Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
“I got one more in me,” is what Hall of Fame NBA player Vince Carter said before announcing he’d come back for his 22nd and final year of professional play.
While Andrej “BABYBAY” Francisty isn’t nearly as old as Carter was and is 14 years removed from his professional Esports debut, he’s on the older side, having competed as the oldest player at Champions Shanghai at 31.
After G2’s elimination loss to 100 Thieves, BABYBAY reflected on his G2 career in the team’s post-match press conference.
“I knew I had a lot of catching up to do, it was pretty evident,” BABYBAY told Ult Orb’s jenopelle. “The biggest thing was like, getting the fundamentals down, just like the team stuff that I missed out on.”
During Shanghai’s pre-event media press conferences, BABYBAY acknowledged rumors of the roster’s impending split, even calling it a “last ride”. Riding what some have called a dead man’s buff, G2 and BABYBAY achieved a fourth-place finish, the org’s best-ever finish at a Champions event.
Before joining G2 Esports, BABYBAY was famously a VCT caster, covering no fewer than 13 events over the years before making his return to competing as G2’s sixth man last year. He said that staying in and around the game played a big part in keeping him sharp.
“I think I’m very smart about the game because I watched a bunch of footage while I was casting and whatnot, like applying it in real-time in these scenarios when the pressure’s on is a different thing,” he said.
In translating that mental side of the game to the server, he credited head coach JoshRT, in-game leader valyn, Initiator player trent, and flex player leaf, but gave the rest of the team flowers, too.
“They all worked really hard to get me up to speed, and I feel like it really showed in this tournament the most,” BABYBAY said. “I tried my absolute best for everybody throughout the year and just tried to be better and improve. I never wanted to let them down. Hope I didn’t.”
“If Josh never decided to pick me up, there was no way I was going to be competing again,” he said earlier in the press conference. “It’s very hard to get into the scene. I mean, even at the top of my game, I couldn’t even get in. And it took a long time for me to get my shot.”
For a player who competed for five years in CrossFire, four in Overwatch, and three years in Valorant, BABYBAY said he knew what he was getting into, but that there’s still more to come.
“I knew it was going to be difficult,” he said. “I knew it was going to be a lot of work. I was ready for the challenge. Always I’m ready for the challenge. I gave it everything I had, and I still have more left in the tank. I think I can confidently say I’m at a really good spot right now in the game.”
