karrigan: "I think the group stage was a little slap in the face"

After comfortably brushing aside world number one Natus Vincere, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen sat down with HLTV for an interview.

FaZe have had a spectacular start to the year, strolling through their BLAST Premier Spring group and achieving a fairy tale run through IEM Katowice with a stand-in.

After exceeding all expectation by confidently defeating world number one Natus Vincere, karrigan took some time with HLTV to talk about how they managed the victory, what he learned about his team during Katowice, and how he has stayed at the top for so long.

First and foremost, congratulations, it must feel amazing to beat the number one ranked team in the world.

Yeah, I mean obviously we have to take in consideration that NAVI is not in the best circumstance because of what’s happening in the world, but taking down the number one team is fantastic right? The job is not done, it doesn’t matter if that was, in many eyes, the final, there are still very strong teams in the bracket so we have to refocus on our match tomorrow against FURIA.

Were you expecting the game to go like that, because you controlled both maps?

I think NAVI got a little bit surprised about the veto, especially because I think this is the first time in my career I banned Mirage as the first ban (smiles). Obviously NAVI is really good on Mirage and annoying to play, and I felt like our Dust2 game at Katowice we had many close rounds and I had a good read. I felt like Inferno was the map we HAD to win, and the last two maps, Dust2 and Nuke would be tough, and it turned out in the end to be tough to win Dust2 even though we have a huge lead.

NAVI is always going to fight back, they never give up, and you saw that in some of the clutches and some of the rounds, they played really great.

Talking about Inferno specifically, you really seemed to have their number on T side, you ran rings around them and called a great game – was this demo based, or did you just feel it in the game?

Obviously there are some set rounds, a game plan from the start based on what I’ve seen and what works really good. For example the first weapon round where we tried to go really fast up mid, I got a 3k, and obviously that makes them use a lot of utility earlier; I feel like on their CT side, they try to save utility as long as possible so we had to go for some dry peeks.

We also had some reads based on demos where s1mple would be, we tried to avoid him as much as possible and I think that paid off really great.

So I think it’s altogether, obviously having a game plan from the beginning and then I try to force errors. Also my team says we’re the best team on Inferno, and that gives me a lot of confidence that they enjoy my calling on T side (smiles).

Was part of the game plan to try and show a bit of… maybe disrespect is the wrong word, but as you said you tried a lot of dry peeks on Inferno, and on Dust2 you were getting in their face with a lot of CT pushes.

Yeah, obviously I think in Katowice we did really well on the CT side of Dust2 playing aggressive, and they kind of knew we were going to do it, but that meant they used like four or five flashes to take mid. I know as a caller it’s not fun to execute with one or two flashes and one smoke left (smiles).

The game plan was to try and disrupt them, NAVI is a really good team if the time is ticking down and the enemy has used their utility too early, it’s really hard to hold them back because they shoot so good back, you know? The game plan was to be in their face, fall back, try and hold our utility for a long time, and try to read the game at the right times.

Were there any nerves on Dust2 when they slowly started to come back into the game, that maybe they would start hitting more shots and running over you?

I felt like some of the rounds we got shut down, and I had a game plan in my head for how we should counter it, but I think I misread some of the situations and there were a few miscomms here and there. Also maybe a few times we were not reacting fast enough. I also had this feeling like, it is NAVI, they are bound to get a lot of CT rounds on Dust2, they play great.

I am happy that we closed it out with one of the rounds that we planned to do on a weapon round, that was the final round with the Tec9s right, so that was a set round we wanted to counter NAVI with. Instead of doing it on a weapon round I decided to do it on a half-buy situation, and it paid off in the end.

Taking a look at the rest of the tournament, the group performance was maybe a little shaky – starting out 0-2 and staring down the barrel of elimination – why do you think you started slow?

I think there’s different things. After Katowice, obviously getting rain back into the lineup, the synergy had changed a little bit. They were the first officials with rain back after he had been seeing us winning, then we lose the first games and it doesn’t feel good right? So I think the team all had a rough start to the tournament, but I also saw this fire in the guys when we were losing, seeing a lot of other teams celebrating, so I think the group stage was a little slap in the face, even though we had chances to win the games. Also the other teams played well, ENCE played really good against us and they are in the semi-finals.

