Earlier today, FaZe announced the benching of long-time AWPer Helvijs “broky” Saukants, following an extended period of struggles for the 24-year-old Latvian.
It’s a move that’s clearly weighed heavily on FaZe captain Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who opened up about the decision in a post on X shortly after the announcement.
– Roughest benching of my career. Something had to be done, and I want to really highlight this is not a blame on broky. The lineup didn’t work, and I used all my experience, but with this we throw a Hail Mary at the major. Long term, we have no idea yet what’s going to happen.”
– I want to express that I know the beast is inside of broky, and I feel bad we couldn’t get it out lately. We all failed in the team and that’s the sad part, but I, know and I hope we get to see the beast in him again soon, karrigan wrote.
A long spell on FaZe
broky joined FaZe back in September 2019 as a relatively unknown prospect, but developed into one of the world’s top AWPers under karrigan’s leadership.
Together, they helped FaZe lift some of the biggest trophies in Counter-Strike: the PGL Antwerp Major in 2022, IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, and the BLAST Premier World Final, among others.
Shortly after the benching, FaZe confirmed the stunning addition of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev on a short-term loan, who is set to play IEM Dallas and the BLAST.tv Austin Major with the team. Read more about that here.
