International team Faze Clan has announced a change to their Counter-Strike roster. Their on and off In-Game Leader Karrigan will be benched effective immediately. The decision is not a huge surprise since the player has seen diminishing time as the primary IGL in the team.
Faze Clan – The Best Team that could not be the best.
The Faze Clan roster, when it came into existence, was by far the best team on paper. Comprising of players such as Karrigan, Olofmeister, Guardian, Niko and Rain; this team had all the ingredients for the making of a superpower team. They had a promising start and it did look as if the team would improve further to become the best team in the world. At this time, Astralis was not the dominant team that they are today. However, as Astralis grew stronger with Glaive’s addition, Faze seemed to crumble under its own problems.
One of the biggest obstacles for Faze is their lack of form on multiple players. Looking at the star-studded lineup, one would never expect lack of form to be the reason for the team’s downfall. However, Faze Clan started their decline, first with Olofmeister’s absence and later with the FaceIT Major. During the Major, after losing two maps and on the brink of elimination; Niko took the reins of the team as IGL. This was a bold move whose results are still uncertain after a period of six months.
Faze Clan has not been able to find their form and pose a serious threat to Astralis. With the lack of results and the absence of any noticeable progress on the team, this roster move was always going to be a reality.
Who is next for Faze Clan?
For Faze Clan there are two routes that they would take with this roster move. They can either search for a dedicated In-Game Leader [ Ex6tenz maybe? ] or they will just keep adding more firepower. Either of these solutions could work, but it will be interesting to see what route Faze decide to take. Having a dedicated In Game leader will allow Niko to concentrate on his individual performance. For now, we await any news from Faze Clan regarding their roster.