Håvard “rain” Nygaard from FaZe, talked about the current level of competition on the professional scene in an interview before Blast Open Lisbon 2025. Player also talked about the adaptation of the team to changes, the impact of a new player. The interview was published on the official website of the tournament operator BLAST.TV

In the interview rain mentioned that the arrival of Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski brought fresh ideas and a new perspective to the team.

EliGE brings a lot of cool ideas, a new way of looking at the game. He likes to have more protocols than we're used to, and although that's going to take some time to implement, in the long run it's definitely going to help shorten communication and give people a better overview of the rounds.

 

Speaking about the VRS rating system, rain expressed mixed feelings, noting that the current system leads to significant fluctuations in ratings and puts additional pressure on teams to produce consistent results at each tournament.

I don't know, I think the rankings fluctuate so much and it's a little bit strange. Hopefully they fine-tune it a littler bit and give out more information as to how it actually works.

I don't think it's a bad thing, it puts more pressure on the teams to perform at every event. If you have a bad event and you lose to a team ranked 20 places behind you, you lose a shit tonne of points. It's very unforgiving, but to be the best in CS, you shouldn't lose to these teams.

 

Answering the question about the current position of FaZe among the top teams, rain noted that the difference between the best teams is minimal, and any team from the top-10 is able to win on a particular day.

I think that nowadays the gap between the top ten teams isn't as high as it used to be. Before, you used to have Astralis, NAVI, other big names that dominated for a long time, I find it hard to see that happening again in the future. Vitality looks really strong, but I don't see them dominating for the rest of the season. If we show up on a good day, and we play the CS we want to, we can beat any of those teams for sure.  

 

rain expressed confidence about the upcoming match against Virtus.pro at BLAST Open Lisbon 2025 and noted the importance of a good start at the tournament.

We're feeling pretty good. There's still a lot to implement and work on, but we're getting better day by day. I have a good feeling about it all. As for VP, I think they're also on an upwards trajectory. FL4MUS brings a lot more firepower than what they had before, which is good considering the AWP isn't as viable as it was before. They've upgraded their roster.  

 

FaZe will meet Virtus.pro in the group stage of BLAST Open Lisbon 2025 on March 19 at 19:30 CET. The tournament will be held from March 19 to March 30 and will bring together 16 teams that will compete for the prize pool of $400,000. More information on team seeding and match dates can be found here.