FaZe Clan are officially dead.

Once regarded as the most exciting and entertaining lineup in all of Counter-Strike, their decline has been drastic and honestly quite sad to watch, and it doesn’t seem to be coming to an end any time soon.

Although NovaH and I have been saying for a while on our podcast that FaZe should just forget about the idea of retaining a core as they attempt to move forward, the news that karrigan is set to depart for Falcons will likely make that a necessity if FaZe want to stand any chance at not being Counter-Strike’s greatest laughing stock for the next six months.

Of course, they could still purchase a core and catapult themselves back up the VRS rankings, but with teams like NIP, PARIVISION, and 100 Thieves all showing that you don’t need to do that in order to be successful, as well as BC.Game showing why buying a core can be the worst thing to do, what actually is the best option for FaZe?

It’s going to take some shrewd GM’ing if FaZe hope to ever be competitive again, and given the fact they’ve let both ropz and Twistzz depart for free in the last few years, I’m not exactly filled with confidence they have that.

Fortunately for them, though, I’m a generous soul - so here’s what I would do.

The terrible option

Although it would be a pointless endeavour given that FaZe are now outside of the top 30 in VRS and will fall even further once their final few wins at Budapest fall out of their ranking, what should FaZe do if they wish to retain their core?

I’ll skip through the obvious points, obviously, both Twistzz and frozen need to stay, but which of the remaining misfiring stars do you pray for better performances from?

Honestly, this is probably the hardest question of this entire article, because both broky and jcobbb are genuinely rubbish. Like, seriously, truly, awfully, rubbish. They’re rubbish to such an egregious degree that it’s hard to fathom either one of them ever redeeming themselves, but I watched a UK core make it to the Major playoffs, so stranger things have happened.

broky, for me, is the bigger offender. He’s afforded the most oppressive, most expensive weapon in the game and does very little with it. To make matters even worse, he’s actually set up better than most other players in his role are to perform.

Considering the fact that trade kills are meant to be the easy ones, and that players as bang average as stavn were made to look good because of them, you’d assume that broky’s ratings would be high as a result of getting so many trade opportunities. But no, 0.93 against top 30 opposition in 2026. Great.

jcobbb doesn’t fare any better; he’s at 0.92 in the same time period, but there’s a big difference in the context behind that stat.

For broky, who has a historically CT-favoured role as an AWPer, his ratings are actually worse on the CT side - 0.91 as opposed to 0.96 on the T side. For jcobbb, who has pretty rough roles on either side, it’s 0.90 on the T side and 0.93 on the CT side.

That 0.93 CT side rating is something that FaZe would still struggle with in the long run, but considering the level of supportive work jcobbb is doing on the T side, it’s a reasonable assumption that he would see an uptick in form should he receive some of the resources he is currently starved of.

Maybe not enough of an uptick, sure, but enough to justify his place on the team over an AWPer who frags as poorly as the worst-performing IGLs.

The bigger concern with this option, though, is what FaZe might do after whittling their team down to jcobbb, Twistzz, and frozen. Solid IGLs and AWPers are the two hardest positions to fill for any team, and for one with a reputation that is falling as quickly as FaZe’s, the wrong signings could be detrimental for any potential rebuild.

The worst possible option here, given how bad his stint as the captain of Liquid was, would be to install Twistzz as the new IGL of the team. I’m sure there might be a return to IGLing for him in the future, but now is not that time. Any rebuild for FaZe should be catered around returning the Canadian to the levels of superstardom, and not see a continuation of the frankly terrible levels we’ve seen out of him in 2026.

Sure, calling around himself might help that, but would it help the rest of the team in the slightest? I highly doubt it.

It seems obvious, then, with kyxsan presumably losing his spot as part of karrigan’s move to Falcons, that FaZe should go after the outgoing leader for their rebuild. kyxsan did impressive things with both Apeks and HEROIC before being bogged down by the egoes on Falcons, so his inclusion should really be a no-brainer.

As for a new AWPer, there have already been rumours that woxic is potentially soon to be cut from Aurora, as well as rumours that FaZe could be his next destination, and honestly? I actually quite like it.

