But where did they go wrong? And how do they get back on track?

We need to talk about FaZe

Let’s face it - 2025 has been pretty embarrassing for FaZe. A team that we’re all used to seeing lift trophies, they haven’t even really got close to them this year, and even on their two closest occasions it never actually felt like we’d see them win.

The FaZe magic, or bullsh-t, whatever you want to call it, is gone. It’s a team of magicians who have revealed all of their tricks, and any new escapade they attempt to come up with just appears as a shadow of their former selves.

Losing ropz was always going to be difficult, sure, but the year we’ve seen has been far worse than we ever expected it to be. To make matters worse, I also don’t think it’s going to get any better, and with the Major fast approaching and without the excitement of s1mple being along for the ride this time around, it’s time for us to talk about the fact we’re actually pretty worried about them.

A rough start

It all starts with EliGE. Now, I realise that sounds like I’m blaming the Bald Eagle, but actually, I’m not. In fact, I think EliGE was actually one of the smarter signings they could have ever made when ropz left.

The reality of the situation was that they were simply never going to get another ropz. frozen is the next best thing, and that’s great, but he can’t truly replace him. ropz is one of the few genuinely irreplaceable players that exist in modern CS.

Bringing in EliGE meant that they could shift firepower elsewhere within their system. The American was reinvigorated after his time on Complexity, and although that team was, well, quite bad, there was faith in him once more to be a superstar for a top, top team.

But it just didn’t work out, did it?

The warning signs were there early on. Interviews went out talking about how EliGE was used to a different style. A team with different communication, more protocols, fewer… karriganisms. Trying to change that was going to take time, if there was even any point in it to begin with. karrigan didn’t become karrigan because he needed this stuff. karrigan became karrigan because the way they were prior to EliGE worked.

Again, I’m still not blaming EliGE. I don’t think he should have tried to mess with the FaZe bullsh-t so much, but it’s not his fault that rain struggled to adapt to new roles and broky struggled to realise he had actually connected to a server.

Read the rules, people

The eventual fix was to bench broky. The Latvian Laser had turned into the Latvian L00m1 and there really was just no hope for FaZe to win anything whilst he was a part of the team.

In his place, arrived s1mple. Even if it was just a loan move it was exciting, and the GOAT, although far from his best, did show flashes of brilliance during his time with the team.

The problem, though, was that FaZe had no real intention of ever signing s1mple permanently. Whether that was due to his performances, what the finances of that deal would look like, or whatever karrigan was talking about in this interview, it just wasn’t going to happen.

Instead, they brought broky back. The hope was that his “small punishment” and much needed time away would bring him back to his best, and although that looked like it might be true during IEM Cologne Stage 1 and BLAST Open London, it just hasn’t really been the case.

He’s always been a relatively inconsistent player, and perhaps this downturn in form is just a natural regression that follows a yearly trend, but broky is now just pretty consistently mediocre. He’s just not at the level FaZe requires anymore.

Benching broky just to bring him back also caused more issues further down the line. The period in which he was benched happened to coincide with rain taking a leave of absence for the birth of his second child, meaning that FaZe’s freedom to move for new players would be restricted by their VRS core.

These two factors kicked off a chain reaction, one that would limit FaZe in the months that would follow as they were constantly limited by their own mismanagement and the resulting necessity to wait in order to complete their much needed roster moves.

Even when they could finish their rebuild, they couldn’t actually play with that team. The roster that was invited to EPL Season 22 was frozen, rain, karrigan, EliGE, and s1mple. And three of those players were no longer meant to be playing for the team.

rain, less than a week after his benching by FaZe, had to be called back to the team after they were forced to forfeit their opening match versus G2, and poor jcobbb, the rookie they had signed to replace him, was left on the sidelines for the event. To make matters worse, it’s the best FaZe have looked all year.

Source: jcobbb - BLAST / Sophie Barrowclough, rain - ESL / Helena Kristiansson

Going back to your ex is okay, apparently

I’m actually going to be nice for once now, because I don’t think it’s been all bad for FaZe this year. They’ve made some good decisions, too.

However, this portion of the deep dive does need to come with a PSA: Just because I’m about to tell you why FaZe going back to their ex was okay, it doesn’t mean you should call her. In FaZe’s case, they were the problem. In your case, it was almost definitely her. Back yourself, king.

Bringing back Twistzz is one of the best decisions FaZe have made. Not just this year, but ever. Liquid Twistzz was simply never going to work, and FaZe had never truly been able to replace him. A superstar at not really being a true star, Twistzz’ place in FaZe allows him to be the piece he can be perhaps better than anyone, and he’s also a genuine firepower upgrade to their core.

He also allows FaZe’s 3vX hope chess playstyle the best chance of success. It’s a style that I’ll soon criticise, but whilst FaZe are still stuck with it, he’s an absolutely necessary piece. An enabler that can empower frozen and broky to become the true stars, it’s no surprise that broky had one of his best performances of the year at the CS Asia Championships when FaZe’s new lineup played together for the first time.

