This Wednesday FaZe Clan announced that their 28-year-old Norwegian rifler, Håvard “rain” Nygaard, will not be participating in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 as he’s expecting the birth of his child.

In light of rain’s absence, FaZe Clan are looking to utilize Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke as a stand-in for the Norwegian. However, their decision to use k0nfig as a substitute at the BLAST event meets resistance, [link:{"url":"https://www.dust2.us/news/33254/report-faze-trying-to-use-k0nfig-as-sub-at-blast-spring","isNewTab":true,"text":"report from Dust2.us"}] says. According to the recent report, FaZe’s intention to use the Danish rifler as a substitute has been met with resistance from other teams and the tournament organizers of BLAST, who currently are discussing the ongoing situation on whether to allow him as a substitute or not, considering that he’s officially registered with Heroic.

While the discussions are ongoing within BLAST on whether to allow FaZe’s move to use k0nfig as a stand-in, CS:GO fans from all around the world are eagerly awaiting the final decision, as the tournament is set to feature some of the best CS:GO teams in the world.

k0nfig

rain

FaZe

In what can only be described as a disaster for FaZe Clan, karrigan and company got eliminated from the IEM Rio Major with a 0-3 record in the group stage, even though the roster was one of the biggest favorites to win the entire tournament.

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FaZe was dealt the killing blow by the underdogs from Kosovo, Bad News Eagles, who not just handed FaZe the worst placement of any defending Major champion squad, but also shocked the entire Counter-Strike world by eliminating one of the best teams in the world without an organization behind them.

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IEM Rio Major 2022 was a huge failure for FaZe, considering the fact that karrigan and company had already won the three biggest tournaments so far this year. What went wrong for FaZe?

Find out right here as NaToSaphiX takes a deep dive into their monumental failure in Rio:

karrigan

Twistzz

ropz

broky

Bad News Eagles

The 28-year-old Norwegian holds an extensive history within Counter-Strike, and is considered one of the greatest CS:GO players to have ever touched the game. Rain’s beginnings on the big scene, where he really started to prove himself were in Team Kinguin. After leaving the first international roster of all time, the Norwegian left to join G2 Esports before he found his ultimate home as a member of FaZe Clan.

In this documentary made by DEXERTO, rain discusses playing with his previous teammates, his biggest struggles, and most memorable FaZe Clan major wins.

The world of Counter-Strike is a fluid one as teams rise and fall, players come and go, and organizations get bought and sold. But in the midst of the chaos, there are a few names that remain solid as the sky, who no matter what’s happening around them, remain right as rain.

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FaZe’s Håvard “rain” Nygaard is exactly one of those types of players. The 27-year-old Norwegian has been a fixture of competitive CS:GO since the game’s release. But rain hasn’t simply remained faithful to the game as FaZe’s longest-lasting member, he has become a pillar of a roster that has gone through several lineup and ownership changes over the past few years. And in the eye of that storm, rain has been indelible. 

This is the story of the Norwegian FPS monster.

The fourth and final quarter-final of EPL Season 15 was a star-studded affair featuring the world's #2 FaZe, and the world's #1 Natus Vincere. The last time the two faced each other, at IEM Katowice, Na'Vi came out on top in a 3-map overtime drama.

FaZe unsurprisingly chose to start the series on Inferno as it has been the cornerstone map for the squad over the last couple of months.

FaZe got off to an incredible start on the T-side, as they were absolutely destroying Na’Vi on an individual level. Add to that the brilliant mind of “karrigan” and u get a team that can’t be contained. Na’Vi started showing signs of life towards the end of the half, and with a great 1v2 clutch from “Perfecto” in round 15 they were able to take five rounds with them into the second half.

“karrigan” and his troops were extremely aggressive from the very start of the second half and did everything in their power to suffocate their opponents on the map. They were overall successful in doing so and were just outclassing Na’Vi in every facet of the game. Na’Vi did manage to put some rounds on the board towards the end but were just way too far behind.

As the second map Na’Vi chose to head to Dust2, a map they’ve beaten FaZe on the last three times they’ve faced them.

