Looks like FaZe Clan is testing out the waters with a new member for the upcoming IEM Katowice Major. The team has picked up Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev and Janko “YNk” Paunovic to round out the roster.
OFFICIAL: @AdreNcs will stand-in as FaZe CS:GO's 5th player through the Major, & @YNk has signed on to coach the team ✍️
Our first games with the new-look lineup will take place at the iBUYPOWER Masters in Los Angeles, California from January 19th-20th.
Welcome! #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/k3wW2cwq3y
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) January 6, 2019
AdreN and YNk will be filling in some spots into the new year. FaZe Clan would lose two of their longtime members, Finn “karrigan” Andersen and head coach Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström. Karrigan was benched in December after their fifth place finish at BLAST Pro Series Lisbon. He eventually joined Team Envy for the upcoming Americas Minor. Also, RobbaN would step down from his position as head coach, saying that he wishes to focus on his family and being a father.
FaZe looks for answers
2018 was a pretty rocky year for FaZe Clan, who couldn’t seem to find consistency with their performances. They entered the past year with high hopes, looking to capture that elusive Intel Grand Slam title. However, the talented roster would only win three events, IEM Sydney, ESL One Belo Horizonte and EPICENTER 2018. They even started their year with a heartbreaking loss to Cloud9 at the Boston Major in the Grand Finals. However, FaZe Clan fans still held plenty of hope in their heart; they still had one of the best lineups in the world, and 2018 should be their year.
Unfortunately, they would end up going through some pretty rough patches, especially in between July to September. FaZe endured some pretty early exits from events like the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier, DreamHack Masters Stockholm, the London Major, and ESL One New York. Their worst performance would come out at Season Eight of the ESL Pro League in Europe. FaZe Clan placed in eleventh at the event with an abysmal 10-16 record.
Finally, they ended their year with a disappointing performance at BLAST Pro Series Lisbon. The team did not win a single game in the group stage, losing games to Astralis, Cloud9, and Natus Vincere, while tying with MIBR and Ninjas in Pyjamas.
New Beginnings
This is a new beginning for AdreN and YNk, who have both gone through significant down periods in the career. For example, AdreN had been playing on Gambit Gaming for two years before leaving the team. However, the CIS team had not been playing well since 2017. In fact, they had not won a single event last year, suffering multiple early exits across all of their events. However, AdreN has plenty to prove, and this opportunity should be good for him to get back into the swing of things.
On the other hand, YNk’s coaching stint with MIBR wasn’t the greatest either. There was an incredible amount of hype around the roster of MIBR after the acquisition of Jacky “Stewie2k” Yip and Tarik “tarik” Celik. The results would be the polar opposite, as the lineup could not find enough synergy together. MIBR has since moved back to a full Brazilian roster, adding both Epitácio “TACO” de Melo and coach Wilton “zews” Prado. They are still trying to find a replacement for Tarik.
What are your thoughts on FaZe Clan acquiring AdreN and YNk? Let us know what you think in the comments below! If you want more CSGO coverage, check us out here!
Trending
