TL;DR
- FaZe has did not get better from Twistzz’s departure.
- Rain is affected by enjoying out of place.
- Karrigan is struggling on a person stage.
- EliGE has not solved FaZe’s mid-round downside.
- Broky might now not match FaZe’s playstyle.
In March 2023, FaZe lastly captured the Grand Slam at Professional League Season 17, profitable $1 million within the course of and confirming their standing as a historic roster. In April of 2025, FaZe Clan may solely watch from dwelling as Vitality epically took the Grand Slam at IEM Melbourne.
Whereas three of that well-known FaZe lineup stay on the group, they may not conjure previous glories in Australia, failing to even qualify for the playoffs of the occasion.
Whereas Vitality profitable the ESL Grand Slam felt inevitable, there was nothing inevitable about FaZe’s 2025. The signing of Complexity celebrity Jon ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski, a former Grand Slam winner himself with Liquid, was broadly celebrated amongst followers and the broader CS group as a possible pathway to return FaZe to their former glory.
In actuality, FaZe seems to have regressed farther from 2024, and worst of all, they don’t even appear to be FaZe. So, how did we get right here?
Roster mismanagement & disruption
FaZe’s struggles within the server can’t correctly be understood with out understanding the organizational disruption and mismanagement that laid the foundations of their present type.
Put merely, FaZe have misplaced two celebrity gamers on free transfers – Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken and Robin ‘ropz’ Kool – an unprecedented lack of expertise in fashionable Counter-Strike.
In an interview with HLTV, Twistzz outlined the explanation for his departure, citing FaZe’s lack of communication in opening renewal negotiations and the information that Gamesquare was buying FaZe as main causes for leaving the organisation.
FaZe’s response to the lack of Twistzz was the signing of David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský. Statistically, he’s a stand-out participant with unimaginable expertise contemplating his youth and a profitable historical past of enjoying beneath Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen in MOUZ (mousesports). Nonetheless, the transfer proved ill-judged from a roster-building perspective as a result of tendencies of the prevailing roster.
Particularly, frozen’s in-game instincts carefully overlapped with these of Robin ‘ropz’ Kool. As passive lurkers, the roster lacked steadiness — one thing Twistzz supplied. The Canadian was able to each enjoying sluggish, team-based CS and making explosive performs, like his well-known Nuke silo-to-main push that helped FaZe win the Cologne 2022 title.
The end result was an unbalanced roster that struggled to get the most effective out of its stars. Regardless of holding largely the identical roles, ropz usually struggled to have his conventional impression in what was a yr to overlook.
As ropz lifted the Grand Slam gold bar in Melbourne, boasting a 97-81 Okay/D within the ultimate, there might be little doubt of the Estonian’s enduring magic on the server. But FaZe may not often conjure it in 2024 and have been subsequently disadvantaged of it totally as he left, on a free switch on the finish of the yr.
“Clearly, with my contract operating out with FaZe, it was the proper fruits the place I may decide a group that I actually wished to begin a brand new chapter and type of transfer on from FaZe. There’s nothing that actually went on behind the scenes in FaZe when it comes to, like, we didn’t have any issues or something like that.”
But the actual fact stays that no different roster has misplaced the extent of expertise that FaZe has misplaced without cost within the more and more professionalised and calculated world of esports. Confronted with an analogous dilemma, G2 selected to commerceIlya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov, with 6 months left on his contract.
The Russian AWPing celebrity reportedly left for a seven-figure sum, rumoured to be $2-2.5 million, in keeping with Workforce Spirit scout and self-described Counter-Strike “insider” Aleksey ‘OverDrive’ Biryukov.
As an alternative, FaZe received nothing from the lack of two of Counter-Strike’s best skills and strengthened their rivals within the course of.
EliGE has not mounted FaZe’s issues
2024 modified Counter-Strike. Particularly, one Russian teenager did – Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets. Gone have been the times of sending in a sacrificial first man to be traded, the gold customary was now that your opener was anticipated to get a kill and take area. In 2024, Spirit gained a staggering 75% of rounds the place donk took the opening kill, doing so within the majority of his opening makes an attempt.
