So, the bald American Eagle didn’t exactly take flight early in 2025, with FaZe crashing out of the first tournament, BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1 in last place. But is anyone really shocked by that? Having someone like ropz leave is going to cause tremors. And FaZe felt that. Yet there’s been no shortage of voices calling for FaZe to be cut no slack, especially after they lost to paiN, another team with a fresh roster that recently added dav1deus. But, there’s far more brewing beneath the surface with FaZe than meets the eye. Doubt me? Let me break it down.
First Look for FaZe at BLAST Bounty
EliGE was entrusted with his familiar CT roles from BLAST Bounty Spring, at least on the maps we saw so far in play – Dust2, Ancient, and Inferno. To fill ropz’s shoes, rain swapped from short/mid to B site on Dust2, while frozen was tasked with anchoring ropz’s position on the A bombsite of Ancient. On Inferno, rain moved to Apps, handing EliGE control of arches. It was pretty clear that rain took it upon himself to make room so that the new guy feels comfortable. And EliGE was asked to go not play it safe, he was aggressive from the get-go. There wasn’t a single round where EliGE didn’t have a bold move in mind.
This sets the tone early on for FaZe: It’s no longer the same system karrigan once ran with ropz, but rather a rebuild centered around EliGE. FaZe look like a completely different team now running a totally different tempo. And while it brings both promise and peril, the bold gamble didn’t pay off in their first outing. The reason? Their CT side.
Ropz Is Irreplaceable
The swap between ropz and EliGE was never going to be a clean one-for-one, and anyone who thought otherwise was fooling themselves. The biggest difference, however, was felt on the CT side. ropz is a specialist, and excels in his own domain. FaZe gave the task of filling in the shoes to Mr. Versatile, rain but it isn’t as easy to learn a new position in few weeks, let alone replicate it to meet ropz’s standards.
While ropz could sit for hours in those pesky off-angles, EliGE is anything but quiet. He’s a firestarter, always chasing duels. His aggression worked against M80 early on the CT side of Ancient, but Inferno against paiN exposed the problems. EliGE’s attacks became too predictable, and paiN were able to counter it.
Another problem that has come to light is the stability within the roster. Ropz was the epitome of consistency. EliGE can bring far more impact, but his highs come with a much lower floor. Don’t expect him to drop a 1.20 rating every map, he’ll likely go negative more often than Ropz did. And that’s a worrying issue for FaZe, especially when the team is already dealing with other inconsistencies.
Then what was the idea behind signing EliGE?
ropz left a void that would be hard to fill but FaZe are not looking to fill it, they’re trying to create something new. In my honest opinion, the addition of Frozen changed the dynamic of their T-side. Even if you take Inferno for example, karrigan is known for calling those mindbenders with a lot of back and forth to either sides.
The roster with Twistzz found immense success on the T-sides because rain and karrigan would go in first, get traded, and entrust the core of Twistzz, ropz, and broky to pull the round off with all the information in the world. Now with EliGE, another aggressive rifler in the mix, karrigan suddenly has so many options open up for his T-sides. This is where you can see the true potential of his fakes, something I have missed dearly for a hot minute.
The same rings true on the CT side. Since Twistzz left, FaZe has shifted to a more passive CT setup, struggling to make proactive moves like they once did. Remember the good old days when FaZe would storm down mid with all five members on Inferno’s CT pistol round? With EliGE now in the mix though, we might just see a return to that chaotic, high-octane style. FaZe is a team that has always thrived in chaos, and now they have the pieces with them to create that chaos. But you can’t just throw him into the mix without the proper support. And building that chemistry is going to take time.
Karrigan Knows His Stuff
What blew my mind is why karrigan made rain lurk when he had Frozen. To remind you, Frozen broke new ground when ropz left MOUZ opening up key positions for him to step into. It should have been him. But then I also remembered a time when karrigan made rain lurk in a roster with coldzera – not as a permanent solution, but to take him out of the comfort zone so he comes into his own again. That could be the case here again.
If anyone can make this work, it’s karrigan. Time and time again, he’s proven he knows how to adapt, and there’s no reason to doubt him now. I believe he’s been exploring different options, stretching the team’s capabilities as far as they’ll go, so they don’t get too comfortable. It’s a smart move, testing the waters early before the team settles into a predictable rhythm. By pushing boundaries now, FaZe has room to experiment, something that becomes nearly impossible once comfort sets in.
Once EliGE’s plays start to sync up better with the rest of the squad, we’ll see a FaZe that evolves into something far more dangerous than any of its previous iterations. The pieces are there, it’s just a matter of getting them to click.
