GG: Congratulations on the win; you had a lead on Overpass before NIP came back. What do you feel went wrong, and what do you think allowed them to make that comeback?
ropz: On Overpass? I think in Overpass, we, first of all, had a bad start to the map, we definitely should have to get more CT rounds, and I think from there on, you’re kind of like playing with backs against the wall on the T side. Hence, if you have a rough CT side, you have to make really good calls and moves on the T side, so you know, to be perfect. Overpass is a tough map to play on the T side, so I think it was less about them having a comeback and more about us having a rough CT side; I think if we had a better CT side, we definitely would have had a better chance.
BLIX.GG: And, going into Nuke, what was the thought process there? What did you say during the break?
ropz: Yeah, going into Nuke, we did talk, as usual, nothing special, you know, just cheering each other up, shaking off the last map we lost. We’re used to having tight matches like these, losing the first map and winning the next two, so I think we’re pretty good at this. We can shake off the loss, however tough it can be, so yeah.
BLIX.GG: And you managed to make a huge comeback on Nuke. What was the key to, you know, making that comeback happen?
ropz: I think our Nuke has always been one of our best maps. Going into this, we also picked it because we are the best team on Nuke, and we can have a rough T-side. We had a pretty good T-side in the end. What made it tight was that we lost the pistol round and another gun round, and then it got pretty close. They had fourteen rounds, and the most important thing was that we stayed in the game and did not tilt off the planet because we knew we had a good CT side and were very confident about Nuke CT. We know we can beat, you know, any team 12-3, 13-2, you know, even like these big halves, and yeah, we’ve managed to do that today.
BLIX.GG: And the last map was a pretty convincing win in your favor. What do you think was the reason for that? Was it fatigue on the NIP side, or did you overpower them in the end?
ropz: on Mirage, we just had great calls. We had really good momentum in the beginning, and then they won an eco round against us, which shifted that momentum toward them, but we still managed to get a few rounds after that. And we had a good T-side, and when you get a good T-side, you are going pretty comfortably into the CT side. So yeah, I think it was regular business.
BLIX.GG: The last question, in this game, you had the crowd on your side? A bit more toward the second half of the game. Tomorrow, you will face off against Heroic, the home crowd’s favorites. How do you think that will go?
ropz: Probably the crowd is going to cheer for Heroic, right? We don’t; we don’t care. We’re all experienced players who have played on the stage for years and years. We know how it feels to have the crowd with you and have the crowd against you. It might be advantageous to some people and disadvantageous to others. So yeah, we’ve all experienced it, know how to handle it, and it will go well.