Despite some rather strange suggestions that woxic doesn’t have the “FaZe DNA” (whatever that means), I’d say this move is a best-case scenario that shouldn’t even really be an option for FaZe.

woxic, although not a world-beater, is a very dependable figure who is having far more impact on the AWP than many of his contemporaries are managing in 2026. He doesn’t shy away from opening duels on either side, and when compared to the other AWPers on the current top six teams, his success rate is decent, too.

As an extension of that, when compared with the other player frequently touted with links to FaZe through some nostalgic “MOUZ is FaZe academy” BS, torzsi, woxic has a higher rating on both sides this year, takes 5% more opening duels on the T side, and is 11% more effective when taking them.

I know which one I’d pick.

Source: kyxsan - BLAST / Stephanie Lindgren, Twistzz - ESL / Helena Kristiansson, frozen - PGL / Sebastian Pandelache, woxic - BLAST / Sophie Barrowclough, jcobbb - BLAST / Sophie Barrowclough

The coreless option

But what if FaZe do the right thing and bite the bullet? What if they (rightly) decide there is no value in their core, and sacrifice whatever VRS points they have left?

In that case, and if we’re still sticking with the idea of kyxsan and woxic joining, I think there are two options. And hilariously, despite their nation being underwhelming for as long as any CS fan not named Thorin can remember, they’re both Swedish.

The first of the two is Sweden’s finest CS prodigy, Mail09. Although I do have my concerns.

Mail09 has been exceptional so far in 2026, almost helping Alliance to an unexpected Major berth. At 1.21 for the year, he has excelled in roles that Metizport - for some reason - kept him from, but now looks set to be taken back to the Metziport gulag as his loan will expire following the Cologne Major.

In the young Swede, they would have a player to build around for the foreseeable future. Of course, he hasn’t yet been asked to step up to tier one, and at 16 years old, his age could be a concern, but this is a team that contains frozen, he handled it just fine and would surely be able to take him under his wing.

The other option is far less attractive and will require you to hear me out:

Brollan.

Now, I realise that Brollan has been seen as a problem on MOUZ for a long time now, but that’s because he - for some reason - is their IGL. I wouldn’t ask him to do so on FaZe.

On FaZe I’d ask him to be the same player he was when MOUZ brought him in to replace frozen. A reliable and versatile player capable of slotting in wherever required of him, never really shining, but never excelling either. In a team where woxic, Twistzz, and frozen would be stars, this would be perfect for him.

Well, just as long as pretending to be an IGL hasn’t fried his brains.

It’s not exactly a flashy signing, but are FaZe really in the position to make those? What FaZe really needs are dependable figures they can rely upon, like rain was for so many years before being unceremoniously cut ahead of Budapest, and Brollan can be exactly that when he isn’t wrongly being asked to be a leader of men.

The core option

The final option is to buy a pre-existing core, which, in the case of FaZe, I think would be the best option. After all, FaZe are a team whose existence demands they should be at the biggest events, and with no obvious prospects for them like there was for 100 Thieves, a core could be the leg up they need.

Besides, despite what ENCE, BC.Game, or the first Falcons core would have you believe, buying a core isn’t an entirely terrible idea. The second core Falcons bought, although a stopgap while they waited for the arrival of m0NESY, reestablished them in the big time, and HEROIC’s signing of the Sangal core was a clever piece of business that kept them from falling out of it entirely.

The issue, then, is finding the right core, which takes an understanding of both roles and culture - something BCG completely failed to consider when signing their trio from SAW.

One option would be the GamerLegion core. It’s a take that we mocked during the most recent episode of the podcast, but I don’t actually hate it that much. At 22 on the VRS rankings, they have a reasonable position in the world, and would certainly be a nice, easy option for FaZe to go after.

The question is which trio from GamerLegion FaZe should sign. Logic dictates that Snax and hypex, as IGL and AWPer, would be guarantees, and given the upturn in hypex’s form since the arrival of the big man, I don’t hate it either.

The argument between REZ, PR, and Tauson is harder, though.

The best argument, especially given the struggles FaZe have had due to the ineffectiveness of jcobbb, lies with REZ. The most aggressive of the three, he could become a very solid tip of the spear for FaZe, although he would likely be tasked with taking more than the slightly below average (when compared with other players in similar roles) 26% of opening duels he has been taking for GamerLegion this year.

