FaZe Clan recently announced the benching and subsequent loaning out of long time IGL, Karrigan, a statement which was followed by the team’s coach Robban stepping away from the active CS:GO roster and into another role in the organisation, which is to be announced later in January.



With the removal of Karrigan and Robban, at the organisation for two and three years respectively, from the active roster; questions whirled around the Counter-strike community asking who would fill the gaps left by the long standing FaZe members.



The Replacements.

While the position left vacant by Karrigan has not, as of publishing, been confirmed, a temporary stand-in has been announced in the form of the Kazakhstan born rifler, AdreN. While AdreN has in-game leading experience from his time at Gambit, it is doubtful that a stand-in would be calling for the team, additionally the star play, Niko, has been calling since the removal of Karrigan from the leading position. This has not slowed down the Bosnian’s deadly instincts, as the man who has not gone negative in a LAN environment once since IEM Oakland 2016 continues to consistently top the scoreboard in the team’s games. The removal of any true tactical mind from the team has meant the squad has not revolutionised a stagnating map pool which presently only has 1 map with a positive win rate in the last 6 months, Train, whose 71% win-rate drops to 60% over a mere 5 games against top 10 opposition.

What FaZe need is a manager to revolutionise their map pool and especially give their most played map and previous home-ground, Mirage, a profound make-over. It seemed like a relatively straightforward challenge to the FaZe management to find someone capable of the task, until you take into account that Niko is very much the dominant force in FaZe, both on and off the server. As a result, finding a coach who could be effective in the environment with such a defined “alpha male” seems like an even more difficult charge.



As luck would have it, a failing MIBR roster had just announced the signing of ‘zews’ the famed Brazilian coach which meant that their coach, “YNk” seemed to be on the market. The Serbian, who was formerly a tier-one analyst, seemed to be a fairly intelligent choice for the spot. Just as for every other coach, the question of how YNk would cope with the hot-headed star Niko needs to be asked. Well, in another stroke of luck for the North American based organisation, YNk and NiKo had previously played together in three separate teams called; GamePub, AimFace and iNation, from 2013 to mid 2015, when NiKo moved to the Mousesports team where he became a superstar.

In a recent interview with DBLTap, YNk admitted that one of the biggest issues he faced with his recent Made In Brazil (MIBR) line-up was a difficulty in getting the players to buy into his strategies and ideas. This could lead to issues in a team with many star players who need freedom to frag. The bond between the two Serbians, however, may help to smooth over the lack of a recognised IGL.

YNk Celebrates with MIBR





Expectations.

FaZe are a team who have invested a large amount of money into the scene and are expecting results, but will the addition of YNk and AdreN bring instant success?



Judging from YNk’s experience in the MIBR roster, we can expect a breaking-in period which may be accompanied with a drop in form while the team buy into the system fully and players get used to new roles. It will take time for NiKo to get up to the same level as other major IGLs and there is a distinct possibility that he will never reach the level of knowledge and intuitiveness that other notable leaders have. FaZe do of course have Legend Status from their performance in the Face-it London Major 2018, due to getting out of the group stage. This roster move, therefore, seems to be designed for performance in the first Major of 2019.



From a personal perspective, I expect the FaZe roster to climb up the HLTV ranking from their current position of 7th. However, I predict that they will struggle in the coming months against the top teams such as Astralis and the resurgent MIBR team. One can expect a few tournament wins and possibly a strong run at the Major provided the entire packet of cookies crumble in their favour. Once they are figured out tactically, I believe this FaZe roster will struggle to defeat top 10 teams without S1mple-esque performances from NiKo. FaZe’s lack of a true IGL will doom them to mediocrity, and for this reason I truly hope the AdreN pick-up is merely a temporary addition to the greatest super-team in Counter-Strike history.

Article written by Hugh Dooley. @HughReports



All Photo Credit: due to HLTV.