BiBiAhn: “The reason I play is to become a role model, I think my true goal is to play in mixed”

With exceptional talent and impressive gameplay, Vivienne “BiBiAhn” Quach is a vital contributor to CLG Red. Her remarkable performances made her a center of interest within the scene as she continues to thrive to become a role model for future players.

After a surprising exit from Impact Katowice, we sat with “BiBiAhn” to discuss her time in Australia, CLG Red, and future goals.

Image: BibiAhn Twitter

“rizegeeko,” BLIX.GG: At what point you decided to pursue CS:GO as a career?

BiBiAhn: When I went to my first international tournament in 2019, it was called Intel Challenge in Katowice.

BLIX: Coming from Australia and competing in the Asian/Oceanic scene, How was the scene over there?

BiBiAhn: I think in 2019, it wasn’t big; you could get like eight teams for qualifiers. First off, Covid it did our chances of making it to overseas events, so it was pretty much impossible to travel because of travel restrictions. Still, also, when Valorant came over, a lot of the girls went over, so that really shrunk the scene; it’s pretty much dead; in the recent cash cup, I think there were only four teams, and it’s not as professional just players putting a team together for Cash Cup.

BLIX: Valorant is big in Asia, with many organizations investing in it over CS:GO, were you ever tempted to make the switch?

BiBiAhn: I tried, but I don’t like the game; the movement feels clunky. It was sad because during Covid, I tried to play it, and it just made me more depressed. Laughing

BLIX: In your opinion, what made CLG RED choose you? What was your reaction?

BiBiAhn: I think when I was with the Australian teams, I was always performing pretty well, and I was exposing myself to social media, getting streams out, talking to people, especially when I went to events. I was friendly with the CLG Red girls last year at Dallas. “flashie” watches a lot of demos, and he sees my mechanical skill.

BLIX: Have you found it challenging to adapt to CLG Red, considering they’re on the top level compared to Asia?

BiBiAhn: Not really; my individual level has been pretty up to par. It’s just the meta and knowledge of the game; in General, I think Australia is very behind, especially since we don’t scrim like these North American and European teams, so we don’t know what’s new.

BLIX: There’s a big rating improvement after you joined CLG RED. What helped achieve that improvement?

BiBiAhn: I got slotted into a better working system, which made me perform better. In all my previous Australian teams, we had no system, it was pretty much like putting together a PUG team, but in CLG Red, they do things professionally; they have a system and “flashie” who watches demos constantly, which we don’t have in Australia, especially if not salaried, so you can’t put as much time as the professionals.

BLIX: Your team dominated the NA region but failed to achieve notable results internationally. Why is that the case?

BiBiAhn: I think for our team, the biggest issue now is that nerves come into LAN; even for me, there’s this pressure to perform well. It’s because of our name and people’s expectations of us, and I think we would be better off doing the things that we still practiced at a good level and being comfortable at it than doing it at a stellar level and being shaky at it. I think “Goosebreeder” because she’s got more experience and been in the scene for longer, feels that pressure a lot more than me, so she could be shaky sometimes, and if the captain is shaky, then the whole team is going to feel it. We need more LANs under our belt and play with the pressure and nerves, but we still have some inexperienced players. Our team is international, and we are from three different regions, so there are a lot of differences and different opinions about how to do things; that doesn’t mean we get into arguments, but it is just a longer time to understand each other.

BLIX: Do you fall into communication issues because of that?

BiBiAhn: Yeah, when we first joined and played our first two scrims, it was funny because we were different things, and no one would understand, there would be a specific smoke that we throw and have like four different names for it, and it’s not as easy to make your brain switch, and oh I have to call this now! Especially for the entire map pool, it’s hard, but it takes time.

BLIX: In the last map of the elimination series during IEM Impact Katowice 2023 against 9 Pandas Fearless, you only managed to win the pistol round and force buy, then lost all the rounds after; what happened during that second half?

