Vexite: "If people are putting us at 0-3, they're just stupid at this point"

It wasn't quite the flavour of revenge Declan "Vexite" Portelli and FlyQuest was chasing in yesterday's DFRAG Invitational grand final win over Alter Ego.

Nevertheless, the squad is pleased they were able to close out October with the win, particularly following the loss to NEXVOID at Logitech G Pro Series.

With their spot at the PGL Singapore Major also locked in, attention for Vexite and co. turns to the next few weeks of preparation and practice, with the 22-year-old rifler hinting at a possible European bootcamp before they march to Singapore's Stage 1 in late November.

Vexite's season individually has been stellar; he's averaging an astounding 1.30 HLTV rating at home and well above 1.20 over the three offline events in Brisbane in October, including a chart-topping 1.42 in the Logitech G Pro Series.

But he admits the longer he and FlyQuest are at home experiencing subpar practice conditions, the potential to degrade as a team and individually increases.

DFRAG Invitational champions — the second of three LAN wins in Brisbane this month — but most importantly I’m sure, a spot at the Singapore Major confirmed. Many were expecting a Logitech G Pro Series rematch for you against NEXVOID, but we see Alter Ego make the run instead. Was that a surprise to you?

"Thank you, we’re really happy with the win. I’m a little surprised it was [Alter Ego]. When I saw the veto in their [lower-bracket] game I thought it could have gone either way, but to be honest I really wanted to play NEXVOID again.

"It was pretty embarrassing losing the way we did last time in that previous grand final, so I wanted to get some revenge and really solidify ourselves."

Today’s grand final against Alter Ego saw some second-half blowouts on Inferno and Anubis, but Ancient was a tight contest that went right down to the wire. Talk me through the mood in the camp at halftime, and the decision to ultimately speed up the T-side hits heading into overtime.

"Keeping it real, I think we did get a little frustrated individually, but at the same time, we also did well at resetting. I think if we let our frustrations take control, I don’t think we would have won that game, but we did well in that department.

"Regarding the actual CS and rounds, there were a lot of situations where we had an advantage and then we threw it. Then they also had advantages and then they threw it… at that point it was a scrappy game.

"You’re fighting for the economy and anything can happen, but we stayed resilient and stayed in it — that was the best part of our game today."

Speaking with INS yesterday, he said Alter Ego’s style is very aggressive and forward, very duel-heavy when it comes to entering bomb sites. We saw a bit of that again today, particularly on Inferno and Ancient. Was it as aggro as you expected?

"We were definitely expecting it, but there’s just some times they do some silly shit that you can’t really expect. At the same time though, it’s not really about what they do. 

"At the end of the day, you can react in many different ways when it comes to CS, and in some cases we couldn’t find the right reaction at the right moment. We also sometimes rushed our reaction when we could have slowed down. It’s just about thinking about our version of CS and how we play."

Coming into DFRAG Invitational, when things kicked off last Monday, you were still needing to win the event to guarantee the major spot. Obviously, results abroad changed that, where you had the spot wrapped up on Friday in advance. As a result of that, how important was it to you to go on and win the event regardless of already achieving the main goal?

"We obviously want to make the major, it’s really important, but at the same time, event wins and trophies are what our season’s about, right? Like, I’m making the major so we can get some European wins and get back into the top and get those event invites again.

"At the end of the day, we’re competitors, so it doesn’t matter what we’re playing — we need to win, we need to beat everyone and solidify ourselves. It doesn’t matter how many times we've won in Australia, how many teams we beat and so on, it’s just that we’ve still got to keep doing it.

"I think also, people here are getting better. You can definitely see it in the results, feel it in the server. People are adjusting to where and how we play.

"I think it could be a symptom of us having no European practice too, to be honest. We’re playing a lot of Australian practice, which is a little mind-numbing for us — the other teams get a lot more out of our practice than we do. There’s some times we can get some stuff, but the others definitely benefit more.

"We’ll literally run rounds against teams like Ground Zero, for example, and then we see the same rounds repeated against us the next time we play them. It’s part of CS — you adjust to the other’s gameplay and everything, but yeah, it definitely feels like their eyes are on us, trying to overtake us."

Individually, you’re putting up top-of-the-region numbers, and you’ve been pugging hard as well given you’ve topped the FACEIT charts for the month again. How are you keeping sharp on an individual level, and are you at all concerned about skill degeneration when you’re against opposition that isn’t on the same level as you’d prefer?

"In terms of the degeneration, it’s true. You play against worse competition and it becomes really hard to stay disciplined, you don’t get punished for certain things. It’s easy to make some mistakes… it’s gonna be a wake up call when we get to Europe, 100 percent.

"I can already see some mistakes in our game, I’m sure everyone can sort of see it, but I do have to actually get punished by it to adjust."
Declan "Vexite" Portelli, FlyQuest

"Regarding my individual form, I’m just playing as much CS as I can, I always try to play CS when I can. It’s been fun, I’m shooting pretty hard, so it’s good."

What’s FlyQuest’s plan for the next few weeks ahead of Singapore? We’ve got IEM Beijing and BLAST Rivals Hong Kong in the lead-up, so many of the top teams are already in the region, or will you be finding a way to Europe for a bootcamp first?

"It comes down to a few logistical things, but it looks like we’re probably going to be going and having a bootcamp before the major, which is really good for us, I think that’s super important. 

"Nothing’s set in stone for us yet, but that’s the main goal — we’re going to try and stay away from Aussie practice and try to get some EU practice, for sure."

Last question: How many PickEm’s are you planning to fuck this major?

"All the PickEm’s, baby. I don’t know anymore, if people are still putting us 0-3, they’re fucked, they’re just stupid at this point."

Vexite and the FQ crew are already preparing to find a suitable bootcamp in Europe ahead of their Singapore Major opener on Nov. 24.

For more news, interviews, roster moves, and more in Asia and OCE, stay tuned to DFRAG.gg.