These last two weeks of Europe, Middle East & Africa Challengers has not been fortunate for BBL Esports. Losing to Fnatic in such a heartbreaking way on Saturday, the Spike blowing up with less than half a second two times in the last three rounds, it all makes for a very painful defeat for the Turkish representatives in purple. BBL’s new head coach Sezgin “Fabre” Kalaycı commented on the Fnatic series, the importance of pauses, and what they expect from G2 next week.
He firstly provided insight about the series, starting with the map Fnatic chose, Icebox.
“We actually practiced for Icebox, we knew how they were going to play it but they didn’t play the way we expected them to,” he said. “We also lost our cool in some moments and did not win quite a lot of rounds where we had advantages on the attacking side.”
According to Fabre, if the half ended with a better score for BBL, they could’ve held on to the match, but that didn’t happen and they lost Icebox.
The situation is 0-1 in the series, next map is Ascent.
Seride durum 0-1, sırada Ascent haritası var. pic.twitter.com/Niz3EuuNDH
— BBL (@BBL_esports) February 19, 2022
Turkish teams are generally known for their prowess and confidence on Ascent and Fabre mentioned that as well.
“We made some mistakes in execution and our economy took a hit after losing that round and the unluckiness we had did not go away after, with the spikes blowing up with less than half a second left on the defuse,” he said. “Luck wasn’t on our side on Ascent but we had some errors on our planning as well. We couldn’t execute the strats we planned and the unluckiness added on made this a very bitter loss for us.”
In our second match of #VCT EMEA adventure, we lose 0-2 against FNATIC team. See you in the next matches.#VCT EMEA serüveninde ikinci maçımızda FNATIC takımına karşı 0-2 mağlup oluyoruz. Gelecek maçlarda görüşmek üzere. #FORZABBL pic.twitter.com/jRHKpqv3Oq
— BBL (@BBL_esports) February 19, 2022
Fabre also gave interesting insight on pauses, describing their functionality and how BBL applied that in this series.
“Pauses should be determined by how the match is progressing. Our opponents also took a pause at 6-3, when they were ahead. This is solely about the need for a pause,” he said. “We took a pause at 10-8 and if we were able to execute what we planned during that time, we would be playing on Fracture right now. We couldn’t and we lost, but that round was still where we needed to take a pause, in my opinion.”
It’s been three days since BBL announced the newest addition to their roster, Mehmet “Turko” Özen. This change came out of the blue to most fans, but it’s also hindered BBL in this match a bit since they did not have more than three days to practice with their newest teammate.
“The problem with that is, while we have got used to Turko and trust his gameplay, it’ll take him more time to get adjusted to us since it’s his first time playing with these players,” said Fabre. “That’s why we might run into some issues during his adjustment period. But we’re used to him already, he doesn’t misplay a lot, he’s collected and he’s a very good motivator for the team. After he gets used to playing with us, we’ll be a very strong team.”
The roster isn’t the only part of the roster that has faced changes, however. The coaching staff has seen shifts as well, with Fabre changing roles from mental coach to head coach in place of Berke “Vlad” Kantürk.
“This was decided on as the team and management and Berke and I respected this decision. We don’t really care who is the head coach or more behind the scenes between us as we both work towards the same goal.”
The next step towards that shared goal is their match against G2 next week.
“We play to win against everyone, we don’t have players who will put the enemy team on a pedestal and shrivel against them,” Fabre said. “We’ll try our best to win against G2. If we can keep it cool, I think we’ll definitely prevail.”
When it comes to his countrymen, Fabre mentioned that he’s on SuperMassive Blaze’s side, as long as they are not playing against each other.
“I also wish SMB luck and hope they win, as the both of us represent Turkey here. Watching their matches, it almost feels like we’re watching our match. We want them to win, but we’ll see.”
