Andrej "babybay" Francisty had all eyes on him during the Atlanta Reign’s match against his former team and Stage 2 Champions, the San Francisco Shock. Atlanta, who had defeated the New York Excelsior twice in Stage 2 were able to take San Francisco to Map 5, but were ultimately bested on Oasis.





Upcomer spoke to babybay afterward about his experience playing against former teammates, his thoughts on the Reign’s third jersey, and his excitement for the Atlanta Homestand Weekend.





How was it playing against your former teammates, and taking Shock to Map 5?





It’s just like any other team. I don’t have any bad blood with any of the players, and it wasn’t a bad split at all—it was mutual. I wanted to play, and they wanted to see me play. It’s not like a [San Francisco Shock Coach] Crusty and Boston thing.





That’s what I compare it to. When Crusty left Boston, and he joined Shock, he was like “we have to beat Boston.” But I want to beat everybody, so even though they’re my old teammates, it didn’t affect me much.





Did you find any advantages or disadvantages to playing your former team? Did you have any inside information that helped?





I don’t think so, because they’re so good—all of them. I mean yeah, I know how they play, but everyone knows how they play now. It’s been two stages already. I think they just play so good and just adapt in the moment, so it doesn’t matter if you know how they play. They just outplay you.





Atlanta has performed well against the top ranked teams, beating NYXL twice last stage, and taking Shock to 5 maps. Why do you think you show your strength in these matchups?





I just think that every single player we have on the team is very high in individual skill, so the fact that now we have more time together and we’re getting a lot of teamwork is showing, and it’s allowing us to play more coordinated and have more synergy.





That synergy will be important when you face off against the Vancouver Titans next.





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You’re going to have to play these top teams at some point, right? So, it is what it is. We have to play Shock and Titans back to back, first and second place teams. And it sucks to think about it like that, but it’s a test.





That’s what it’s all about. And we should’ve beat Shock, honestly. I messed up the last two maps—I kind of choked. But if we come out and play like we did today for the rest of the matches, we should still be able to make Stage Playoffs, even though we are playing the two best teams, one would say.





But hopes are still high. We still think even if we lose both of these matches we’re still going to make Stage Playoffs. It’s kind of similar to Shock’s first stage, when they had to play New York and Titans and lost to both of them. So that’s how I’ve been looking at it. Even if we lose both of these games, there’s five more matches we can still win. And the teams won’t be to the caliber of what we already played. It’s kind of cool getting it out of the way.





During week 5 of this stage, you’ll head over to Atlanta for your homestand weekend. What are you looking forward to?





The fans! I’m looking forward to having the fans on our side and hearing them boo the other team and cheer us on. It makes a big difference. I’ve played other games and gone to other countries, and having that home crowd advantage is something that not only makes you feel good inside, but scares the other team.





How do crowds impact your play, if at all?





It depends. We’re a team that, when we get too hype, we sometimes make mistakes. We learned that today against the Shock. We adapted, though, pretty well, because we noticed on Gibraltar we were getting too hyped and it was affecting us, in that we were ahead on numbers and then we’d make a mistake by throwing, pretty much. So I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that when we go to the Homestand because I think we’re going to get it out of our system now. Especially after we review the tapes of stuff we should’ve won. It’ll definitely get you amped up. And if you aren’t ready for it, you’ll probably start rushing.





We might see some peach jerseys in the crowd there. As someone known for their fashion sense, do you like the design?





I mean, it’s not bad—it’s kind of growing on me a bit. I think the peach should not be on my nipple! I guess people just wanna see it—I have a peachy nipple, I guess [laughs].





Speaking of fashion, you’re a brand representative for Ateyo, with your partnered stream helping raise over 6,000 dollars for Girls Make Games. What’s that like?





I did charity before, but I never did a charity stream like I did for Ateyo with Girls Make Games. I honestly don’t have a charity I like more than the other, but I think it’s cool that I can give back and use the position I’m in to help better other people’s lives. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am, so when Ateyo hit me up with this, I was like, of course I’ll do it. I was a little nervous, I didn’t know what was going to happen on stream. But it was awesome, it’s a good cause, it’s nice to give back.