Whereas donk’s statistics are unprecedented, the core philosophy of the success has been unfold amongst the CS group, with gamers like Dorian ‘xertioN’ Berman or Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan sharing the identical burden of constructing area and having an impression in doing so.
It was then that FaZe followers welcomed EliGE with open arms. Seemingly an ideal tonic to the roster’s earlier passivity, EliGE carried Complexity’s 2024 on his shoulders, getting into 27.5% of the time with a 54% success fee.
For FaZe followers, the signing appeared a match made in heaven. The truth has turned out to be extra lukewarm.
At finest, FaZe’s T-sides have been explosive and sometimes chaotic. FaZe’s T-sides carried with them a definitive swagger and confidence, which has solely briefly emerged in a collection or two this yr in opposition to 3DMax in Melbourne and Bucharest. Now, FaZe’s T-sides look devoid of any notable traits. They’re mundane, run-of-the-mill.
Whereas EliGE is a tonic to mid-rounds, which floor to a halt beneath the load of passively minded gamers, his relative insecurity in a FaZe jersey, particularly in opposition to prime opposition, leaves FaZe with a flavourless feeling. Averaging a 1.22 HLTV score in 2024, EliGE has averaged just one.13 in FaZe’scolourss.
That’s not to place undue blame on EliGE’s shoulders, as every bit of FaZe appears to lack chemistry with the others in the meanwhile. To place it merely, EliGE has not solved FaZe’s mid-round downside, which has existed since Twistzz’s departure, lengthy earlier than he joined.
Sq. pegs in spherical holes
Whereas EliGE theoretically match FaZe’s T-side, EliGE’s roles clearly conflicted with different gamers on the CT aspect, mostly with Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard. Rain has sacrificed his conventional positions on Inferno, Dust2, and Nuke, the place his mastery of out of doors has made him a textbook instance of the way to play the spot.
The Norwegian can also be anchoring the alternative bombsite on Anubis in 2025, that means he has maintained few of his spots from final yr and is filling in yet one more function vacated by ropz.
As a veteran of the sport, the Norwegian has confirmed a flexible piece in FaZe’s success, however relegating a participant who is outstanding in sure spots to locations on the map the place he’s merely common means you might be dropping out on the most effective of rain.
The result’s a CT-sided score drop from 1.04 in 2024 to 0.98 up to now in 2025. The disparity raises questions on whether or not FaZe is maximising its total potential or whether or not rain ought to fill these positions sooner or later.
The pure resolution appears to be transferring frozen into anchor positions, exploiting the similarities between him and ropz to make him a specialist anchor-lurker. Frozen performed lots of Rain’s present roles in MOUZ. Nonetheless, that resolution deprives frozen of impactful positions the place he’s delivering individually, which can be why that choice has been forgone up till now.
Karrigan’s particular person stage
In 2025, Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire is averaging a 1.03 HLTV score. Karrigan is averaging 0.89. Whereas the score is roughly consistent with his performances throughout FaZe’s profitable years, the Dane has suffered from a CT-side collapse in 2025, regressing from a 0.93 common to 0.89. He notably underperforms Inferno and Anubis, the place his CT score is amongst the bottom in pro-CS.
Can an elite group succeed with a participant averaging a 0.89 score? In at this time’s sport, the place in-game leaders (IGLs) usually tackle star roles in key map positions, can their tactical experience offset their weaker particular person efficiency? Groups like Vitality, Falcons, and MOUZ have made daring strikes, comparable to benching Kamil ‘siuhy’ Szkaradek to let Ludwig ‘Brollan’ Brolin take over calling duties, elevating questions on balancing management and firepower.
On the CT-sides of Historical and Anubis, karrigan performs B Cave and Connector, respectively, positions which decide whether or not Ts get entry to very important real-estate of the map. Having an exploitable participant on a person stage in these spots makes life tough.
But, veteran Counter-Strike followers will know that this dialog has been held many occasions. Karrigan’s particular person stage has been questioned for the duration of each roster he has been a part of. It’s a lazy level to take a look at an IGL’s stats and apportion blame merely on fragging capacity.
