FaZe has been very busy in recent weeks, first flying to China to compete in the XSE Pro League, and then advancing to the LAN stage of BLAST Bounty Season 2 by defeating EYEBALLERS and DENDELE.
Defeating The MongolZ secured them a semifinal spot, but frozen was not satisfied with FaZe's performance against the Mongolian team.
"I'm glad we secured the victory, but I'm not satisfied with how we won the match," he told HLTV after the win.
"I think that to reach the position we want, there are still a lot of things we need to examine and improve."
He also discussed his role in FaZe's rebuild, the team's internal dynamics, and his preference for semifinal opponents.
Q: Congratulations, you finally secured the victory, but it was clearly a hard-fought battle. How do you feel after completing the mission?
frozen: I'm glad we secured the victory, but I'm not satisfied with how we won the match. I feel that to reach the position we want and get to where we want to be, there are still many things we need to review and improve. So yes, right now it's a relief.
Q: I have to ask about that comeback on Nuke. You won 13 consecutive rounds, which is quite remarkable even for FaZe, a team known for their comebacks. How did you pull it off?
frozen: At 10-2, I told a little story. I've been in this situation several times before. I remember when we were down 2-13 against Liquid, and anything was possible. I think we lost a round on the CT side, which felt like a loud slap in the face, making us realize, "If you want to close the gap, we need to improve our communication." From that moment on, it was round by round. I felt we built up momentum, and then it just snowballed from there.
Q: Many people expected you to pick Cache during the ban/pick phase, but you chose Nuke instead. Now that you've won, it seems like the right decision. But do you think playing on a different map would have been easier?
frozen: It's hard to say. People know what we're going to do on Cache, and everyone is watching us, keeping an eye on what we're doing and what we're going to bring out. So it's hard to say. I think given the form we've shown on the T side, no matter which map we play, the result would probably be the same.
Q: The team recently lost karrigan. Given that he was the in-game leader, he was likely the most vocal player. Now that he's gone and you've signed a few inexperienced players, do you feel a greater responsibility to speak up and coordinate on the server?
frozen: I certainly felt it, but I also believe it's our collective responsibility to speak up and propose solutions. That's just how it should be. This is still a work in progress.
Q: This is a completely different FaZe from what we've seen before. How does it feel to be such an important part of this rebuild?
frozen: There's definitely pressure. I think I'm considered one of the veteran members now, so in a way, you have to lead by example. It's different.
Q: What is the biggest difference between this FaZe roster with several young players and your previous FaZe team that had karrigan—who was a bit like a father figure to everyone on the team?
frozen: I think the biggest difference is that when I joined FaZe before, I was joining four players who had already been playing together for a long time, so back then I was just trying to learn how they operated and how they viewed the game. Maybe I had a few ideas here and there, but honestly, a lot of things were already quite well-established, so you just bring in ideas, work on tactics, and contribute whenever you can.
frozen: We now have different players with less experience. I feel that to some extent, we still need to learn how to help Russel [Twistzz] with in-game calling and things like that. We have a lot of work to do. Yes, we're playing better than half a year ago, but if you look at those matches, there's still a lot we need to improve on.
Q: You mentioned the youthful energy in the team. How good does it feel to get a fresh start alongside those young players who haven't experienced that difficult slump and are just enjoying the moment?
frozen: It's refreshing to have something new, you know? There's always been a lot of energy. For me, I'm a pretty chill guy, so I think I'll just shout a bit when we win some nice rounds. But feeling the fire and hunger we bring into the matches just feels really good.
Q: You're playing in the semifinals tomorrow and can choose your opponent between MOUZ and Spirit. Is there a team you'd prefer to face, since I assume there's an obvious answer here?
frozen: Personally, I would probably pick Spirit. We came to this tournament to see where we stand and to face strong teams. At the previous tournament, the strongest opponents were ranked in the world's top 15 or top 10, so facing a top 3 team will be a great test to see what level we're at and how we'll handle it.