You must have heard the archetypal tale of a hero who is bereft of means and claws his way upward to seize glory. That’s the hero sung in choruses, one who is embraced by the multitude. But have you ever heard of a hero who begins with everything, the talent, the stage, the promise, and yet deliberately chooses the path more onerous, the Via Dolorosa of sacrifice? The road where he consigns himself to the shadows so that his teammates can bask in the light. The road where he shoulders the ballast, ensuring it does not founder, while his teammates push forward to forge their own legacies.
When I first began watching Counter-Strike, I was the naïf who judged players by numbers, by ratings and statistics. But give me some indulgence, most of us were guilty of that, perhaps still are. As a FaZe fan, whenever the team faltered, I would see rain fall early in the round and scoff: Why didn’t he clear that corner? How obvious could it be? Sometimes he lingered at the bottom of the scoreboard, and I thought: Why is this man even here? Yet his teammates, NiKo, coldzera, karrigan, s1mple, the list would go on, consisting of friends he made over the course of almost 10 years he spent wearing the colors of red and black, they spoke of him with reverence, as a force unlike any other.
It took me far longer than I dare confess to comprehend what they meant. But slowly, the realisation crept into me. The raw potential rain has, was limited only by the duties his role demands. And at Antwerp, it crystallised beyond all doubt: rain was never an ordinary player.
Before rain joined FaZe
In hindsight, it is easy to claim that rain, the star we know today, was always destined for the stage of superteams. Yet, the true credit must be given to Maikelele, the first to set his sights on the 20-year-old prodigy. At the time, rain was a young gun in LGB, already burdened with the entry role, and yet carrying the team almost single-handedly. Maikelele plucked him from relative obscurity and ushered him into Counter-Strike’s first “superteam,” not FaZe but Kinguin. The roster of dennis, fox, ScreaM, Maikelele, and rain existed only for five fleeting months, before the roster’s representation changed to G2. In those five months, Kinguin won Gaming Paradise 2015, and rain’s 1.33 rating was the fulcrum of their victory.
During those months, rain’s responsibilities only multiplied. In one interview with ESEA, he revealed he was “kind of the in-game leader.” The qualifier “kind of” betrayed his reluctance, a young man thrust into the helm of a ship he did not wish to steer. Just weeks later, he admitted in an interview with launders outright that calling was not to his taste. Still, those months proved invaluable. Even while his fragging dipped under the weight of IGL duties, rain acquired an understanding of the game that would later serve him in FaZe, when karrigan often trusted him with some of the toughest positions and roles on the T-side.
The FaZe saga begins
But the true metamorphosis began when FaZe acquired G2’s roster in January 2016. rain had already shown flashes of brilliance under strain, but it was with karrigan’s arrival that he finally bloomed. With NiKo’s firepower, olofmeister’s experience, and GuardiaN’s reliability, FaZe became a dominant force. rain evolved in his own right. The trophies came, the dominance was real, and FaZe was feared. FaZe won ECS Season 4 Finals, ESL One New York 2017, ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017, ECS Season 3 Europe, and SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals. In that patch, rain experienced his finest form, putting up a 1.32 rating at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017, a 1.61 at ESL One New York 2017 right after, and then another string of 1.2x ratings till the end of 2017. In 2017, rain stormed into the top 20 player list for the first time, becoming the fourth-best player of the year.
rain’s sacrificial ethos
Then came the storm. With karrigan’s departure, FaZe descended into chaos. coldzera’s arrival alongside broky shifted the dynamics as NiKo seized the mantle of IGL. rain, loyal as ever, was thrust into the worst positions in the team. The glamour roles were devoured by NiKo and coldzera, while rain shouldered the dirty work. On T-sides, with two passive players added, he and NiKo were left to crack open bombsites. In an interview, rain confessed he was ready to do all that it took to give broky the space he needed. By the end of 2020, the number of T-side entry duels by rain had crossed 30%. Such was his character, a man ever willing to suffer for the team’s balance.
After NiKo’s exit and karrigan’s return, rain regained some of his old territory. He was given some of the CT star roles that belonged to NiKo before and had way more space to play with. rain’s rise to prominence in the new lineup wasn’t immediate, and not entirely consistent. Yet when slumps struck, karrigan pushed him into lurking, dragging him out of comfort. A lot of responsibility was put on the shoulders of rain, and he made sure to deliver. On the T-side, however, with NiKo gone, the responsibility to entry was now shared between karrigan and rain. With karrigan more of the guy who is the first to die, the dependency on rain to find entry kills only increased. rain was still playing Counter-Strike on extreme difficulty mode. And still, no one on FaZe could boast the proportion of impact frags he delivered.
Unfulfilled dreams realized
The roster of broky, Twistzz, ropz, karrigan, and rain at last achieved what past iterations could not: the Major. At Antwerp 2022, rain stood resplendent. A 1.24 rating, an MVP medal, and the long-awaited crown for FaZe Clan. For over six years the org had pursued that holy grail, and it was rain, who carried them across the finish line. He finished that year as the best opener on the CT side for FaZe. He boasted a 63.8% success rate and a 1.38 rating on the CT-side entries, while still being the most active opener with 27.8% attempts. This was even despite being an anchor on many maps. rain was always opening up the map, giving his team a man-advantage on the CT side. Although he only won one MVP that year, his unseen sacrifices stretched across every event, every trophy, every victory.
Even as eras ended and ropz departed, FaZe’s reliance on rain never waned. The arrival of EliGE forced another reinvention. rain abandoned his lifelong entry mantle to take on lurking, late-round entries, and entirely new terrain. Lesser men would sulk, but rain wasn’t the one to. Even on the CT side, the space he was used to enjoying wasn’t the same. The role was given to EliGE, who now became the one to take over 25% of duels, and was finding success in 55% of those. rain’s chance at opening up CT-sides dipped to 18.3%, while his success rate stayed close to EliGE’s.
Till the end of his tenure at FaZe, rain did all he could to power FaZe through tournaments. And through it all, one truth has remained. rain is FaZe, and FaZe is rain. From Kinguin to G2, from FaZe’s chaos to its glory, he had been the one to see it all, while others have come and gone. It is going to be hard to see rain playing for another team. But even through these 10 years, it is undeniable that rain has grown. The person who didn’t like calling is now probably embarking on a journey of stressful calling. Honed alongside some of the greatest minds, rain’s horizon gleams with promise. After all, rain’s teammates past and present have known him only through words of admiration, never criticism.