Still, with a 1.18 rating in 2026 and a respectable 45% success rate, I’m not sure he would suffer too much.

In my opinion, the next best would be PR. The young star of GamerLegion, he may have struggled slightly in 2026 (1.07 down from 1.12 in 2025), but part of that could be put down to him being slightly unsettled after a move failed to materialise after the Major, or a change in leadership not benefiting him as much.

PR, struggles or not, still remains one of the biggest prospects in CS. Given that GamerLegion have spent so much time in tier one, he’s also more proven than the likes of Mail09, too. The big drawback, though, is that PR is a more passive player, and a FaZe team that still involves frozen or Twistzz doesn’t exactly need that. So that’s him off the table.

Tauson, although the weakest of the three, does still have an argument to be signed. He isn’t exactly a star, but he’s in a similar vein of dependable as Brollan. A versatile option that could slot into a more aggressive role like jcobbb (but better, hopefully), or as a more passive bombsite entry, he could really fit in a team that would already have star power in Twistzz, frozen, and hypex.

That said, the star trio of hypex, frozen, and Twistzz doesn’t sound quite as appealing as woxic, frozen and Twistzz, and most other top teams are considered to have four stars. For that reason, I’d be going with REZ, and I’d actually be quite happy with it.

Source: GamerLegion

The best option

There is one other core I would consider even more appealing, though. A core that would see FaZe get closer to their organisational roots by signing another NA player, as well as exposing a core of players to a level of consistent tier one appearances that they perhaps should have been exposed to a long time ago.

I’m talking about M80.

Yes, I’m being serious.

In the last couple of years, M80 have been an incredibly consistent NA team despite limited tier one exposure, and their run at BLAST Open London proved that they also had the potential to go on big runs together.

For me, the biggest selling point is Lake. A battering ram who would almost certainly be on a better team by now if there had been a better NA team for him to join, he has a 1.14 rating in 2026, which actually increases to 1.15 on LAN against top 30 opposition.

For a player on a team that doesn’t actually win much when they play in those settings, that’s very good. Factor in his 30% T side opening duels, and it’s actually quite insane.

s1n is also an IGL who I think is often forgotten due to being on M80, when he probably should be held in the same light as Chr1zN as aprospect IGL.

s1n also isn’t a slouch when it comes to rating, either. His 0.98 is by no means spectacular, but it stands at a very respectable level. Eyetest makes it clear Krabeni is a much better player individually, but even he is only at 1.01 by the same metrics, compare s1n to the rest of the IGLs in the current VRS top six, and it’s clear he wouldn’t be a sandbag like karrigan has been at points.

The final member would, of course, be slaxz-. By no means an exceptional AWPer, slaxz- is the piece you would eventually be looking to upgrade upon, or maybe even forego the signing of a complete core in order to just upgrade early, but that isn’t to say that slaxz- is terrible.

I mean, he’s by no means broky.

The issue with slaxz- is that ultimately, he’s just fine, and having an AWPer who is fine doesn’t win you trophies. But at the same time, FaZe also shouldn’t be thinking about winning a notable trophy any time soon, so is fine really that much of a problem?

Looking at his ratings for 2026 thus far, the answer is no. 1.13 on LAN against top 30 opposition so far, his 1.05 in 2025 suggests that would decrease with a larger sample size, but when you consider that torzsi and woxic both ended 2025 on 1.06, FaZe could do much, much worse.

A reminder, their current AWPer is broky.

With Twistzz and frozen replacing Swisher and JBa, this FaZe/M80 amalgamation is something that I would actually expect to break into the top 10 with relative ease. A year ago, I’d say they’d consistently make playoffs, too, but Counter-Strike is a bit too competitive for me to say that about any team right now.

It might not seem like the most exciting team on paper, but it’s exactly the type of underrated signing that could catapult FaZe back where they belong, and do so in a way where everyone pretended like it was always obvious it would happen.

In my opinion, that’s exactly the type of move that FaZe now need to make, a move that may catch people off guard at first, but after a few months leaves them scratching their heads as to why they didn’t do it sooner.

With the M80 core, and a little bit of tier two grinding to top up the ranking, FaZe can see themselves back in the big time quicker than Vitality dispatches a group stage opening opponent, and then we can all act like the last year never happened at all.