Can FaZe Clan Make it Back to the IEM Katowice Grand Finals?

IEM Katowice, one of Counter-Strike’s most prestigious events, begins in just a couple of days. Of the 24 teams in attendance, few have the magnifying glass held over them as intensely as FaZe Clan.

A Year of Struggles

To say that FaZe’s 2024 was a roller coaster isn’t quite correct. They started off the year where they left off in 2023, making every Grand Final that they could. Though their runner-up finishes at IEM Katowice to Team Spirit and the PGL Copenhagen Major to NAVI were disappointing, FaZe quickly bounced back for their first trophy of the year at IEM Chengdu. Little did anyone know, it would be their only trophy of 2024.

After Chengdu, FaZe entered the biggest slump this roster has seen since 2021. They didn’t earn a single Grand Finals berth for eight months and only broke into a top four one time. CS2’s darlings were now anything but as teams like NAVI and Spirit took the spotlight. Heads were being called for as the community raged on in discussion about what the issue was.

Of course, we saw at the end of the year that FaZe still had it in them all along. Out of nowhere, they made it back to a Grand Final at the Shanghai Major, beating out favorites Vitality and G2 on the way. FaZe looked as strong as ever, largely thanks to a resurgence from Robin “ropz” Kool. Unfortunately for FaZe, this story still ends in disappointment, as they came up just a couple of rounds short and lost the Major trophy to Spirit.

The Fallout Was…

All of the sudden, FaZe’s decisions on their roster weren’t as cut and dry as before. Seeing that they could still make deep runs, especially at the Major, many wondered if they would just run it back. That’s why I thought it was surprising when ropz left the team so early in the off-season to join rival Vitality.

This move seemed to be more of ropz’s idea and less of an internal team decision type thing. No matter the reason, things don’t stay the same forever, and FaZe now needed a new top level rifler to take ropz’s place.

Luckily for them, there was a rifler of that caliber on the market who wanted to make the move to a trophy contending team. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski had a rebound year on a struggling Complexity squad. In this back half of his career, he made the choice to finally pack his bags and head to Europe.

First Impressions

We saw this new FaZe Clan at the BLAST Bounty Spring. Though they were just one match short of advancing to the playoffs, we still got to see five maps of gameplay. EliGE’s aim was on point as usual, getting him a 1.12 rating. The cohesion could use a bit of work, but that’s expected. Helvijs “broky” Saukants also had a fantastic event, clocking in at a 1.15 rating.

On the other hand, David “frozen” Čerňanský and Håvard “rain” Nygaard’s performances left a bit to be desired. In the advancement match against paiN Gaming, both players bottomed the scoreboard for FaZe, even below Finn “karrigan” Andersen. Even though they are the Support and Anchor rifles respectively, they’ll need to step it up for FaZe to have reliable win conditions. Their 13-11 loss on Inferno was mainly due to a weak CT side after all.

How Far can FaZe go at Katowice?

For a team with as much pedigree as FaZe Clan, the goal is always to win. Of course, with teams like Spirit and NAVI who didn’t have to make any roster changes, that may prove difficult. G2 Esports and Team Vitality are also looking good after making a one-rifler roster change, putting them in a similar circumstance as FaZe.

At bare minimum, FaZe should be shooting for Playoffs. Getting more reps on a stage like Katowice will go a long way in helping the team establish their new dynamic and gain some confidence. We also know that FaZe is a team that can surprise us. They may end up sneaking into a Semifinal. And who knows? The right matchup on their day could easily propel them back into trophy contending position.