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FaZe ropz: “We’re even with NAVI and this tournament will decide who is the number one”

At the moment, FaZe Clan are having the most successful CS:GO season since 2018, with just one match left... Fragster | 17. July 2022

At the moment, FaZe Clan are having the most successful CS:GO season since 2018, with just one match left to play before the well-deserved summer break kicks off. The reigning Major Champions from Antwerp will face the BLAST Premier Champions Natus Vincere in today’s IEM Cologne 2022 Grand Final  — a clash that will decide who’s the best CS:GO team of this season.

Ahead of the start of Cologne’s big finale, Fragster spoke with FaZe Robin “ropz” Kool, who revealed what happened with the team’s performance after the PGL Major in Antwerp, what are his impressions of the opponent’s altered roster, as well as who’s the mastermind and who’s the “glue” for the FaZe Clan team. 

In Counter-Strike, anyone could be anyone

Following their spectacular victory in Antwerp, FaZe Clan became the world’s top team in HLTV’s rankings and their fans were excited to see them dominate the rest of the season. However, they didn’t manage to keep the pace in the following tournaments. 

The IEM in Dallas that followed just a week after, ended up being quite a disappointment for FaZe, who finished 5th-6th after getting eliminated by Cloud9 in the quarterfinals. The next BLAST Premier 2022 Spring Finals was a bit better in terms of placement, as they lost the Grand Final to NAVI, but still not quite what the CS:GO community expected from the top squad. FaZe finished second at the online Roobet Cup, this time after losing to BIG.  

In an exclusive interview for Fragster, ropz explained what happened with the team’s performance after the big victory in Antwerp: “After the Major, we didn’t have enough practice, we didn’t play much. It was a rough period and going all the way to three tournaments in a row, it’s a lot of time on the road. But I think, in the end, it’s nothing to be sad about because those tournaments that we lost, we did lose to the champions.”

It’s true that losing to the champions means finishing second, which, for most teams, is a big achievement by itself. Ropz continued: “Counter-Strike is like that. Even at the top level, anyone can be anyone. And I wouldn’t say we really dropped the ball, we just maybe didn’t play like the number one team should be playing.”

FaZe victory 1

FaZe Clan after winning the PGL Major 2022 Antwerp.

Who’s the number one?

The main storyline of FaZe Clan vs. NAVI continues repeating itself, with the two teams facing off each other in the grand finals of some of the most prominent CS:GO touraments. They’ve played against each other many times, but NAVI have been recently led by a new in-game leader Denis “electroNic” Sharipov — a change which undoubtedly can lead to a lot of unpredictable situations for their opponents. 

According to ropz, we still have to see what kind of impact have these alterations on the team’s performance. “Last time they beat us pretty confidently,” he said. “They have this honeymoon period when you change the player and things are going very well for the team. But, as time goes on, you have to start fixing your mistakes once people catch up to you. 

“We haven’t seen much of their play yet, and there’s still a lot to adapt with electroNic calling, so we will see when we get to play them.”

Halfway through the IEM Cologne, NAVI succeeded FaZe in HLTV world CS:GO rankings and moved them to the second position. While this could be a huge motivator for some players, ropz is not really bothered, because, after all, tournament results are what matters most.

“I think it goes for each player, but personally,” he said. “I don’t really care because the change came in the middle of the tournament with the decay of the points. I feel like we’re kind of even with NAVI and this tournament is going to decide who is going to be number one.”

Mastermind and glue

Speaking about performances, ropz revealed who in the team has the biggest impact on FaZe’s performance. Based on his own words, the roles in the team seem to be distributed evenly, with the team’s IGL Finn “karrigan” Andersen being the one whose technical input is the most visible, while Coach Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström is the one who keeps the team in check. 

“I think that karrigan is creating most of our playbook,” said ropz. “He’s the creator of most of our strats, while RobbaN is giving more input towards other things. He is sometimes creating a lot of pistol rounds, but he is kind of like a glue for the team, while karrigan is more like the mastermind.”

Today’s IEM Cologne 2022 Grand Final will determine who’s the current top CS:GO team, and then the players will get their well-deserved summer holidays before the new season kicks off in August. 

Of course, ropz is looking forward to the vacation: “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good vacation as we didn’t travel often during covid. So I’m so going to have a good vacation for sure.”

“I think it’s nice that we also got straight to the semis in Cologne. We always want to end the season on high notes and end it good. I think overall this season has been like a 9 or 10 of 10 for us,” he concluded.

Header: FaZe Clan