FaZe: The best team in CS2 so far - Hugo's BLAST Premier Spring Final presented by Revolut
Today is the BLAST Premier Spring Final presented by Revolut kick-off, and boy, are we excited! We'll round off our prediction series with the team Hugo rates as favourites going into BLAST Premier Spring Final.
FaZe hasn’t just been the best team thus far in 2024, they’ve been the best team since CS2 released - but are they starting to slip?
No longer the number one team thanks to impressive recent form from MOUZ, FaZe have failed to reach the grand final of the last two tournaments they have attended. Usually, this wouldn’t be worth noting, but considering they made eight in a row before that, questions about their form are beginning to be asked.
Despite their recent dip, Hugo still ranks FaZe as the number one team heading into Spring Final, so will they be able to end the first full season of CS2 with a win in London?
Photo: Michal KonkolThe frozen effect
With Twistzz, FaZe were one of the best teams in the world. However, some argue that there has been some air of inconsistency around them historically.
Exceptional as Twistzz is, his 2023 wasn’t as strong as the years prior, and that could be one of the reasons why FaZe failed to win anything other than a single Pro League after their dominant stretch in the first half of 2022.
But the arrival of CS2 saw FaZe win three trophies on the bounce with the Canadian before he departed. It seems CS2 brought new energy to the team, especially for ropz and karrigan.
Photo: Michal KonkolThat motivation hasn’t left the duo, and the arrival of frozen has supercharged FaZe’s firepower.
There was no doubt that frozen was already one of the best rifles in the world while he was still a part of MOUZ, but his adaptation to the FaZe system has seen him become far more impactful, which has been key to their sustained deep runs.
Those deep runs haven’t turned into tournament wins as frequently as FaZe would have liked them to, but their losses have come to an exceptional Vitality team, a Spirit in unstoppable form, and a NAVI who were playing out of their skin.
Just don’t mention that loss to G2 in Dallas.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenThe dip
It would be easy to say that FaZe’s time at the top of the CS rankings is well and truly over, but it would also be quite lazy, wouldn't it? Their recent falters don’t mean they aren’t still arguably one of the best teams in the world.
Had MOUZ not been able to heat up at Pro League or BetBoom Dacha due to not playing in a big arena, it’s likely that FaZe would still be ranked number one on HLTV, and that’s because they’ve still maintained their deep runs during that time.
They may have been eliminated in the quarter-finals of the last two events they have played in, but that’s still commendable, especially when you factor in that they fell to teams that would end up in the final at both events.
Photo: Michal KonkolFaZe's failure to reach the grand finals has only become a narrative because of their greatness, and their failure to do so doesn’t mean that they have suddenly become a bad team overnight. Far from.
Instead, the narrative could surround the fact that the other teams are simply having to elevate themselves to match the levels of FaZe.
Vitality may have now lost two finals in a row, but they have had to seriously step up from the levels they showed at both IEM Katowice and the PGL Major Copenhagen.
The same can be said for any team currently vying for championships, and that’s what makes FaZe so deadly.
Photo: Michal KonkolThe price of success
Getting to the top is one thing, but staying there is a whole other ball game.
FaZe were the kings in the early stages of CS2, and although teams had matched them during grand finals, they couldn’t match them over extended periods of time.
Those teams had to grind to do so, and they would have had to innovate in every way they knew how to match them.
FaZe now have the opportunity to do the same.
No longer are they the hunted, instead, they now can rejoin the pack and become the hunter, looking at the teams who have recently managed to take them down and find the holes in their opponents’ games in order to elevate themselves once more.
Photo: Michal KonkolFaZe’s raw talent and fragging potential will always make them a threat, but it is the brains of karrigan and NEO that will maintain them as a team that is always a favourite for every event they attend.
When Spring Final begins today, FaZe will know that they are about to play their final event in their first full season of CS2, but that doesn’t mean that their minds will already be in holiday mode.
Instead, FaZe will be looking to close out the season on a high and make their status as the best team in CS2 undisputed once more.
As has always been the case with this FaZe team, motivation means more to them than perhaps any other team, and this motivation to once again prove why they are the best makes them a frightening prospect.
Hugo has predicted them to win the event. The only question that remains is whether FaZe can once again capture lightning in the bottle and blow their competition away once more.