BiBiAhn: I think we just shit ourselves and got scared. Not much to say. I think because we were scared we weren’t playing our own game, we weren’t taking the initiative to take control because everyone knew we were so close to winning it that we all shut our brains off.
Last LAN and this LAN, there has been quite an improvement; even though the results didn’t show it, we couldn’t run anything we’d prepared. Like before, we had strats and we had protocols. We weren’t running it because we shit ourselves, but with this LAN, we were able to run everything pretty well. It’s just this LAN. We were in a tougher group, so sure, it sucks, it really sucks and is pretty much unacceptable at this point to go out, but I think it’s important we know we improved from the last LAN.

BLIX: Impact Katowice 2023 was your second time after that appearance in 2019. Do you feel like you grew as a player? How was your experience back then compared to CLG Red?

BiBiAhn: The event itself has improved a lot. I remember in 2019; players wouldn’t have their practice rooms; they play behind the stage. Also, when it came to matches, if you lost your BO1 and BO3, you’d go home obviously, but you’d never see the stage, you play in the practice room, so I think that’s an improvement it would be nice if you travel all the way just to play in a white box then go home. I don’t remember much of 2019, but the way we’re being traded and taken care of by the staff and the event also the support back then was smaller than now; I think now it’s really good, and it’s only like the start of the second year of ESL Impact, and I think it’s just going to keep on growing, it has grown so much from last year, and the whole point of ESL Impact is to get more females to play the game. The stats showed that like a thousand more new female players came into the league, which is good if you see that in the long term, like two years or three years, it’s going to skyrocket.

BLIX: With what ESL is doing for the women, do you think it’s enough, or would you like more tournaments to compete in?

BiBiAhn: I think they’re doing as much as they can, so you can’t ask too much. Personally, I can’t ask for much more because we’re getting the opportunity to play this in the first place, and it’s working; it’s like a good foundation. If there’s like little things we can improve on, then sure, but as the whole thing, we do have a lot of tournaments; I think they’re doing everything they can, to be honest. We’re only getting started, so we’ll see.

BLIX: After six months since joining CLG RED, is there anything you would like to change within the team’s structure or how the team plays?

BiBiAhn: We really need to go through in-depth as a team so you see where our heads are at, we did a small talk after the LAN, but I still think we need to go through a long talk.
I mean, it’s a matter of time, and we can’t go much worse than we are now. We’re still going to be around. For me, my motivation to be here is still I have like three or four years minimum, so like I’m not going anywhere because the reason I play is to become a role model. My true goal is to play in mixed at a good level, tier two; what drives me to reach that goal is to be a role model to other girls and show them we can play on the same level as others.

BLIX: ESL Impact Season 3 is getting closer; what are your expectations for the event? Any special preparations?

BiBiAhn: We’re going to be following similar preparations as this LAN; it’s just after this LAN, we know what to focus on individually, so we’re going to put more emphasis on that for this next LAN; I think the system we have is good, it shows the progress, but we just need time to progress more and obviously that will translate into results eventually.

BLIX: Is CLG RED the team that will end Nigma galaxy’s dominance?

BiBiAhn: We hope to be; I think it’s soon to be timed if it’s not us, then it’s going to be someone else, but someone needs to take that team down like everyone is thinking like that.

BLIX: You were chosen by ESL Impact as the player to watch in season 2 & the recent Impact Katowice. Do you feel the pressure to perform in every event you play? How do you deal with it?

BiBiAhn: I’m still not perfect at it. I feel the pressure because I know that I’m a big piece that has to be activated for the team to do well, and I think my team knows that as well. I spoke about it to my coach and my performance coach.
Coming to the next LAN it’s the one thing I need to work on the most is my confidence; I’ve come a long way since I started in 2019; as a person, I’m always really anxious, and it’s gone a lot better now, but I used to have panic attacks during games. I couldn’t control my breathing; when that happens, it’s hard to play the game. I’m lucky that my performance coach notices these things, and that’s something I’ll work on.

BLIX: Is there any message you want to say to the fans?

BiBiAhn: I’m very grateful for the fans to be supporting us and believing in us, and I hope they’ll believe in us a bit more and give us more time because we’re working hard; we know we’ve been messing up, but we’re hard, and that’s what matters, and eventually we’ll start to see something going for us, but we’re trying at least. I still have friends and family who really believe in me, and I need to believe in myself because I know I haven’t reached my skill cap.