Faenex: «I miss NAVI Paladins days»
Faenex on the transition to Apex Legends, the fate of Paladins and the nostalgia
Former 
NAVI Paladins player 
Kai "Faenex" van Duppen has drawn attention by becoming the champion of the Blast Titans: Double Elimination with the team 
Forg Gang. In light of this occasion, we decided to talk to Faenex.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenThank you very much, honestly, I feel amazing after the victory. When the competitive scene in Paladins ended, I knew that I had a chance to make it big in another game. To see my hard work and effort pay off to become a champion in a different game just feels straight-up amazing!
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenBeing consistent in a battle royale is very difficult. We had theory-crafted what would be the best composition to win. So it was all about getting to that stage in the game. When we managed to pull it off in game 4, our confidence grew. We played to our strengths and used our knowledge to get to the end game more often. Where we kept making the right decisions to win the game. I think our teamwork and trust in each other is the reason we were able to be this consistent.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenThey are both very important to me. The ALGS Championship 7th place gave me the confidence that I needed. Competing in a new game and a completely different genre wasn’t easy, but with this result, I was confident that I could keep growing and become a better player.
Winning BLAST means a lot because it shows that the hard work I put in paid off. So I would say they are both very important to me.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenIt was soon after competitive Paladins ended. I already played the game sometimes for fun and some Paladins friends of mine (Tulky and Rockmonkey) asked me to play Apex with them. Unfortunately, they are from NA so I had to find a squad in the EU to compete with and I was actually enjoying it. I kept putting in more and more time to improve and I’m glad that I did.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenI tried VALORANT in the beta, I really enjoyed the game and sometimes I wish I would play it more. I decided to go back to Apex, while I waited for VALORANT to get out of beta and have more tournaments. I ended up doing well in Apex tournaments and they took up a lot of time. Because of that I never had time to compete in VALORANT. I still play the game on the side when I do have the time. Mainly to keep at least Immortal every act. The game is still fun and who knows I might still try to compete in it.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenMy personal favorite is Wraith. Originally when I switched to Apex I wanted to play Wattson, but we had no Wraith player so I ended up taking the role. Then I fell in love with it because of the aggressive nature of Wraith. It allowed me to really develop my skills as both an entry fragger and an In-Game leader. However, in BLAST I played Valkyrie, mainly because I just think she is very strong and as a competitor I play what I think will help us win.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenThere are some things I would love the devs to look at. I think one of the things they should look at is the Revenant with Octane combination. I think the 0 risk of using Revenant ult and Octane jump pad to fly in makes it so the combination is very unfair to play against in certain situations. If he would not be able to use the jump pad while in the Revenant ult form, it wouldn’t be as much of an issue.
The other thing the devs should look at for competitive is out-of-bounds timers. With Valkyrie in the meta, a lot of people will land out of bounds on the mountains. From there they can heal up, wait for cooldowns or even shoot. I think it’s very unbalanced and should be looked at as soon as possible.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenIn my opinion, they should look at Bloodhound, since I don’t think wallhack should have a place in an FPS. I like the tracking style, but being able to reveal enemies in a big radius for seconds to your whole team shouldn’t be a thing.
Also, Octane jump pad has insane mobility on a very short cooldown so I would nerf that cooldown on it a bit more.
For buffs, I think they should give Horizon some of her mobility back. They are doing this in Season 10, so hopefully, that will be enough. Maybe a Rampart buff, she just seems underwhelming in the current meta.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenIt affected me a lot. I really enjoyed my time competing in Paladins and I wish that I cherished it more while I was in it. The great times I had with my teammates, winning multiple tournaments, being together at either hotels or at NAVI bootcamps. It was so much fun thinking back on it. I miss it a lot. Paladins had great potential, but unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenI think it’s possible, I haven’t played the game for a very long time. I do hear however that some of the changes they are doing are great. Like I said I think the game has great potential and probably deserves more recognition than it’s getting.
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenWe never really talked about creating a team in a different discipline. We kept in touch for a while, but that unfortunately faded. I still message them when I see them online or streaming. Some of them even messaged me after my win. It’s great to hear from them when I do. I do miss my times with them.
NAVI. Do you follow the results of your former organization?
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenYes, I do, I was following NAVI before I was even part of the organization. Being part of NAVI was amazing for me. Joining the organization and playing football with the Staff, getting to meet the CEO, and of course both Yaroslav 
N1ghtEnd and M1ke as managers were amazing. It made me only more interested, so I follow their results across all of their games. I was very proud to see NAVI CSGO win the IEM Cologne with Yaroslav as their manager.
NAVI?
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenWinning the World Championship. My four teammates at the time had been playing together for a while, they took a big risk by taking me in. I wanted to make them proud so I put in all my effort and we were able to win the World Championship within months of me joining the team. That felt amazing!
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenThere were a lot of funny moments. Our little ping pong competitions we would have. Or shooting content for the NAVI Youtube channel to just try and make each other laugh while doing interviews. Honestly just being together we always had fun. We would be serious during the practice, but outside of it we could always hang out and have fun together and that’s what I liked the most.
NAVI? Would you say it was the highlight of your career?
Kai «Faenex» van DuppenI feel nostalgia a lot, with COVID locking me up for the majority of my time. I have not been able to travel at all. With NAVI we were traveling non-stop whether it was to Kyiv, Atlanta or Las Vegas. It was a lot of fun to be able to travel the world with friends. It was definitely the highlight of my career. But my career is not done. I will keep working hard to get back to that level.
