FaZe’s newest recruit, jcobbb, just wrapped up his debut against ECSTATIC at the BLAST Open London 2025 and, well, the first look wasn’t exactly one for his fond memories. FaZe scraped by the 32nd-ranked team, despite a 13-0 stomp on Dust2, and jcobbb only managed a 0.81 rating. But that’s just what the numbers say. The reality might not be as bleak, so before you start spamming “why remove EliGE” or “karrigan’s washed,” bear with me for a hot minute.
Why did the FaZe Clan project with EliGE fail?
Let’s rewind and break down EliGE’s stint on FaZe. He was praised heavily for his T-side impact. Looking at entry duels, EliGE had a 48% success rate and a 1.06 rating while taking about 25% of the team’s opening fights. Respectable, sure, but it didn’t translate to overall success. FaZe were the worst T-side team in the top 10, with a miserable 44.7% round win rate. So while EliGE was the spearhead, the thrust didn’t pierce as deeply as expected.
Now take rain and karrigan. Both veterans saw their entry volume dip and their success rate drop. Rain slid from 45% to 40%, and karrigan fell from 38% to 36%. Even then, they were still taking 21% and 23.7% of opening duels respectively. Looking at overall output, rain saw a small boost, hitting a 1.04 rating, while karrigan dipped further to 0.80. In short, the shift to make room for EliGE didn’t pay off. EliGE was doing his part, but the remainder now included rain and karrigan, who felt out of place and didn’t punch above their weight. That meant frozen had to shoulder more of the burden, and while he was good, it wasn’t enough.
The real bleeding came on the CT side. Frozen stood tall with a 1.14 rating, and rain hovered around a 1.02, but the rest of the squad dipped below 1.00. And this is a stat from the start of 2025 till now. Rain gave up many of his prime CT roles, like Outside on Nuke and A-short on Dust2, to EliGE. But the issue that the change gave rise to was that EliGE only found impact when he went aggressive, and his plays weren’t characteristically multi-frag heavy. That tilted the balance too far, and FaZe looked short of answers. For a team with their pedigree, those CT numbers were dire, and in the top-10 pool, unforgivable.
Can jcobbb potentially lift FaZe from the sinking sand?
Now with jcobbb, the difference could be substantial. Not only does it give FaZe a much-needed change of air, but it also brings someone who can be moulded into what the team needs. With EliGE, the roles and identities were already set in stone, and FaZe tried to build around him. That experiment flopped. With jcobbb, a young gun who can be shaped, the team can slot him into the gaps, let him create space, and lean on him as a support piece who’ll still sprinkle in his own highlights.
On the CT side against ECSTATIC today, we didn’t see enough to draw firm conclusions, but the signs were there. On Overpass, he played as the secondary rotator. On Inferno, he took over EliGE’s arches spot. In Dust2’s 13-0 win, things looked jumbled from the one pistol round we were able to observe, rain went long, karrigan went B, and jcobbb was on short, though that might have just been because karrigan bought the only smoke. Still, it feels like jcobbb will inherit a lot of those EliGE roles. Personally, I’d love to see rain reclaim his classic CT positions, but jcobbb can fill them too. Stats don’t always tell the full story. Despite his 0.81 rating, I know he can shoot. And looking long-term, it’s better for FaZe to integrate him now. While rain isn’t out of gas yet, he’s not going to play forever. jcobbb is the future.
So what still has me worried?
The worry is simple: this FaZe rebuild won’t yield instant results. If jcobbb takes on all of EliGE’s slots, it’ll take time before he becomes dependable. For a team like FaZe, who desires a trophy in every event they enter, it is going to be hard to accept that mindset, especially after a season of rarely reaching Playoffs. There is fresh energy, but it won’t take much time for it to convert into unease. Even today, sure, they won, but FaZe had to lean on a 1.25-rated karrigan to get past a team outside the top 30. jcobbb isn’t bad, he’ll give the stars breathing room, but those stars need to shine. Consistency from broky and rain has been shaky at best, and if that continues, this team will struggle to hold water.
And broky, in particular, still hasn’t proven beyond doubt that he deserves to wield the AWP for FaZe. He’s had moments, but the jury’s still out. At the end of the day, it’ll come down to whether jcobbb can click with broky and frozen and complete the puzzle. On paper, every FaZe player can frag out. Even with the former trio of FaZe, the wheels turned with all three of them stepping up with 1.10-1.20 ratings. FaZe‘s success didn’t stem from ropz dropping a 1.50 rating or broky carrying the team with a similar stat. So even now, the raw firepower is there. What FaZe need is to rediscover their vibe.
