Ignite your Fire feat. Desi Gamers Esports

Four teams from India will be representing the country at the Free Fire Asia Championship 2021. Team Elite has qualified directly for the grand finals, meanwhile, Desi Gamers Esports, Total Gaming Esports and PVS Gaming Esports will be going through the Play-Ins. Today, we spoke to Ignite from Desi Gamers Esports who discussed at length what his career was like when he first started, versus now when he is representing India at the highest level. 

Q. Hello, Ignite. You have come a long way. Before we start discussing the upcoming championship with you, could you please tell us a little about your journey so far? 

It’s been a very long and colourful journey. It all started with the Free Fire Battle Arena. That’s when we entered with the name of Survivors 4AM - and we did well there. We qualified via the in-game FFC mode and did quite a lot of damage on the main stage. That’s where our journey started. Up next, was FFIC 2021 Spring. Some 48 teams were going to be chosen and we finished sixth, so we dominated there. Unfortunately, due to some personal reasons I was unable to play in that tournament finals, but our team played there. We were a new team there, and it was the flagship tournament, so the team could not handle the pressure. We dominated in the league stage, we were one of the only teams to get triple digits in the League Stage, but we kind of choked in the finals. 

Q. But by that time, you guys had already made your mark, so what happened next?

So after the FFIC 2021 Spring, the team had a breakdown of sorts. We had a change in the lineup. Until now, we had X-mania, Golden, Harsh, Insane and myself. After that, Golden got an offer from Total Gaming Esports, so he went there. We had a few more uncomfortable discussions, and we felt like the team was falling apart. X-Mania and I really did not want the team to disintegrate, so we recreated the team from scratch. All the old players except golden. We also added Alex. With this new lineup that was barely a week old, we entered the Free Fire Pro League. That was a turning point for us. As you know, the format of FFPL was a little different. We were choking badly and were on the 12th spot up until the last day, but we bounced back really quickly and got into the top 6 at the last moment. That was great, because that made us eligible for a direct invite to the FFIC 2021 Fall. 

Q. You will be facing world champs like EVOS Phoenix in the upcoming FFAC. The competition there will be at a whole different level. What are you doing for that?

Of course, the competition will be harder. But we don’t want to worry about what will happen in the future, it takes away our focus from the present. We are going to continue our practice, we will continue to put in the hours and put in the hard work and take what's ours. Nobody believed that we could be one of the best in FFIC, but we were. Nobody believed that PVS Gaming Esports could do so well, but they did. I’m telling you, Indian teams have potential. We are better than what we were last year, and this time there’s more of us. We will bring the trophy home. 

Q. What’s your preparation process like?

That’s top secret. We can’t tell you what we have prepared obviously. But yes, we segregated our homework over the last few weeks. Every day, we study a few teams. There will be a total of 31 teams in the finals. Over the course of the last few weeks, we have slowly and steadily prepared for almost every single one of them. Now there’s just a few days left for the tournament, so we will try to see how we can account for every opponent in our strategy.

Q. What did you learn about the foreign teams during your research phase? Is there any such thing that they do that we don’t?

I feel like we don’t do anything original. Whenever a new strategy or meta comes into the game, it begins there. They are the ones to innovate, we merely copy it. That’s one thing that us Indian teams lack, we don’t try out anything wild or new. For example, I saw this one Indonesian team where three players will rush ahead, while one player stays behind with a treatment sniper and keeps on healing his team. That was something I have never seen in the Indian meta. This tactic was so effective too. Out there, your opponents will be thinking that they dinked you in the head once so you should be low on HP. Little do they know that your teammate is healing more than half your HP in an instant. 

Q. What’s one thing you feel confident about and one thing that you’re insecure about going into the FFAC?

To be honest, I feel confident about everything. I have to. If I lose my morale, I will lose the tournament right away. But speaking about tactics, I honestly don’t think that fighting a team in a 4vs4 scenario will be impossible. I think we might just be able to pull it off. The only thing I’m worried about is dying while rotating. I spoke to Pahadi, who also represented India last year in the Free Fire Continental Series. He also said that a lot of our opponents are great at hitting headshots even from 300 meters away. So that’s the only thing that I think Indian teams will struggle with. They might die on the move. So we need to minimize the time we spend outside of cover. 

Q. Last but not the least, what teams should one be scared of in the FFAC?

Everyone. They’re all equally good. They’re all better than us. But that doesn’t scare us. 

That’s great!

Desi Gamers Esports will be competing in the Play-Ins of Free Fire Asia Championship on 20th and 21st November 2021. Tune in to our official YouTube Channels to watch the showdown and cheer for them!