That is the one redeeming factor of this team. They have a very solid core to build around. It should be any competent GM’s wet dream to have this core. Maybe frozen isn’t quite ropz, and maybe broky’s inconsistency will play a part in some disappointing results, but you’d struggle to find upgrades on either.

As far as foundations go, this is the type of firepower you need to be a truly title contending team. If MOUZ can do it, FaZe can, too.

The wrong signing

Unfortunately for FaZe, that’s where the positives stop. And the consequences of that aren’t exactly something we’re looking forward to, because it means that jcobbb will inevitably become a scapegoat.

That’s not to say whatever comes next won’t be his fault. Of course jcobbb should take some of the blame - he simply isn’t good enough for this team and their ambitions. A move to HEROIC or GamerLegion would have suited him far better at this stage in his career, but you can’t knock him for taking the bag when FaZe came knocking. He would have been silly not to.

The blame should instead fall on whoever decided to sign him in the first place. Whether it was an awful scouting job from NEO or some strange cronyism caused by karrigan’s wife working with Apogee, it’s a move that should have never happened.

And to be honest, I’m not sure it was ever meant to happen. Before his move to Spirit, I’d heard that FaZe had also been in contact with Nemiga over zweih. I also heard that they offered half of what was, by today’s standards, a very small buyout. It makes me question as to whether or not jcobb was ever the intention, or if he was just a cheaper option caused by economic realities after they failed to secure their top target.

It’s a question we’ll likely never know the answer to, and perhaps zweih was originally intended to be signed over Twistzz because FaZe didn’t think the swap deal would be possible. It does make more sense role wise, but given all that we know about the chemistry issues with EliGE, it feels more likely that the intention was to sign Twistzz and zweih, not Twistzz and jcobbb.

Data via HLTV.org Sources: BLAST / Sophie Barrowclough / Adam Lakomy

Either way, they ended up with jcobbb, and they ended up with him too early on his career. Presuming that he ever becomes good enough to play on a FaZe-calibre team, anyway.

jcobbb, in theory, is the man signed to push FaZe forwards. Their most aggressive force, the new rain. But he just isn’t that, and I’m not sure he should be asked to be. This isn’t 2022 anymore.

FaZe’s most dominant period in Counter-Strike, the first half of 2022, came during an extreme purple patch for their entire squad. It was when that hope chess was most successful, because everything they hoped for came true.

But that hope has dwindled now, and it’s dwindled because it’s an outdated approach. Teams now look to hit people harder, earlier in the round. Look at MOUZ with xertioN, Vitality with flameZ, Spirit with donk, Falcons with whoever they decide is going to throat f-ck you in any given round. Even Liquid, for all of their mid gameplay, have tried to address this issue by bringing EliGE back to the team.

The problem starts at the top

We could talk about frozen perhaps not being good enough to be the true star of a championship contender, although I don’t think he’s ever really been given the chance, and I think he would probably prove that he could be if he was given that chance.

We could also talk about how broky also might not be good enough for a team like that anymore. But as I said earlier, who can FaZe get that’s better? Besides, AWPing is just really hard in CS2. AWPers are just having to AWP less to try and counter that, so you may as well have someone competent with a rifle like broky is.

What we will talk about, though, is karrigan. The man who, for my money, is the greatest IGL of all time. The problem with that is that the greats tend to stick around for too long. gla1ve did it too, and his reputation took a huge hit for it. In a different sense, so did GeT_RiGhT with NIP and kennyS during that pretty awful Falcons stint.

It’s now karrigan’s turn to overstay his welcome, and it really doesn’t need to be. We all know he wants to ride off into the sunset on a high, but did those two consecutive Major final defeats not tell him anything? Could he not realise from those losses, or from the other numerous disappointing early exits, that the moment to go out with a bang has now passed?

The moment won’t come back, either. Even at its peak, karrigan’s system relied on the three stars left in the countless 3vX’s being on top form, but even if they reach that peak now, the stylistic difference between them and the other top teams leave with them just too small of a margin for error.

It’s a system that just doesn’t work anymore, but it’s also one that won’t change whilst karrigan is still at the helm. The signing of jcobbb is evidence enough for that.

FaZe, who will almost certainly fall flat in Budapest next month, need a refresh. Fresh ideas, a greater emphasis on aggression, and less reliance on pulling the rabbit out of the hat and turning water into wine.

That will likely require jcobbb to depart the team, but karrigan must also fall victim to this refresh. There are other IGLs out there. It might be a bit soon for him, but Chr1zN will eventually get to a tier one level - his recent availability is something that FaZe shouldn’t be passing up on. They already missed out on getting someone like siuhy.

It doesn’t even need to mean that karrigan is gone entirely. He could try becoming the coach of the team. If you listen to Overtime on Inferno, you’ll know that we’re not convinced it will go to plan, but it’s not exactly going great with NEO either, so why not give it a try?

The point is, FaZe need to do something drastic, otherwise mediocrity is all FaZe can expect for a long time. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly happy with that. The run at EPL should’ve told us all one thing - CS is better when FaZe are at their best.