FaZe Clan — the legends of global CS:GO
Elen StelmakhFaZe Clan is one of the strongest teams on the competitive scene. Besides other disciplines, the organization is presented at dozens of various competitions, CS:GO is the club’s foundation and the main basis in terms of stable results.
In other words, the FaZe Clan team in CS:GO does not just take the major part of the overall views of the organization but competes for high places at the large tournaments regularly, elevating the brand above others in the discipline.
However, FaZe Clan positions it not just as an esports organization but as a lifestyle brand. Of course, the club has also become known to the public for its PUBG, VALORANT, Rainbow Six, Call of Duty, and Apex Legends teams. However, the management of FaZe Clan decided to expand its influence on other sectors in recent years.
You don't need to go far for example because the organization was listed on the stock market last year and became public after merging with B. Riley Principal 150 Merger Corp (BRPM). Besides, the club actively promotes its brand of casual clothes and signs multimillion sponsorship contracts, working with such companies as Porsche, Nike, Gucci Vault, etc. What can we say about the sphere of content creation, which brings thousands of new subscribers to the club every day?
In such a way, FaZe Clan is one of the most famous organizations on the scene. But when it comes to the results, the CS:GO team is recalled unwittingly.
The history of the FaZe Clan CS:GO team
The North American organization FaZe Clan appeared in CS:GO only in 2016, three years after the start of the development of this discipline. However, the club entered the scene in a big way, having signed the star roster of G2 Esports for big money of $700,000 in those days.
However, the roster was not able to show a high level of results during the first period, due to which the organization regularly made changes. FaZe Clan had five roster changes in the first season, having replaced its initial five almost entirely.
The dawn of the team’s popularity
At the beginning of 2017, the organization had a big deal, having bought NiKo from mousesports. The Bosnian was considered to be the main rising star of the stage back then and this purchase made FaZe Clan considered a serious player.
With the arrival of NiKo, the team’s results began improving. In April, FaZe Clan achieved victory at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3 and, having completed the iconic transfers of GuardiaN and olofmeister at the end of the season, became the winner of ESL One: New York 2017, ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017, and Esports Championship Series Season 4 - Finals.
Perhaps, January 2018 was the peak of the team’s popularity when the team advanced to the grand final of ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 and was leading with a score of 15:11 on the third map against Cloud9. However, the fate was different then and FaZe Clan was destined to lose four match points and overtime to the opponent.
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The main success and failures of FaZe Clan in the competitive scene
After the loss at the Major, the team had a little decline. However, FaZe Clan continued staying among the strongest representatives of the scene, regularly making it to the playoffs of the large tournaments.
Only in 2018, the team became the champion of Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Sydney, ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018, and EPICENTER 2018, and also proceeded to the quarterfinal of FACEIT Major: London 2018.
However, there were way fewer results in a year, although the team managed to prevail at BLAST Pro Series: Miami 2019 and BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019, and also reach the final of BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019.
The situation became worse with the arrival of such a phenomenon as the coronavirus. After switching to online, FaZe Clan suddenly disappeared and was almost excluded from the distribution of prizes. But the team managed to return in a few years, having written its name in the history of the competitive scene.
The legendary season of 2022 — the first Major for FaZe Clan
At the beginning of 2022, the organization made another transfer from mousesports, having bought ropz. The young Estonian was the mechanism the team lacked to achieve big victories.
FaZe Clan won Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 15, PGL Major Antwerp 2022, and Intel Extreme Masters XVII - Cologne only in the first half of the season.
Thanks to such success, the team guaranteed itself the title of the best one in 2022. Even despite a significant decline at the end of the season, FaZe Clan managed to hold its level of play and stay in the leading positions in the world rate.
The current FaZe Clan CS:GO roster:
- rain
- broky
- Twistzz
- karrigan
- ropz
- RobbaN (coach)
Needless to say, when 80% of the roster enters the top 20 players, according to HLTV, many players are recognized to be the winners in individual nominations. FaZe Clan also became the best team of the season by a large margin.
Scandals, intrigues, and rumors related to FaZe Clan
Perhaps, the biggest scandal, which has ever been related to FaZe Clan, is the suspension of the main coach RobbaN. In autumn 2020, the massive ESIC investigation was published, in which 37 coaches were banned for using the fateful “coaching bug”.
RobbaN was among them, he was accused of receiving an advantage while working for FaZe Clan. Besides, the Swedish specialist was suspended from participation in two Majors directly by Valve.
Olofmeister’s fate looks also interesting because, having joined the team in the summer of 2017, he stood out not just for his achievements but for the number of inactive periods.
The legendary Swede left the main roster of the team five times, the situation was even absurd sometimes. For example, olofmeister left the roster for the first time in April 2018 but returned to the team after a month and a half. However, the Swede lasted not that long, as less than two weeks later he said goodbye to his teammates again.
Olofmeister has not returned to the team since January 2022, staying on the inactive list. Considering the circumstances, the Swede is likely to wait till the end of his contract and leave the organization.
The failures of FaZe Clan on the stock market
In the summer of 2022, the North American organization FaZe Clan announced the long-awaited merger of its business with the investment fund B. Riley Principal 150 Merger Corp. At the same time, the club was listed on the NASDAQ exchange, having issued common shares and warrants under the tickers "FAZE" and "FAZEW", respectively.
Nevertheless, the company faced giant problems, which led the company to a state close to bankruptcy.
At the beginning of 2023, the FaZe Clan shares were trading below $1 per share. If the situation continues, the club will face delisting due to the price drop of its shares. As a result, the organization might leave the stock market, although the FaZe Clan stock project was a failure.
FaZe Clan shares initially were trading around $10-20 per share, but their price suddenly started declining. At the same time, the club risks falling into a deeper pit, since the FaZe Clan employees will soon be able to sell their shares and drop their prices even more.
In such a way, FaZe Clan is an iconic CS:GO team. Despite having a weak start and failures on its way, the organization finally established itself at the top of the competitive stage.
Considering the importance of the brand, the North American club continues making big efforts to hold its popularity. But not all ideas of the management prove to be viable. However, first of all, FaZe Clan is an esports brand, which has become popular thanks to its results. And only after that, the club is a business project, which can generate profits beyond esports.
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Elen Stelmakh is a creative individual dedicated to advancing gaming culture through articles and visual design. As a full-time EGamersWorld author and designer for a gaming website, Elen not only creates content but also infuses it with energy and creativity.