After a disappointing match against G2, FaZe had to stop their run at CS:GO ESL Pro League finishing 5-6th. The superstar of FaZe, NiKo got an interview to talk more on the problem currently crippling the team.
A good start
FaZe started the tournament with hard-fought but convincing victories over TyLoo and North. They secured the playoffs by then but lost to mousesports in the upper bracket. Talking more on the expectations coming to the tournament, NiKo said it was “unacceptable” to have lost to G2.
FaZe had prepared really well coming to the tournament. They got good confidence after playing the first match against TyLoo. NiKo had a feeling that they would make a deep run at the event.
Not a big deal
Since FaZe had already secured the playoff ticket, losing to mousesports wasn’t a hard thing. In fact, losing to mousesports would be an easier way to the grand final. As the match took place after the upset loss of Astralis against NRG, winning the match at that moment would put the team in a dire situation.
As we already saw, the winner – mousersports – eventually had to face either Astralis or Liquid in the semi-final. That would be way worse than losing the match. NiKo openly talked they did not take it too hard as a defeat. It was good revenge for karrigan but not quite affected FaZe much.
Totally unexpected
However, things turned out to be a disaster. FaZe dropped to the quarter-final against G2, a less established team. If Faze won, they would then face NRG, a team still somewhat an easier target rather than Liquid or Astralis.
NiKo expected them to win against G2 but they did terribly against the Frenchmen. Even though G2 was developing well, it was the worst performance FaZe displayed since bringing on NEO. That affected FaZe badly as they could have done better. The rest is history.
The real problem
Coming to talk about the team’s recent problem, NiKo said that it was mostly due to their poor map pool. They only felt comfortable playing Dust2. Other maps were not their cup of tea. It was so weird in the match against G2. Dust 2 is the best map for G2 but FaZe had to pick it regardless.
It was so terrible for the European mix when they lost Train then had to play on the best map of the opponent. NiKo pointed out that as the main problem why they lost. The Bosnian rifler alleged that FaZe should improve their map pool to punish other teams in the veto. Also, FaZe was losing so many rounds with manpower advantage that led to failure at DreamHack Master Dallas.
What comes next?
NiKo also expressed his expectations coming to the next big event, ESL One Cologne. They would not go for the victory but to improve as a team instead.
They looked to “do some real damage against the best teams in the world: Liquid, Astralis, and even ENCE and Vitality now .“
NiKo hates the AUG
Also, about the recent meme he was made out of the AUG nerf, NiKo admitted his interest in the gun. Actually, he picked up the rifle after the event in Dallas. However, right after he officially used it in competitive matches, it received a nerf right away. NiKo actually felt happy as they nerf the overpowered AUG.
He even hoped the gun to be nerfed to the point of oblivion. NiKo felt that the gun was just not skilled, as people would have it too easy to get firepower out of it. The Bosnian star didn’t like it at all and hoped Valve would nerf it completely.
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