ECS Season V Finals will be starting Friday until Sunday with a $660.000 prize pool. While the event has always been a premier title, featuring the best teams in the world, for this edition things are going to be different.

All eyes will be on the Swedes at FNATIC, the French squad of G2 and the International club FaZe. These three teams have undergone important changes in their rosters and this event will be the first to showcase these.

We will be taking about FaZe clan, who made last-minute changes as olofmeister needs a longer break.

Olofmeister still unable to make to come back, cromen will be the new temporary replacement for FaZe

Two months ago, olofmeister announced that he would be taking a break from this professional life with FaZe Clan. He would need time to solve personal issues.

Two weeks ago, he proceeded to announce his return as Xizt would be leaving his stand-in place in FaZe to be an effective member of FNATIC. The fans were eagerly waiting for olof’s return, but instead, the player announced that he wouldn’t make it for ECS.

This Tuesday, Olof announced that he wasn’t ready to return. His team took to Twitter to address the situation. At the same time, FaZe announced the player who would be replacing olof; cromen.

A statement from @olofmeister addressing his availability at the upcoming @ecs Season 5 Finals this weekend in London, England.#ECS5 #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/GFQPmoSzNE — FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) June 5, 2018

The 23-year-old Norwegian cromen was previously standing for RUBINO in Heroic and his performance was no less than impressive. Cromen was the top performing player for Heroic in EPL Season 7 Dallas and his performances in previous teams are just as impressive.

What cromen means for FaZe?

While olofmeister, and consequently Xizt during his time with FaZe were lurkers, cromen’s style isn’t used with the position. However, we know that back in Heroic the Norwegian had also to fill for a more passive position.

As we have noted, he excelled at it and more importantly against top teams. Coming into FaZe, we expect him to have less of an impact but he should be able to help the team. The concerns are over his experience.

Both Olofmeister and Xizt are Major winners, competing in the top level for years. Cromen, on the other hand wasn’t even close to this level before, with Heroic being his biggest team. With FaZe, will he be exploited by enemy teams?

Tactical teams, like FaZe’s biggest rivals, Astralis, can plan their terrorist-side to simply break the site cromen is in. Although, the T-side of FaZe have got a possible boost in firepower that they lost with Xizt.

While a fair exchange, FaZe didn’t really need more firepower as NiKo and GuardiaN are elite players in this matter. What makes olof so important to FaZe is that he plays smartly and effectively. Xizt while behind olof in raw skill, had just the same level of experience if not more. Cromen doesn’t have half of the experience that those two have and made them work with this team. This put FaZe in a very problematic situation.

FNATIC changes their IGL but is that a dangerous bet?

Xizt, who was standing in for olofmeister with FaZe has been announced as FNATIC’s new IGL. The idea behind him joining FNATIC isn’t new as the team supposedly tried to get him and replace Golden months ago.

Who is leaving FNATIC isn’t their old in-game leader, Golden however, it’s lekr0. Golden, who is the worst performing player in the team has been relieved of this IGL duties with FNATIC hopes he can perform better now.

What made this change so surprising is that lekr0 was second to KrimZ as the best performing player in FNATIC. Golden and Xizt aren’t even close to the firepower that lekr0 brought and the team certainly will be lacking it now.

Golden promotions to entry-fragger post

As Golden is relieved of the IGL duties, he’s now the entry-fragger for the team. The biggest problem of this is that FNATIC is betting that Golden performance will uimprove but if it doesn’t, then the team will be in dire straits.

Going into ECS Season V Finals, Fnatic is in the same group as Astralis, Liquid and Cloud9. FNATIC can beat Cloud9 who will be having this tournament as the last even with FNS. However, the other two are in a better place and have better rosters.

Xizt should use this event as a form to see what the problems are, other than firepower and start ironing out his basic game plan to fit his new teammates. Anything more than a group stage finish would be too unrealistic.

G2 presents their new team

Throughout the history of CSGO, several things have changed within the scene. The meta is always undergoing modifications, players rising and falling and game patches that change the entire CS:GO scene. One thing that doesn’t change however is the problematic French scene.

Right now, we’re in the middle of the 3rd French shuffle. While the lower teams still remain undergoing changes G2 has already made its announcement. Claiming to be the best team in France, the expectations are high. Let’s take a close look:

The Belgium player Ex6tenz coming from LDLC to take the leader role . Often targeted by the critics, he is now being seen as the last hope in the IGL position for G2.

One of the best awpers ever, kennyS remains . Kenny hasn’t been performing like he did in his prime. G2 is relying heavily on KennyS performances as he is one of the two firepower sources.

Shox , who hasn’t been a top player like he has been in the past. Shox didn’t share the same vision as NBK in the game and was benched from G2. He’s making a comeback as NBK team proved to be a disaster. Shox performance will be also of utmost importance for G2.

SmithZz will be back in a more supportive role and differently than before, won’t need to use the AWP. SmithZz failed to impress in his last days as a player but shox is trusting him to be an elite role player. He definitely is unproven and will need to grind a lot if G2 want to go back to the top.

Bodyy . The fifth player for this team was supposed to be NBK. As he had other plans, Bodyy will step in. The Frenchman didn’t impress during his time at G2 and was often quoted to be replaced. His inclusion was needed though as G2 had to keep three players from the last lineup they used in the last Major. Since shox couldn’t work with apEX’s style and NBK wasn’t willing to join, they needed bodyy, the only one left.

We still have to see how this project will go

Compared to FNATIC and FaZe, who have some open questions, G2 has a world of unanswered doubts. Can KennyS and Shox perform as they did in the past? Will SmithZz hold them back? Will Ex6tenz be able to lead a top team again?

These questions will be starting to be answered this Friday. However, if the rumors are anything to go by, problems can also start from this Friday. Bodyy should be supposed to stay in this team until the FACEIT Major London 2018. After that, he is out and G2 would be picking a better replacement. What if he starts creating internal problems?

The French scene is still very much under conflict and this team won’t be solving things anytime soon. Should this lineup fail, we could be having a 4th French shuffle as soon as December.

Although, should things work out, G2 will retake their place as an elite team and a serious contender for premier trophies. Ex6tenz style if worked properly could be a concern for Astralis and KennyS could bring back his rivalry against GuardiaN from FaZe.

So, who do you think that has the more chances to be successful? Can cromen work with FaZe? Is Fnatic planning to replace Golden soon? Can G2 finally bring out the French superteam? Tell us your opinion!