FaZe Clan have undoubtedly been the best team in CS2 since its release. Dominant in the first few months of the game, they won three trophies back-to-back and they are still yet to miss a final in any event they have attended.
That being said, very few would have been able to predict just how strong FaZe have been in CS2, especially given the fact Vitality looked to be the far stronger team at the end of 2023.
The question is, how long can they keep it up?
Instead, the defining factor seems the unavoidable issue of Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s age. Already 34, karrigan is the oldest player currently playing tier one CS, and there’s no way he can keep going on forever.
So, with that in mind, let’s change the previous question to this: how long can karrigan go?
Does age matter?
The concept of whether age matters in Counter-Strike is a difficult one. For star players, it almost definitely does matter, HLTV proved that effectively in this article. However, karrigan isn’t a star player, and he’s one of the few in-game leaders fortunate enough to have four stars to command.
That isn’t to say that karrigan is a strong player, in reality, it’s quite the opposite. Only Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen has a lower rating than him, and other IGLs such as Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, and Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek aren’t far off him. Part of the criticism levelled towards HooXi is down to his rating, so why does karrigan not suffer from the same negativity?
As stated earlier, karrigan has four star players he can call upon, at this point, HooXi barely has three. As long as karrigan can keep a hold of his players and maintain the level that they’re currently playing at, there’s nothing to worry about.
Although, could age become a limiting factor elsewhere?
Schedule issues
In an interview with HLTV while at IEM Chengdu 2024, karrigan said that “this is the first time in my career where I’m really drained” — this is a poor omen for FaZe and the longevity of their legendary leader.
karrigan continues by saying that “We're a team that plays almost double the rounds of any teams on LAN, which is insane,” and this is true, but it is also the inevitable price of success.
The team attended both BLAST Premier Fall and World Finals 2023, BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024, IEM Katowice 2024, the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 RMR, the Major itself, and now IEM Chengdu, they’re also set to kick off ESL Pro League Season 19 in Group A on April 23rd, that’s a lot of travelling without much time in between. And, considering that FaZe are also set to attend IEM Dallas 2024 and BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 in London, that amount of travel won’t ease until the player break after Spring Final.
Even after the player break, the schedule will return to its hectic nature. This is the life of a tier one pro, but it isn’t a life anyone can hope to keep up forever. Especially someone who is married and will likely be having thoughts of a family of their own.
To make matters worse, the schedule is set to only get more hectic in 2025. Just as they did in the pre-COVID era, tournaments will begin to overlap, running consecutively all year long and forcing teams to decide which events they will attend and which they will skip. If karrigan is tired now, 2025 must be a terrifying prospect.
So, with that schedule increase looming over his head, when might karrigan choose to hang up his mouse and keyboard?
Cementing a legacy
karrigan has always said that he intends to retire while still on top, and it’s inarguable that the top is where he currently finds himself. He reiterated his desire to keep playing after winning IEM Chengdu, and even stated a new goal in terms of becoming a two-time Intel Grand Slam winner - but how long can he hope to keep up this current vein of form?
FaZe has always been a purple patch team, but it isn’t the current run of form FaZe is enjoying running dry that we’re worried about. Instead, it’s the chance that everyone else in the world becomes far better.
Another team, Spirit, may have been bested by FaZe at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, but they have the same air of inevitably around them as Vitality. They’ve already claimed one trophy at IEM Katowice 2024, and with how their stars are playing, it’s likely they will continue to be favourites for any event they attend in 2024.
G2 are another obvious threat. They may be struggling now, but Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov is staking a claim to be the best player in the world, and if G2 hope to keep him, they’ll have to invest in order to become a real threat to those teams ahead of them again.
This is all without mentioning the likes of Astralis, NAVI, MOUZ, and Cloud9. Each of these teams has small factors that could give them a lift ahead of FaZe, whether that is experience, more time together, or, in the case of Cloud9, a real AWPer. Small factors that could be the catalyst for huge changes at the very top of Counter-Strike.
The truth of the matter is, it already feels like karrigan may have lost his best chance to retire at the top by losing in Copenhagen. That grand final was FaZe’s to lose, and just as they did in 2018, they lost it on Inferno.
A victory in a Major in front of his home crowd is a glory that karrigan will now never get a chance to experience, a height he will never again hope to reach, but that doesn’t mean that a second Major trophy or a second Intel Grand Slam is out of the question.
FaZe can stay on top for a long time, or, they will fizzle out due to reasons likely out of their hands. One thing you can be sure of, though, is that karrigan will be there when it happens. The veteran IGL is going nowhere any time soon, and there’s nothing to say that will change for a long time.
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