Into the mind of Falconer, 100 Thieves’ newest recruit

100T Falconer, the newest addition to 100 Thieves’ competitive Fortnite roster, talks life, Esports, and everything in between

Interview conducted, condensed by Michael "HindoG" Hindi

Q. How old are you? Are you still going to school?

A. I am 20 years old, and I am only taking 2 online classes per semester while I am on contract with 100T. Anything more would be too much for me to balance and focus on pro Fortnite at the moment. My plan once I go back is to obtain a business degree, not sure which specification yet, and work for the business side of Esports.

Q. Did you ever expect for your Fortnite career to take off the way that it did?

A. I definitely never expected it… I have always been good at games that I grind, and I ended up just getting good at Fortnite and diving into the competitive aspect in the very beginning of things (like when players used to queue snipe each other to fight each other in the endgames).

Q. When did you realize that Esports was something that you wanted to pursue professionally?

A. I always dreamed about becoming a professional player, but honestly I never saw myself becoming one because I felt that I never had enough time. The moment I realized it was right when I qualified for the World Cup in duos. I instantly knew my life was going to change and that's when I fully considered becoming a professional Fortnite player. Once I played the way I did at the World Cup, my family and I knew it was time to take advantage of the present and dive into esports as a career.

Note: Falconer placed 5th in the World Cup Duos event

Q. The question that I think everyone is asking, why did you decide to wait so long until signing to an org? Up until 2 days ago you were the 4th highest F/A tournament earner behind Aquaa, Mitr0 and, of course, Tfue. Some pretty big names up there, and you were/are among them

A. My original choice of not signing to a team was because I wanted to join a team that could completely see my worth. I knew that I would do well at the world cup so I wanted to wait until after to see my options. I have heard a lot about players in Esports feeling like they are stuck in bad contracts and lose their eagerness to enjoy the game and they feel very stuck. I wanted to be as smart as I could, so I took my time.

Q. What was it in 100 Thieves that gave them the edge compared to other organizations?

A. Yeah, definitely not getting into the contract itself but besides that… my partner Arkham and the other players on 100T especially Ceice and Elevate treated me like family throughout the whole process. I grew really close to all of them and they made me feel like I was already apart of the organization. I also really enjoy what 100T is doing apart from other orgs specifically on the clothing designs and drops. I feel like 100T has that fresh new and insanely eager feeling to become better and different, and I wanted to be apart of that.

Q. When it comes to fresh organizations, two frontrunners come to my mind: 100 Thieves and Faze Clan. Both have insanely loyal fanbases and interact heavily through merchandise and content creators. Was Faze ever interested in you, or more importantly were you ever interested in Faze Clan when deciding in an organization to pursue?

A. I think with the roster that FaZe already had, they had no interest in picking up more players especially if they didn't have a huge following. I feel like it's hard to not like an organization like FaZe and I definitely would've considered joining them if they had offered, but at the same time, if they didn't come to an agreement regarding my value then I wouldn't have gone with them. At the end of the day I am just as happy if not happier to be at 100T after developing relationships with some of the people at the organization.

Q. To give credit where it’s due, Ceice and Elevate have been killing it when it comes to tournament play. 100 Thieves' signings have been deliberate and consistently pays off. We all know Nadeshot, prolific COD player... an icon in the Esports industry turned business mogul. Let's also not forget about COO John Robinson who has been critical in developing 100 Thieves’ presence in the Esports industry as well... How have your interactions with the front office been, specifically with these industry leaders?

A. Both of them are very busy people, but I have had really good interactions with them throughout the process of signing and they have both made me feel very welcome to the organization. I am really excited to be around two really inspirational people and hopefully learn some things after them. I am also in school for business so I am hoping to learn some things from John Robinson especially since I eventually want to work in the business of Esports in the future.

Q. Let me shift gears a little and talk about your new teammate CourageJD. As everyone knows at this point, he made a big move by selling his streaming rights exclusively to YouTube Gaming. What are your thoughts regarding that?

A. Honestly, I haven't given too much thought to this on a personal level because in order to get to his level I still would have to build a bigger following than I have. I don't have enough insight on why he chose to do the deal, but I would imagine it is a deal that would make him the happiest.

Q. Final question Falconer. You play out of the NA-West region, which is notoriously difficult to gain notoriety. Huge content creators such as Tfue and the entirety of Team Liquid have pushed the East scene to record breaking heights. What do you have to say to the West community, your earliest supporters?

A. Practice as much as you can and just know that any one of these tournaments can give you recognition as a top player. East players tend to be much smarter when they play the game and I just hope that West players learn to watch east players play the game and become smarter. The only way to become better is to watch players that have better attributes than yourself, and then you can take those skills and apply them in your own gameplay.

Catch Falconer dominating the pro scene over on Twitch and Twitter

Best of luck, Falconer. You have a bright future with 100 Thieves