crashies: Vibes “makes it so easy” to join FNC – NRG “was the complete opposite”

After a statement win against Kickoff champions Team Vitality last week, Fnatic continued their good form with a 2-0 victory against strugglers Apeks to book an early spot in the playoffs. We spoke to Austin “crashies” Roberts after the series.

Hotspawn: Congrats on securing Playoffs, is it nice to get that wrapped up early?

crashies: Yeah, fast and quick, 3-0 so far on the season. I think our job really isn’t finished yet. We really are gunning for the first seed. I mentioned it before, but we really want that first seed going into playoffs, so still two big games coming up for us.

Lee Jones: It looked a bit nervy going to overtime.

Why do you think it was so close on Split against Apeks on the second map?

crashies: We just have a lot of footage on Split right now in general. Our Vitality game, we went however many overtimes we went. I think there’s just so much footage on us right now so we don’t really have a surprise element anymore.

But I do want to credit Apeks because they were making it very difficult to figure out where they were going on their attack side and we were also messing up rounds as well. But I definitely want to give credit to them. It was just [that] they were playing well.

Lee Jones: The previous win against Team Vitality was a quite a statement series.

Do you think that made you number one favorites in EMEA?

crashies: Maybe not number one, especially with how Heretics beat Vitality yesterday as well. I think that that last game, Heretics versus us will definitely be a big game and especially fighting for first seed. So I think, depending on how that game goes, you could judge 1/2 type of stuff.

The Vitality game in general, I think it was a really big game for our confidence and just to see where we’re at against a top-level team. We had a great game versus them.

Lee Jones: You’ve spoken recently about having had to find your place within the team between Kickoff and Stage 1, while that period also saw a bit of turmoil on the coaching side with both the head coach swap as well as d00mbros joining and quickly stepping away.

Did that make it more difficult to find your place at all?

crashies: Coming into the team originally, it was just I had to catch up to speed with like a month of practise and all their systems, all their strats, all their comps and just see how Boaster likes to call the game, how he likes to see the game, how they all like to see the game. And it was just a lot for me, especially figuring out each player and stuff like that. And then after Kickoff, I really reflected a lot on myself — I know my ability, I’ve been at the top of the game for so long now I have a trophy, all that. So I think I just like came into season one just with a new mindset and doing what I know I can do.

And then the coaching change, obviously it’s not smooth when you have a coaching change, especially after you build a little bit of chemistry for a tournament and then yeah, they make a coaching change. But I think Milan has been a very good head coach in the short amount of time that we’ve worked with him.

And then d00mbros coming in for the time that he did work with us, he was just very experienced and I’ve competed against him a lot in my career as well. So I know he’s very good.

It was definitely s****y to say the word, it just sucked to lose him just because he brought a lot of great stuff and he just saw the game kind of like a player perspective because he worked with ANGE1 so much. So definitely sucked to lose him.

And then we got Scuttt. But I think Scuttt’s been a great addition as well. He came from BBL and he’s just been amazing for us. So many intellectual conversations I’ve had with him, and he sees the game in such,  a dynamic way that makes me think differently sometimes. So I think he’s fitting in nicely as well.

How has it been joining an organisation like Fnatic that has such a large, passionate fanbase? You’ve played under similarly large orgs before like T1 and OpTic, how does Fnatic compare?

crashies: So I definitely think T1 didn’t really have that big of an NA fanbase at the time that we were in VALORANT. And then we joined OpTic and Envy, but OpTic had a crazy fan base coming from Call of Duty, so they always showed love.

But coming to Fnatic, their fans have just been nothing but loving to me and show me so much support on everything. I get messages all the time just how much they love seeing us play and win and stuff like that. And even when I’m not performing my best or if we lose games, they’re still there showing their support. So I would say Fnatic definitely has a crazy fan base that is I love. It’s one of my favourite fan bases. So, yeah, that’s been a cool thing to see as well.

Lee Jones: Boaster told me last week how he thinks this is the best vibes team he’s ever had, and you spoke on the broadcast about how you’re all like brothers.

How much easier has that made your transition to the team?

crashies: It just makes it so easy. Especially because my last year, I came from NRG where it was the complete opposite. We had people not getting along, practise was just not enjoyable to show up to, we had drama and, like, issues and stuff. That’s hard to solve when you’re not as close as we are. So being so close on this team and, like I say, brothers, it does make such a huge difference because if there’s a problem, big or small, you just say it and you could talk it out and, things get resolved.

The worst thing is when you’re on a team and there’s problems building up and you feel like you can’t say it or you speak to one person and, you know, cliques start forming and you don’t really know what’s going on.

So I think one of our greatest strengths right now is just we always say what’s on our mind or if we have an issue or if something’s bothering us. Yeah. So it’s just been unreal for me.