At the dawn of CS2, one team established themselves as the undisputed Kings of the new game: FaZe Clan. Several trophy wins underlined a period of dominance for FaZe towards the end of 2023. However, throughout 2024, results have dwindled. Even Grand Final losses have regressed to Quarter-Finals devastation, with FaZe Clan struggling to make any deep runs of late.

With another disappointing performance at the recent Esports World Cup 2024, what exactly has happened to FaZe Clan’s CS2 roster? That’s what we’re aiming to find out here.

Devastating losses take their toll

Losing hurts. That’s a fact. But losing out of the gate is not the same as losing right at the finish line. While FaZe’s victories dried up in late-2023, the Grand Final appearances did not. The BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023, BLAST Premier World Final 2023, IEM Katowice 2024, and the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. Four consecutive Grand Finals – four consecutive losses.

Making these deep runs is physically tiring, as FaZe Clan’s CS2 team flies from city to city with no breaks. But it’s the mental toll of losing these matches, mere rounds from greatness before it all crashes down, that really affects things in the long run. One win at IEM Chengdu 2024 hardly makes up for such a tough string of defeats. Perhaps then, the tank is simply empty for FaZe Clan in CS2?

Their performance at the Esports World Cup did little to suggest the player break has helped matters. Once again, FaZe Clan CS2 failed to progress beyond the Quarter-Finals for the fourth consecutive tournament. If mental or physical fatigue is the issue here, it’s going to be a tough problem to solve with the current CS schedule.

ropz’s massive decline

You’ve already seen the memes – ropz‘s form has a direct correlation to before and after the moment he bought a Porsche. It’s a funny idea, but one hinged with a strange tint of truth. At the start of the new game, ropz was on the grind. He was determined to get an edge in the new game, and it showed. For a period, he was the best CS2 player in the world. Now? You’d be hard-pressed to call him top 30.

The decline of ropz is alarming for the FaZe Clan CS2 roster. Worse still, it doesn’t look like it’s getting better, and the reasons for the decline are unknown. Could it be a lack of motivation to play CS2, considering his recent outspoken dislike of the game? Or could it be down to exhaustion given FaZe’s deep runs earlier in CS2? It could even be something else entirely that we don’t know about. It’s all speculation at this point, but as he was previously one of FaZe’s highest fraggers, it’s one of the biggest reasons for their CS2 failures of late.

frozen’s effect on the roles

The addition of frozen for Twistzz late last year has proven to be a like-for-like replacement in terms of raw fragging output. He is one of the most impressive CS2 players around, and is by no means a problem by himself. However, his arrival did cause a slight shift in roles on the FaZe Clan CS2 roster.

After all, you don’t sign a player like frozen and take away all his preferred roles. It just so happens that some of them conflicted with the roles already on FaZe. Ultimately, frozen won some and lost others. For example, Yard on Nuke was only ever going to rain, meaning frozen had to fill in elsewhere.

While this seems like a small change on paper, frozen was coming into a FaZe CS2 team that had been together for a couple of years. Players knew exactly what they had to do in every scenario in their role, and his presence was a shake-up of a proven formula. So even while frozen’s fragging was a sidegrade for FaZe, his roles made things a little more difficult.

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Do you think we’ve managed to crack any of the reasons FaZe’s CS2 results have been so tough lately? Or do you think it’s something else entirely?