Basically, I think the beast got awakened. The Sprout game gave us a breather, and then we played some great CS against Vitality followed up by winning a tough game against FURIA. In the end I think with the results we have seen, group B really was the group of death, three of the teams are in the semi-finals. It showed us that the group was really tough, which makes us more relaxed about our performance previously in the tournament.

Many people, both players and spectators, have talked about the disadvantage of playing in an early group and then having a gap before playoffs – you guys didn’t seem to feel that, do you buy into it all?

I think you have advantages and disadvantages. You can come home, fix some of the mistakes, have some time to rest and then come back, whereas NAVI could stay two weeks and play their whole tournament and obviously they were kinda warmed up already where we haven’t played an official for two weeks.

I think there are ups and downs, but I don’t really buy into the advantages or disadvantages too much.

To take a step back and look at Katowice if I may – a lot has been said already about the amazing Katowice win and the circumstances, so I won’t go on about it too much – but one question I did have was if it gave you any added insight into the team, maybe getting to see different variations, different people in different positions?

I think one of the key things, and I think everyone has said this, was the mental state we were in at Katowice, knowing that we cannot play with our full lineup. No one really cared at that point, it is what it is, we don’t know if jks is playing tomorrow, so we had the mindset to stay positive, whatever happens, happens, and we do the best with the situation we are given.

It was like a fairy tale, that tournament was the perfect storm. We come in, ropz has 160 hours before the tournament starts and then he can’t play the start of the tournament, boot camp got cancelled, we were sitting in a hotel room for four days prior to Katowice starting. For me, nothing really showed differently, but I saw the mental state of the players and it’s like they just enjoy the moment.

What we as a team noted down, when we came home from Katowice, what were the reasons we felt we won. Was it because we played a lot of retakes, was it our individual preparation, was it what we ate (laughs) stuff like that, and we tried to create an overview of what people felt was important. We tried to replicate that here, playing a lot of retakes, I do the same kind of gameplan, and all that kind of stuff is what you can learn as a team from what worked and see how good it is in the next tournament.

I had a couple of questions about your career as whole. First, is it sometimes tough to incorporate so many stars – you have done it a lot in your career, but there must be challenges sometimes with so many players who need room on the server?

Yeah, sure it’s tough. The previous FaZe with olofmeister, GuardiaN, NiKo, they are only used to winning or getting to finals, right? So the expectations are high in that team, and if I fuck up some calls in the final or we don’t do good, or I am not in my best shape, there is a lot of pressure on me.

I feel like with this team we have built now, there are no egos. I know rain always has my back in that sense, he’s my loyal soldier, he’s always the guy saying ‘calm down, let Finn speak please’, he’s the kind of guy who gives me the room I need to set everyone up to perform good. With this lineup, with all the personalities, I know it’s the perfect mix in that sense; we have star players, but we don’t have a clear star that will say ‘this is how it’s done’, everyone has small input here and there. Together with Robban, I have to fix how to make everyone happy and on the same page.

The previous FaZe lineup was tougher, the expectations are going to rise with this lineup as well, but as long as we stay level headed as teammates, as a team, and trust in the process, we will succeed. You are going to lose bad games, you are going to go out in a group stage, but it’s about how you reset, and not changing everything from A to Z.

So it is always tough, I try to give space to people, but I also need space for myself to be able to call at the highest level.

Another question I had about your career – you have managed to outlast so many IGLs who used to be your peers, players like Xizt, Ex6TenZ, pronax. How do you think you have been able to do this, and stay at the very top winning the biggest events?

I think it’s the mindset of working hard, and maybe people will laugh but I feel like I am getting better and better individually every day, but you also have to think about the level people are playing at right now compared to five years ago. It’s so tough to stay individually in form.

Before I joined MOUZ I was very focused on creating new strategies, constantly innovating stuff, and I kind of didn’t work on my individual level. I think I had a goal when I joined MOUZ to work and perform higher and have a bigger impact on the server than just my calls, and I am always doing my best to try to improve. I think it’s having the mindset that I am never satisfied.

People might think that if I win a Major I am done, but I think it’s more likely that Katowice, Cologne, a Major, they are part of my ultimate goal as an IGL, and the ultimate goal is never finished until I actually say I am done playing. I am just working 24/7 on becoming better and better, and I think many IGLs maybe think they have already reached a level where nobody can teach them stuff, but I learn stuff from tier-two and other IGLs, because if they are doing something good I have to recognise what it is and improve that myself.

