FaZe Clan’s Babybay talks “troll” Breach pick in First Strike

As Valorant’s inaugural First Strike tournament concluded its final weekend, professional player Andrej “babybay” Francisty reflected on FaZe Clan’s challenging elimination against tournament favorites Sentinels.

The series began with competitive potential as FaZe narrowed the gap on the first map, though babybay’s individual performance metrics showed room for improvement with suboptimal kill-death ratios. The second map witnessed an unexpected strategic pivot with babybay selecting Breach—an agent choice that initially surprised analysts but ultimately helped him regain form. Despite this mid-series adjustment, FaZe couldn’t overcome the Sentinels’ strategic depth, falling 0-2 in the single-elimination bracket that concluded their First Strike campaign.

Post-match discussions revealed valuable insights about tournament structure, competitive transitions, and team development priorities moving toward the Valorant Champions Tour.

WIN.gg: What are your initial thoughts when you look back on this tournament?

Babybay: Overall, the tournament demonstrated solid production values and competitive integrity. The absence of a loser’s bracket created significant pressure, particularly when facing top-tier opponents like Sentinels in the opening round. Tournament scheduling presented another challenge—the UMG qualifiers demanded exhaustive daily commitments that could benefit from better match spacing to maintain player performance levels throughout extended competition periods.

What was it like to transition from Overwatch League to Valorant?

The fundamental distinction lies in Valorant’s open tournament ecosystem requiring teams to maintain readiness against all competition levels. Overwatch League’s closed system focused primarily on established franchise teams, whereas Valorant’s structure introduces unpredictable matchups against unsigned squads that can exploit preparation gaps if teams focus exclusively on top-tier opponents during practice sessions.

This reality forced FaZe to expand their scrimmage partner pool significantly. Previously concentrating practice against signed organizations, they now incorporate matches against developing teams to build comprehensive matchup awareness and avoid strategic surprises during critical tournament moments.

Common transition mistakes include underestimating lower-tier teams and maintaining narrow practice focus—errors that cost FaZe several early tournament exits before adjusting their approach. Teams transitioning from structured leagues should allocate 30-40% of practice time against non-org teams to develop adaptability.

How did matching up against Sentinels in the first round of finals affect your preparation for the match?

Matchup considerations didn’t alter our preparation methodology—we maintained consistent readiness regardless of opponent identity. Unfortunately, my initial performance on Bind suffered from slow adaptation, potentially due to Sentinels’ effective map-specific counter-strategies. The turnaround began on Split where individual performance metrics improved significantly, though the recovery timing proved insufficient for series victory.

Shooting for the stars.

Hear how our boys are feeling ahead our first round matchup against Sentinels at the
@ValorantEsports
First Strike Main Event.
#ThatNewFire
|
#FaZeUp
pic.twitter.com/pRr0ePOTDO

— #FaZeUp (@FaZeUpdate)
December 4, 2020

Late-game momentum shifts highlighted the team’s ongoing development needs. We’re currently establishing coaching infrastructure to develop essential tactical fundamentals from established tactical shooters. Securing these foundational elements represents our primary offseason priority before major tournament commitments resume.

Does it help that you came into a team of mostly ex-Overwatch players? Do you think it helped you in the beginning?

Shared competitive background provides advantages in work ethic and goal orientation, though delayed Valorant entry created experience deficits compared to teams that participated in early community tournaments.

This experience gap creates strategic disadvantages that our individual mechanical skills must compensate for during this catch-up phase. The team’s raw talent ceiling remains exceptionally high once we systematize our strategic approach.

GG’s
@Sentinels
I heated up too late 🙁 . We got more to learn baby, there’s always something you can take out of losing to good teams!

— FaZe babybay (@KING_BABYBAY)
December 4, 2020

What was behind the decision to pick Breach on Split? A lot of people were surprised by your pick.

The unconventional agent selection originated from ranked play experimentation where Breach’s kit demonstrated unexpected synergy with Split’s layout. Traditional triple duelist compositions (Raze, Reyna, Phoenix) created volatility by demanding simultaneous peak performances from all aggressive players.

Breach’s inclusion provided defensive stability and tactical consistency that our previous lineup lacked. Advanced players should consider experimenting with off-meta agents during practice sessions to identify unexpected strategic advantages—dedicate 1-2 weekly sessions to unconventional compositions.

Do you think your Breach pick contributed to your better gameplay in the second map?

The selection certainly influenced performance improvements through both psychological surprise and tactical effectiveness. My ultimate ability usage created significant disruption against Sentinels’ established expectations, as they anticipated my standard Raze pick based on our historical map preferences.

7HP LEFT:@ShahZaMk
with the HUGE 4K!
#FirstStrike
pic.twitter.com/nc1tZGaT4V

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports)
December 4, 2020

The element of surprise combined with Breach’s inherent map strengths created favorable conditions. Additionally, Operator shot consistency improved dramatically on Breach compared to Jett, suggesting warm-up requirements or agent-specific comfort factors that players should identify through systematic performance tracking.

Your First Strike tournament run is over, but are you looking forward to the upcoming Valorant Champions Tour?

Absolutely—the extended preparation timeline provides ideal development conditions. Current competitions serve as progressive building blocks toward what promises to be Valorant’s first truly premier international event.

The extended runway allows comprehensive system development, fundamental skill refinement, and strategic depth building. Teams should approach smaller tournaments as developmental opportunities rather than primary objectives, using them to test strategies and identify improvement areas before major commitments. For teams building competitive foundations, our Complete Guide to structured practice methodologies can accelerate this process significantly.

Looking ahead, FaZe’s progression depends on securing coaching expertise and developing the Class Guide principles help establish role specialization and team coordination frameworks essential for top-level competition.

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