AdreN: "This week we will decide what is going to happen in the next half of the year"

We heard about playing without Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač, visa issues, and long-term plans in our exit interview with FaZe's Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev.

After winning BLAST Pro Series Miami and topping their ESL Pro League group, FaZe were coming into IEM Sydney hot, as one of the favorites for the title. However, visa issues saw star-player NiKo miss out completely, while AdreN only joined the squad on day two.

To hear about that experience and also get some insight on what is going on with FaZe long-term, we sat down with AdreN during the first playoff day in the Qudos Bank Arena. The Kazakh veteran revealed that his fate in the team would be decided in the next week, and that his dream was to play in IEM Sydney's arena.

Can you walk me through what happened before the event in terms of the whole visa situation? You had issues, NiKo had issues, was there a point where you thought it is not even worth coming?

First of all we had a really packed schedule with a lot of tournaments, we came straight from Miami to London [for EPL], we didn't have much time to do the visa stuff. Of course, we did it online and it went pretty well but I and NiKo got emailed that we have to give our fingerprints in our hometowns. So we had to travel home and that took three more days, after that, we didn't get our visas on time. For example, I was planning to get my visa on Friday but I got it on Monday so that was the big issue.I don't know about NiKo, I think he didn't even get his visa yet. It was all about the schedule we had.

When it happened, what was the thinking like, going into the event with two stand-ins? I guess it changed the whole outlook on the event you had?

We talked to the guys, they talked to the management about is it worth going if we are not possible to come with our whole roster. But it was decided we would go no matter what. So it is what it is. I don't think it was worth it, but it is still an experience that you have to get.

How was the decision made between YNk and USTILO, who would you want to play with, and how was it like?

I didn't actually decide with whom I want to play because I just arrived at the second day, went straight from the plane to the game so it was quite stressful for me. I didn't decide anything, the guys decided by themselves. Everything I did was come and play, [laughs] I didn't ask why or who was going to play, I just did my job.

In the end you went out to Grayhound, which is an underdog team but they showed some good stuff here. How did you take in that result considering everything that went down before?

Of course, we are disappointed in how we played, we are disappointed that NiKo didn't get his visa and we didn't show up how we should. Of course, we aimed for the first place here but... shit happens. [laughs]

But I'm not disappointed that we lost in the group stage because we played with our coach, we didn't play with him, we didn't practice, we didn't have anything. And NiKo was the in-game leading, so that affected our game also. I can't say that it was obvious, but we had a bigger chance to lose than any team here.

Are there any updates on your situation in the team, long-term? Are you going to be sticking with FaZe for the Major?

I think we are going to sit and talk in a few days, as we are here, before we travel back home, and we will figure out this week what is going to happen.

Overall, is there anything positive you can take away from this week, being here and playing with stand-ins?

At least I enjoyed playing here, but I of course wanted to play in the arena, it was my dream to play in Sydney in the arena, but... maybe next time, who knows. The positive thing is that I met my friends from FaZe again and we enjoyed the game.

What is the plan in terms of tournaments, you have almost a month until DreamHack Masters? Are there things you want to do in terms of practice, some specific things you need to get up to date?

We didn't talk about it yet, I think we are going to figure it out this week when we figure out if I'm going to play and everyone else. This week we will decide what is going to happen in the next half of the year.