Edition #410 | oct 23rd, 2023

FaZe Clan are getting bought by a private company, and despite their IEM Sydney heroics, might just be losing one of their stars. As long as they keep karrigan…

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

G2

0

2

COL

MOUZ

0

2

FaZe

COL

1

2

FaZe

VP

2 Days

Spirit

• First CS2 champs: FaZe raised the trophy at IEM Sydney after a close final that needed all three maps and some overtime to find its winner. Read on for the recap.
• This is becoming quite the occurrence, isn’t it: donk vs Virtus.pro - sorry, Spirit vs Virtus.pro - has become the hallmark of any tier two tournament. The Roobet Cup kicks off midweek with a bunch of actually quite good teams in it, but can’t shake the VP vs Spirit watermark.

FaZe bought out

Wanted: But not as a five

This parent company ain’t big enough for the both of us.

The Dallas Cowboys-funded GameSquare, owners of Complexity, swooped in amid financial concerns for FaZe Clan to acquire the struggling gaming giant for $17M (roughly $983M less than their valuation when they went public)

Quickest stock market trigger finger in the west, or something.

This will apparently lead to a lot of the old school FaZe heads, like Banks (not James Banks, the weird one), Temperrr and Apex being reinstated, which is apparently a big deal for quickscopers and Monster Energy drinkers.

We know what you’re thinking, but before you could scrawl ‘conflict of interest’ on the white walls of your room, it was clarified that they hadn’t finished the takeover yet and had realised they’d have to comply with rules ‘starting from 2025’.

In that case, why on Earth should you care?

The big news coming from it is that the FaZe roster… might not be sticking together.

Despite their incredibly impressive start to life in CS2, the Major-winning quintet is losing at least one of their family jewels, and with Falcons throwing money around and Vitality apparently sniffing for another player, one has to wonder if more are on their way.

Anyway, speaking of…

Liquid roster rumours

Liquid is building cadiaN his super team, here's how

Yup, that’s right, cadiaN is rumoured to be joining Liquid, it’s even so far along dust2.us are reporting he’s agreed verbally.

If you’ve been on social media in the last 48 hours, you might have noticed Liquid is making a lot of changes. Patsi, oSee, and daps are all said to be joining Rainwaker on the bench. Quite extreme maybe, but the cadiaN news makes it all click.

Because who are the rumoured replacements? skullz, the star of paiN Gaming, and god damn Twistzz. Didn’t he just win an event?

Liquid's rumoured lineup seems to be taking the shape of Heroic's blueprint. They've got four riflers mastering any role of the T-side attack, and each with mechanics needed to play heads-up CS on the CT-side - all centred around cadiaN’s oppressive style of Counter-Strike. Imagine Heroic without the need for Danish players. They could even win something.

There are some… concerns about combining the choke organisation with an IGL whose playoff record is shoddy at best. But that’s why you get a coach with experience like Liquid is supposedly getting with zews. He even has the added benefits of having been at Liquid before, and being Brazilian can only be good for skullz’ ability to settle in. Let's ignore zews’ recent resume.

Instead of worrying about Falcons, we should’ve all been worrying about Liquid this whole time. This time they seem to actually have a plan, with the firepower to boot and centred around a real IGL. Sorry YEKINDAR, not you.

Liquid’s rumoured roster:

🇩🇰 cadiaN (IGL)

🇱🇻 YEKINDAR

🇧🇷 paiN

🇨🇦 NAF

🇨🇦 Twistzz

🇧🇷 zews (coach)

IEM Sydney

FaZe show FalleN what a real Last Dance looks like

For all the negativity about CS2, one team has held up a beacon for the new era of Counter-Strike: FaZe.

The stock price, the uncertainty about Twistzz’s future, rain’s age — none of it mattered as the successors to the Poles of Virtus.pro turned it on for what might be one Last Dance.

First in their path was ENCE, #2 team in the world and supposed favourite for the title. FaZe won their pick, fine. Expected.

But next was Anubis; a map FaZe had played just once since June and lost 16-4.

So, naturally, FaZe won 13-0. They beat the best team in the world on the map THIRTEEN ZERO.

MOUZ were next, who were still with stand-in Nexius, and were similarly swept aside.

It was a romantic run on the other side of the bracket, as Complexity marched past BetBoom and stunned jks and G2 in their own semi-final. We warned you they were back.

And so the first final of CS2 we got the GameSquare derby, the two teams fighting to stay under the Dallas Cowboys brand after FaZe were acquired by Complexity’s parent company.

Playoffs had been full of stomps, but the final delivered on the potential FaZe and Complexity have shown Counter-Strike 2 has.

Overpass was back and forth, with coL closing it 13-11, before FaZe answered back on Nuke. The Americans nearly claimed the title, too, recovering from 3-10 down on the decider of Ancient to force a hectic double overtime.

But this wasn’t the 2023 FaZe — it was the mentality monsters of 2022.

It is this that sums this FaZe roster up: The team that stands in polar opposition to the 2018 roster that bottled it in Boston.

This FaZe are the ones that are impossible to beat down, the one that comes alive on stage and in overtime. And that is exactly what they did on Ancient, shutting the plucky Americans down to secure their first title since EPL in March.

They have lost a bit of their aura since Cologne last year, but at Sydney they had their mojo back.

If this was their last event as a five, it was a fitting note to end on; a Last Dance that Imperial could scarcely dream of, and a reminder just how terrifying the best team of 2022 truly was.

Everything Else

Karrigan or Carry-king

🍦🎞️We like Cornetto’s

• If 1.6, GO, and 2 are the “Golden Mile” then Karrigan is Gary King, cuz he owns it. If you haven’t seen At World’s End and don’t get this reference: first of all how, second of all go watch it right now.
• Here come the fuzz. More specifically the hype police, because the CS2 hype is dying. 118K players in a month is… substantial.
• Just like the undead, rain managed to come back alive to clinch the first MVP of CS2. Shaun of the Dead? More like Rain of the Dead. Which sounds gross.

💦 As leaky as the Leaky Cauldron

• Say what you want about the French, they do have some good leaks. Click through for more Falcons super team rumours.
• Say what you want about Richard Lewis, he does say what we’re all thinking… occasionally.

📺 Showmatch special

• Even just some screenshots from the showmatch already makes it look ridiculous. The British weren’t fighting a literal kangaroo ya silly-willies!
• And then during the game some massive coc- eh, chickens show up. What is going on?
• Finally, how does one both plant and defuse the bomb in the same round? Can this skill be taught SPUNJ?