100 Thieves make Worlds 2021, but FBI still wants LCS title: “It’d mean the world”

When Victor ‘FBI’ Huang joined the LCS media room after beating Evil Geniuses, he yelled “I’m so f**king happy.” However, 100 Thieves’ job isn’t done ⁠— while they’ve got a spot at Worlds 2021, they want to go as NA’s number one and win the Championship.

After a thrilling five-map series, and a half-hour break for photos, FBI finally got time to sit down when the interview began.

The Australian AD carry took a deep breath, had a little chuckle, and then kicked it off immediately.

“I’m like so happy but I’m so f**king tired at the same time. All the adrenaline is gone. It has been a very very long day,” he told Dexerto.

“I was screaming. I was very very very happy. Yeah I don’t know, I’m just f**king happy. I’m still trying to figure it out. It’s going to be my first Worlds so I hope to have a good showing. Ah, it’s unbelievable.”

Now firmly a veteran of the LCS, FBI will be leading 100 Thieves on their Worlds return. It will be his first appearance at the big dance, having only qualified for MSI back in 2019 while he was still in the OPL on Bombers.

It wasn’t easy though. The five-map nail-biter saw 100 Thieves get pushed to the edge.

When the series looked won in Game 4, a heroic effort by Rookie of the Year Kyle ‘Danny’ Sakamaki kept Evil Geniuses alive, with his unofficial pentakill likely to be a talking point for years.

Huang, who had a combined statline of 20/8/29 across the series, wasn’t the focal point of 100 Thieves’ strategy, but played his role with some clutch teamfighting.

“I think I underperformed pretty hard in the series, but top side diff. We focused a lot more on top side. I thought their bot lane wasn’t going to be that good at laning but we did get sh*t on in a couple of the games,” he said.

“In game 4 I feel like we got really over excited in that teamfight. We kind of thought it was won, and I haven’t watched it back yet, but the game should have been over there. We f**ked up pretty hard and he played really well in that situation.”

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It also took a lot to bounce back from that game 4, given 100 Thieves were up by as much as 8,600 gold after taking the second Baron.

“I felt pretty f**king sad. It was a devastating loss, but we were outside at the table and we just huddled back up. That was helpful, it brought up the energy again and we pulled through.”

FBI’s journey to Worlds

When FBI left Australia to go play in NA Academy in 2019, there was a lot of hope in Oceania that he’d perform well. In the States? Not so much.

However, the arrogant FBI looking to make a statement on the LCS has toned back a bit in recent times, and for Huang, he’s been all the better for it.

“I think I’ve grown tremendously. When I first came to NA I was a bit of a kid and I didn’t have the best attitude in a team environment,” he said.

“With me and huhi, I felt a lot of pressure when I first came here to prove myself. Everyone looked down on OCE players and I felt like I had to prove myself to get a chance to stay and continue playing in the LCS.

“I don’t think I was a really good teammate, especially to huhi, but I like to think that I’m better now.”

It’s come at a personal cost too. Having not been able to return for Australia for nearly two years now, the homesickness is real.

“Dude, I want to go home so bad but I cannot. I’m really homesick. I think about home a lot and my family and friends. It kind of sucks, but it is what it is. There’s nothing we can really do about it, and I just hope the situation gets better soon so we can go home,” he said.

However, the grind has been worth it for this moment. He’s been to international events before ⁠— he qualified for MSI in 2019 with Bombers, finishing 3rd in his Play-In group with a 2-4 record.

Worlds, though, is a different beast.

“MSI is still pretty cool but everyone knows that Worlds is the big event. I’m really excited to go to Worlds and play against the Asian regions, especially LPL and LCK. I watch a lot of their VODs and learn a lot from them so it’ll be fun to experience it first hand,” he said.

“I’m not looking forward to the quarantine at all to be honest. After that, I feel like China will be very fun. I’ll probably just be holed up in the hotel room grinding.”

The job’s not done yet

FBI had a fair glance over at the flight to China and what it means.

Who does FBI want to play against at Worlds? T1, because: “When I was in Korea in 2018 I duo’d a lot with Keria in solo queue and we got to a pretty high rank, so I want to see him at Worlds and I kind of want to beat him.”

How does FBI and Huhi stack up to other bot lanes? “I have to improve a lot ⁠— me and huhi as a bot duo ⁠— to go toe to toe with the international bot lanes, but I’m really confident.”

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But, there’s still a job at hand.

FBI doesn’t want to go over as the third seed and fight through Play-Ins. He wants some silverware and street cred attached to his name when he lands in Shanghai.

“We want to win the split as well. It’s been a very long time since I won a league and it’d be the first time 100 Thieves would win, so it’ll be very important and it’d mean the world if we won the split, and that’s what we’re aiming for,” he explained.

There’s two reasons why. The first is he wants something to show for his growth, and a memento to hold onto with Closer and huhi, his long-time teammates. Having been together for two years, there’s a special bond there beyond just being teammates.

The second is regional pride. When FBI joined the LCS, Oceanic players were looked down on. Now ⁠— with TSM’s Lost and Cloud9’s Fudge ⁠— they’re in contention to go global.

“A couple of years ago, we were looked down on a lot, us Australian players. Now we have a lot of Australian players at the top of their roles, and even guys like Destiny and Raes just in the LCS performing well,” he said.

“We can make Australia proud, and hopefully we can have us, TSM, and Cloud9 at Worlds so that way we’ll have an Australian representative for each team.”

By the time our time was up, FBI’s adrenaline was totally drained. He was ready to head off to bed.

However, his fighting spirit to prove himself on the international stage shone through in his final worlds.

“Let’s f**king do it.”