No LANs for FaZe in 2022 after being eliminated from LCQ

It’s the end of the VALORANT Champions Tour season for FaZe Clan after they were eliminated from the North American Last Chance Qualifier. 100T swept FaZe 3-0 in the best of five LCQ lower bracket final.

It was a disappointing result for FaZe, who had beaten 100T earlier in the LCQ during an upper bracket match. 100T took their revenge and sent FaZe home to an early vacation.

“They prepped to a very high standard,” FaZe’s Kevin “poised” Ngo said in the post-game press conference. “And that preparation is what I think won them the game.”

GG’s @100Thieves maybe I should have saved the Phoenix for another day LOL. Super proud of how far we came as a team. I don’t know what the future holds with franchising but I know every single one of us on is gonna make it. Rebuilt from scratch to a top 5 team let’s GO.

— BABYBABY (@KING_BABYBAY) August 13, 2022

Only Map 1, Icebox, was close between the two teams; Breeze and Ascent were firmly in 100T’s favor. Even a surprise Phoenix pick from Andrej “babybay” Francisty on Map 3 wasn’t enough to give FaZe an edge.

“The Phoenix pick is something that we thought would throw off 100 Thieves,” babybay said. “I feel like we had a lot of good ideas for the Phoenix. This last week we weren’t the same team that we normally are in terms of our mechanics and strategy.”

FaZe vs. 100T at LCQ

FaZe and 100T have typically played each other close in all their recent matches. The dominant 3-0 outcome was a surprise to many. As a team, 100 Thieves have looked increasingly potent as they made their way all through the lower bracket.

“They’ve definitely improved as a team,” FaZe’s Quan “dicey” Tran said. “But then it was also us not playing to our standards, as usual.”

100T is dicey’s former team;  although only Peter “Asuna” Mazuryk remains from the original roster, dicey was still happy to see the team improving. He felt that it was a strong sign for the North American region as a whole.

“Hopefully they represent us well,” dicey said about the possibility of 100T qualifying for Champions.

FaZe’s year in review

Overall, 2022 wasn’t a half bad year for FaZe, despite the fact that the team still hasn’t been able to qualify to an international LAN event. The team went through a massive rebuild and ended up as a firm top five team in NA.

“These guys are top level players in the world,” FaZe’s head coach Joshua “JDM” Marzano said about his team. “Bringing them in and just having them do their thing and working together, it’s just evolved from what we started from.”

FaZe are also beginning to look forward. There’s a strong chance that the FaZe Clan organisation will be one of ten selected to take place in the upcoming partnership system. Another facet of the upcoming changes to VALORANT esports is regional LAN matches. It’s an exciting prospect for babybay, who believes himself to be a better player on LAN.

“I know for a fact that a lot of these teams, and some of these younger kids on these teams that are cracked out, especially teams that have beaten us recently, I guarantee you that they will not perform the same,” babybay said. “At least until they get comfortable on LAN.”