I like to say what Kobe always said, to be a Spongebob. It doesn’t matter if you are the best player in the world or the best IGL, take all the information you can. I learn from players like ropz, the way he clears angles, I try to improve on that. So yeah, that’s the mindset I had and that’s why I’m still in the game.

So if you had to distil it, staying humble is the key?

Staying humble, and also just learn stuff. Realise that you are never good enough if you don’t improve tomorrow. I am always a work in progress, and I’m never done until I say ‘I can’t do it anymore’. That day is going to come at some point, where I say that I can’t be the best IGL in the world and I am going to stop, but I still believe today and in the last five days that I can be the best IGL. Maybe I’m the best IGL now, maybe I’m the worst in six months, but it’s just about improving all the time and believing in the process.

Looking ahead, you have semi-final against FURIA coming up. What are your thoughts going into that game?

I think it’s always really tough to play FURIA, they always have a special guy called arT, he is creating a lot of space and obviously we need to shut him down. Also I think the game we had against them in groups was a very special one, FURIA had nothing to lose, we beat them the first map and then the second match they just rushed us, I haven’t seen that in 20 years of my career. I felt like that was the first time we ever got wrecked on Inferno, and if they can replicate that tomorrow, sure, it’s going to be very tough.

It is a semi-final, and sometimes you hesitate one second ‘should I push the smoke, or not?’, but yeah FURIA is a great team and they showed that by going 4-1 in the group and making the semi-final. We cannot underestimate them, even though we beat the number one team now, we have to stay humble and prepare like we did today.

After that it will be either ENCE or NIP in the final – who do you want to play?

To be honest I am not thinking about the final, I think obviously if NAVI were on the other side of the bracket I would say NAVI right, I would want to play them in the final. I feel like at this point both teams have shown what they can do in the tournament, ENCE losing the first map and then wrecking Movistar the next two, but it might be fun to play ENCE because they were the first team we lost to in the group stage.

In the end it doesn’t matter because I think both teams are at the same level, even though NIP are playing with stand-ins, but I know myself you can easily win a tournament with stand-ins (laughs) as long as you have the right mindset.

We will focus on making the finals before we think about who we play.

Who are you expecting, have you got a prediction?

I think ENCE will close it out in a close game. I actually don’t know because I haven’t seen what maps they are vetoing… I am pretty sure I expect ENCE, unless NIP surprise us again, but they have done that the whole tournament so who knows.

Looking a little further forward – how are you feeling for the RMR?

There’s a lot of focus on the RMR right, again we have a very tough group (laughs), and as far as I know if we win our first game we are going to play Vitality in the second game, which is going to be tough in a best of one. IF we win that, we will probably play NAVI, so our route to the Major is really tough, I would be happy to make Legends stage.

At this point I just want to be at the Major, and take it from there. It’s Swiss System so there can be some upsets here and there, we need to be very focused on the first game because if we lose that, it’s going to be really tough. Last time we lost one best-of-one that cost us going through to the Major safely.
It’s going to be tough if we go all the way to the final here, we don’t have many days to mentally reset, so we just have to build on the confidence we are gaining here now.

Are there any goals set for the Major yet?

For me personally I haven’t set any goal for the first Major. I could have set a goal after we won Katowice and made the semi-finals here at Pro League, but I decided I want to make goals for the next Major in November.

Right now we are peaking really good as a lineup, so I obviously would be really devasted if we didn’t make the playoffs, but it’s a long cycle. I have been in many Majors in my life, you have to hit your peak level to win the Major, and if you don’t, you don’t win one, I think that’s the most important thing.

With the bootcamp and everything it’s almost a month of CS, you have to play really well for a long time and not lose the wrong games, so yeah. Not really any set expectations except making playoffs, and then hopefully we go deep.

Let’s end on a bit of a fun one – who is the hardest IGL you have faced in your career, someone who you felt had your number?

To be honest I haven’t had major issues with one kind of in-game leader, more different styles. For a period of time I had problems with Astralis, but I overcame that in the end, and I also think ALEX with Vitality, that team I had a lot of issues with in MOUZ. So I don’t think there’s one specific leader, it’s more the playstyle that’s an issue.

I would say the only one where I really had long term issues was SK FalleN. We had real problems winning against them, but I don’t know if that’s the IGL, or the structure, or the team overall. That was a kind of style where it was really hard, even though I tried multiple times to adapt, trying different maps, so that matchup was probably the hardest for me in my career, especially that time around 2017 and 2018.