ropz on BNE match-up: "It's like a clash of styles"

In a rematch of their IEM Rio elimination game, FaZe faced off against perennial upset team Bad News Eagles in their 1-2 match. Having been put on the brink by losses to Heroic and shockingly UK squad Into the Breach. This time around FaZe would break the curse, beating BNE 2-1 after coming back from a 16-3 loss on map one to take the series.

After the blow out on map one, Finn "karrigan" Andersen took his team outside to give a riveting team talk as a attempt to rally the troops. It worked, with the International squad fighting through Mirage, surviving a match point by taking it to Overtime and completing the job 19-17. The team then took a massive lead on Inferno, securing a 12-3 half and looking like they would comfortably finish of the Eagles once and for all. FaZe began to let the lead slip with BNE managing to bring the scoreline all the way back 14-14. FaZe finished off the match with the last two rounds to secure a 16-14 score and keep themselves alive in the tournament.

Spearheading the FaZe fight was Estonian rifler Robin "ropz" Kool, who sported a 1.31 rating across the series and was instrumental in helping the side close out Inferno. ropz spoke to Dust.us' Arnie Petty after the match about the feeling inside the team, finally beating BNE and what the team needs to focus on moving forward. Watch the full interview below.

Super close game, give me some initial thoughts on that?

Relieved. First of all, I think we always fuck up these games, we have a huge lead and then we always let them come back. That's our story so far for the past few months, maybe even a year. We have trouble closing out games. We let the gas...or the foot off the pedal so to say when we get to thirteen, fourteen rounds we just have to make sure to keep the pressure on every round when we are winning. It's going to feel better if we win a more dominant game as well, now we have to go back and still have to re-watch and fix some mistakes. I'm glad we won.

The first map didn't quite go your way, was there anything that went wrong specifically or was it just individual fights not going your way?

I think the first map we just moved bad as a team, we were 2-2 and then we lost an anti-eco to a saved AK and USP and that was the downfall of where it began. I think further in the half on T-side we just got rekt. We didn't move well as a team, we didn't trade well they played aggressively, and we had zero trades. Someone needed a flash the flash was not there. So I think it's about chemistry, comms and just playing good as a team. Overpass we were just a shadow of ourselves, just happy to win out in the end.

What was said after map one to get yourselves back in the game?

We had a team talk After the first map, karrigan was a bit tough on us he made some comments on how bad we were on Overpass and what we must to better. He made sure we all have to realize we are all in this together and we have to perform now and talk good to make sure we are trading and not fuck up dumb rounds. Like the anti-eco, BNE are obviously a good team they are like a version of us they will take as many duels as possible. They want to go for...it's like a clash of styles.

FaZe will be playing their 2-2 match tomorrow, hoping to secure their place in the playoffs and a chance to play at the Accor Arena.