rain: "I just go into a different gear every time it's a close game"

The Norwegian veteran seems to be getting better with each passing game in Abu Dhabi.

FaZe locked up the first spot in the grand final of the BLAST Premier World Final following a hard-fought 2-0 win over MOUZ. The current world No.1 team had a busier afternoon than the scoreline might suggest, with both maps going the distance. On Mirage, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's troops even had to come back from 8-11 down.

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard played a crucial role in FaZe's victory with a 1.29 rating. After a quiet showing against HEROIC, the 29-year-old seems to be rediscovering his form. "I definitely think I’m getting better as we go into the tournament," he told HLTV after the match, admitting, however, that he is struggling with fatigue after a long season. "It’s going to be good to have a break after this one."

The Norwegian player also spoke about the prospect of meeting Vitality in the final in a rematch of the BLAST Premier Fall Final title decider, saying it would be a "wild" match-up. "Of course, revenge is on our minds," he noted.

A 2-0 victory with two very close maps, and a weird round to wrap it up. What are your thoughts on the series?

It was a weird game, for sure. I think we had a really strong mentality on Mirage, though, and managed to come back there. I’m happy that we closed it out. Overpass was a little bit too close for comfort, and I think we got a little stale in the end. We didn’t really go for any information plays.

You really came alive in the final stages of Mirage. Did you believe until the end that you would be able to turn it around and maybe find some of that FaZe magic again?

Yeah, of course. My mentality is, like, whenever it gets close, I try to step it up a notch. I just go into a different gear every time it’s a close game. I managed to find it now as well.

On Mirage, it seemed that you were trying to abuse the A site. Did you find some weaknesses there? Was it because Brollan was over there and he’s maybe not in tune with the rest of the team?

No, I don’t think it was anything towards Brollan in particular. We played most of the rounds off mid-round calls from karrigan. The main objective we had at the start was to take mid control and work our way from there.

How did you react to the karrigan clutch? Because it was a very important one.

(laughs) Yeah. It was a really good clutch from him. I just told him to breathe afterwards because you could feel him getting a little bit shaky after clutching it. It was a very important clutch, and thank God he did it, or else we don’t know if we would have closed it out.

This is frozen’s first event with the team. What are your thoughts on how he has been playing so far?

I think he’s doing great. He is fitting right in. Of course, there are some role changes he has to get used to a little bit. But, other than that, he fits in, both socially and on the server.

You had a quiet game against Heroic, you turned up against G2, now you had a strong showing, especially in the first map. Are you happy with the way you're playing right now? Do you think you’re picking up form as the tournament progresses?

I definitely think I’m getting better as we go into the tournament, but, at the same time, I’m very tired after this year. There has been a lot of travelling, and my mind is a little bit burnt out at the moment. It’s going to be good to have a break after this one.

Everything points towards another FaZe-Vitality final. Is revenge on your mind after the BLAST Fall Final?

Yeah, of course, revenge is on our minds. We'd also get to see who the best team in the world is before the player break. So it’s going to be a wild match if we match up against them again.

What are your thoughts on the final in Copenhagen? Have you analysed what went wrong?

No, considering that was the last game with Twistzz, we didn’t really go deep into it. We didn’t really think about it too much. Also, our play style and everything is changing a little bit with frozen, so we didn’t really look at that.

Looking at this tournament and the previous ones, do you think that you and Vitality are one step ahead of the rest of the teams?

Yeah, I definitely think that we are ahead, now at the start of CS2. It’s a little hard to say why. It’s still early days in CS2, you know? I think everyone can beat everyone on a good day. It depends on how you play and how you are individually. But I think we have been grinding this game, individually, with nades and everything, a little harder than everybody else. So that’s why we are where we are.

I spoke with iM, and he said that some of the new teams haven’t had the chance to practice all scenarios with their new rosters. Has this happened to you, too, and is that why you had such a close game against G2? How do you think it will impact the final?

We definitely haven’t been able to play everything with frozen. We have very limited practice, most of it has been theory and just trying to integrate him into karrigan’s system. Even though frozen has played with him before, karrigan has changed his calling since MOUZ. It’s all about playing and grinding. This is the last tournament of the year, so we only have that big of a sample size before the new year, but we’re doing the best we can.