Traditionally, karrigan has carried out individually higher when the group is performing as a well-oiled machine. Having the psychological area to deal with his crosshair led to his 1.01 HLTV score on the Antwerp main, the place he delivered vital impression.
If FaZe can clear up a number of the deeper flaws inside their method, we might even see that karrigan’s score recovers to a serviceable stage. Whether or not that may be achieved enjoying in his present roles, on some websites enjoying with a rain who’s out of place, appears unlikely.
Whereas FaZe as an organisation may be keeping track of star-IGL MOUZ’s experiment, it’s tough to think about a FaZe with out karrigan.
Does broky nonetheless match this roster?
Whereas Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants has by no means been the top-rated AWPer on the earth, he has all the time gave the impression to be the proper match for FaZe. The x-factor within the group that defines unpredictability. Now, in a extra predictable roster, that x-factor is wanting extra like unwelcome chaos.
Probably the most regarding facet of broky’s efficiency just isn’t a lot his common score, however his play severely failing the attention check resulting from a mixture of counterproductive performs making an attempt to power moments and lacking the simple photographs. Most notably, broky struggled considerably in two apocalyptic collection in opposition to The MongolZ at IEM Melbourne and Falcons at PGL Bucharest the place he averaged 0.70 rankings.
As if to encapsulate the perplexing thoughts of broky, FaZe’s elimination at IEM Melbourne got here by the hands of Erik ‘ztr’ Gustafsson 1v3, through which frozen was wielding the AWP with broky proper beside him, in the end failing to carry the angle with an MP9.
It’s a signal of the altering nature of the group that a number of social media posts this week linked to Mr. Dependable himself, Nicolai ‘system’ Reedtz. It’s maybe an indication of distaste for broky’s latent inconsistency that FaZe followers are calling for Counter-Strike’s most constant AWPing presence.
What’s subsequent for Faze: Trying ahead to Austin, or dreading it?
FaZe followers are questioning how lengthy their present type can go on with out a change, and whether or not that change will come earlier than the BLAST Austin Main. Regardless of a tepid yr, FaZe conjured their normal magic at each of 2024’s majors, making the Grand Finals of Copenhagen and Shanghai, but there isn’t a signal of lightning placing once more in Austin.
With Vitality setting a brand new customary for excellence in Counter-Strike, FaZe followers can solely look again at after they have been at these lofty heights from an more and more distant place. For FaZe, change should come shortly, or they are going to slip additional down the precipice.
Conclusion
On the very least, FaZe’s roster must get up to the truth that they can’t proceed their patterns of forcing gamers into uncomfortable positions that don’t naturally match their playstyle.
The imbalance of the roster that has existed since Twistzz’s departure is but to be correctly rectified. Whether or not that may be executed by means of positional modifications, a training change, or new personnel stays to be seen.
FAQs
What’s happening with FaZe?
FaZe’s Counter-Strike division has seen a major stoop in efficiency and rating. Regardless of including EliGE, FaZe’s outcomes have failed to show round and regressed farther from 2024, the place they gained IEM Chengdu and reached each main finals in what was a disappointing yr total.
Why did Twistzz and ropz go away FaZe?
In interview, Twistzz acknowledged FaZe’s lack of communication and uncertainty of the long run because the roster as causes for leaving. Ropz acknowledged a want discover a brand new problem and play alongside Mathieu ‘Zywoo’ Herbaut, apEX, and co.
Why is FaZe dropping everybody?
FaZe’s CS roster has not dropped or kicked any participant not too long ago; nevertheless, their stream group has seen an inventory of modifications as a result of restructuring of their model, following the Gamesquare acquisition of FaZe in late 2023/early 2024.
References
- https://www.hltv.org/information/37723/exclusive-twistzz-on-why-he-left-faze-second-thoughts-declining-vitality-part-1 (HLTV)
- https://www.dexerto.com/counter-strike-2/ropz-reveals-the-real-reason-he-left-faze-for-team-vitality-were-going-to-be-the-team-to-beat-3031016/ (Dexerto)
