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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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FaZe Clan are the best CS2 team ever.
Of course, that might not last — not least as Twistzz might still be leaving — fnatic are rebuilding and we all might be flying out to China…
Usually, when you’re looking to rebuild, you get rid of difficult people to work with, weaker players, or players who don’t really fit what you’re trying to do.
fnatic are going a different way — a complete refresh of their rifle stars.
It’s a bold move, but not one without reason. Changing your support core to try and get wins is what Cloud9 did with interz, SK did with TACO, and MOUZ did with STYKO. We don’t need to tell you how those worked out.
Changing your stars can work — but how deliberate was this decision?
mezii’s departure was probably forced by the attention of Team Vitality, but roeJ heading to Preasy isn’t one that can be described that way.
roeJ was a big signing for fnatic at the time from the ever-impressive Copenhagen Flames and has generally been solid if unspectacular for fnatic. He’s occasionally brilliant, but not often enough to push them into that top tier.
In fact, that he’s ended up at Preasy probably tells that story.
This leaves fnatic with just dexter, afro, and KRIMZ — which is a solid core to build off of, with little in the way of explosive, X factor, hard-carry, I-am-HIM mentality.
Quite who they’re going to find to offer that is, as of this newsletter, unknown to the public. Brollan is available for re-signing but has been awful since moving away from fnatic. FaZe players might be available once Complexity buy them (supposedly), but surely they’d have other suitors?
We think we’ll find out pretty quickly — before the next edition of this newsletter, at least — who fnatic’s last two are, but they’re going to have to be crazy for us to really care.
You’re replacing two stars, fnatic. This better be special.
The second Major in 2024 has been announced and you’ve got until December next year to learn Chinese. Jk, there’ll be English streams. We think. No, definitely.
Perfect World (Valve’s Chinese partner publisher) confirmed the Shanghai Major four months after it as initially rumoured in front of a crowd during the CS Asia Championships. We thought China worked fast.
We don’t know any specific dates for the event just yet, and we also don’t know which TO they’ll tap for the actual production.
But we do know that this’ll be the first ever Major ever to be held in Asia, probably because it’s a tough timezone to deal with. Especially for those of us who are European, and there are quite a few of us after all.
With uncharted territory comes big questions.
Getting visas are obviously one of those. Historically there have often been visa issues with Chinese events and just now during CSAC, both Liquid and dycha cited visa troubles for not being able to make it. Imagine getting to the Major only to get owned… by an immigration officer.
There’s also the usual discussion around the ethics of holding a tournament in China with its various human rights violations. But you can’t blame Valve for wanting to bring CS to a market that big. And you definitely can’t blame the fans, who seem to have been great throughout CSAC.
Anyway, as fans there’s nothing for us to do but enjoy the show when it comes around. If you can stay awake, that is.
FaZe might be the best CS2 team of all time.
They’ve extended their streak to 15 best of threes without defeat, 3 tournaments (2 on LAN — sorry moses), and have well and truly got their mojo back.
This last win, at CS Asia Championship, had all the markings of a FaZe in their prime.
ropz is the best Counter-Strike player in the world right now and grabbed another MVP.
And, at 6-12 down on Nuke in the grand final versus MOUZ, they forced a comeback into double overtime to win the trophy.
FaZe have always been the Real Madrid of CS, unlikeable as organizations, fantastic players, and a propensity to bullshit their way to title after title.
You write most teams off in a 3v5, or at 12-6 down. But with FaZe, that’s when you lean forward and actually start to pay attention. It’s happened too often to be written off as bullshit; it’s part of their DNA.
There’s a cloud over all of this success, of course. Twistzz is bound for Liquid, and Complexity parent company GameSquare’s acquisition of FaZe has created a very real possibility that this team will be scrapped for parts.
Which, come on, is just awful. Imagine friberg leaving NIP in late 2012, just as the 87-0 streak got going.
This team deserves a proper run together and the sad truth is that they might not get one.
But, in the words of karrigan, “We have to leave it up to the gods, let's just enjoy what we have achieved here today.”
He’ll get his wish — FaZe are the most entertaining team in CS, and they’re by far the best too.
Final standings:
1st 🇪🇺 FaZe - $250.000
2nd 🇪🇺 MOUZ - $100.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 ENCE - $50.000
3-4th 🇩🇰 Astralis - $50.000
5-6th 🇪🇺 NIP - $16.500
5-6th 🇨🇳 Lynn Vision - $16.500
7-8th 🇨🇳 Wings Up - $8.500
7-8th 🇨🇳 TYLOO - $8.500