“Boombl4” and his band of superstars got off to a decent start on the T-side taking three rounds right after losing the pistol. Then something happened that Na’Vi were not prepared for. “rain” started raining down terror on them. The Norwegian, who at one point was 17-1, completely annihilated the Na’Vi squad, who were left in the dust to pick up the scraps they could find. FaZe led 11-4 at halftime.

FaZe quickly got themselves onto fourteen rounds, but all of a sudden Na’Vi started performing at that inhumane level that we’ve come to expect of them. But however well Na’Vi played the round deficit was just too big and FaZe upset the world’s #1 in two maps.

Na'Vi - FaZe 0-2 | ESL Pro League Season 15

11-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:LV} broky - 1.71 Rating / 25-9 K-D / 90.1 ADR

12-16 (Dust2) | {cflag:NO} rain - 1.53 Rating / 29-15 K-D / 95.5 ADR

MVP: {cflag:LV} Helvijs "broky" Saukants - 1.44 Rating / 45-24 K-D / 80.0 ADR

Natus Vincere

After the opening round, it was now time for the Upper Final. Here we saw Vitality, who stomped EG in their opening match, facing FaZe who needed overtime before they were able to take the victory versus Liquid. Both opening matches had been played on Inferno and this one was no different. Vitality had the joy of starting on the T-side while FaZe was tasked with stopping them.

Vitality were first out of the gates, taking the pistol round, but were stopped in their tracks as the deagle of "broky" was too much to handle. Off the back of their second-round win FaZe, spearheaded by veterans "karrigan" and "rain", started putting some space between them and Vitality. Even though Vitality managed to get multiple bomb plants, they had a very hard time converting them into round wins, and FaZe were able to get a 10-2 lead over the Danish/French squad. Vitality managed to at least make it a little more competitive by taking one more round in the first half, which meant that the halftime score was a dominating 12-3 in favor of FaZe.

The "karrigan"-led team continued their dominating ways by taking the second half pistol round, but then the force-buy wars began and the teams traded rounds back and forth, which favored FaZe who were already close to a victory. "apEX" and co. finally managed to string two rounds together for the first time in the game while also breaking the economy of FaZe. Vitality gave up map point at 15-7, but this did not mean that they gave up. It seemed as though the individuals of Vitality had finally found their confidence, and they started creeping closer and closer to securing overtime. In the end, it went all 30 rounds before a magnificent hold by "dupreeh" in pit sent the map into overtime.

Vitality continued their winning ways, comfortably taking all rounds of their CT-side in overtime. The Danes and the French also took the first round on their T-side which meant that they cleaned house and secured their spot in the Group C Final.

Vitality – FaZe (1-0) | BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2022

ZywOo {cflag:FR} – 1.39 Rating / 31-20 K-D / 92.6 ADR

ZywOo

dupreeh

Team Vitality

Håvard “rain” Nygaard, the Norwegian FPS monster has been a fixture of competitive CS:GO since the game’s release and has won the hearts of many CS:GO fans throughout the years. He’s also FaZe Clan’s longest-lasting member and is a pillar of a lineup that has gone through multiple ownership and roster changes over the years.

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In a video made by Betway Esports, the powerful Norwegian tries the exciting quiz ‘Whose frag is that?’, where he’s guessing different plays and who’s behind them.

The action started with FaZe’s map pick on Mirage, which ended up being a one-team affair. The Danish squad started on the CT side and sat up a brick wall. Astralis won six consecutive rounds as FaZe struggled to get anything going. Astralis seemed to make the correct information play every round, taking the first half 12-3. In the second half, everything turned upside down, as FaZe won the first five rounds, as Astralis struggled to get anything going with their offense. Fortunately for the Danes, they managed to regain control and converted it to finish the map 16-14.

Nuke was the pick for the Danish squad, but the momentum from the previous map carried over. FaZe made it 5-0 before Astralis was able to answer back, with lucky’s 1v3 deagle clutch. The Danes had a lot of problems with rain, who delivered an outrageous CT-side going 22-8 in K-D.  FaZe continued to rack up rounds, giving just a few more to take an 11-4 lead going into the switch. With such a gap in the scoreboard, it didn’t take long for olofmeister and company to secure the map, 16-5.

In the decider of Dust 2, Astralis won the three first rounds before FaZeput forth their best attempt at making things competitive, winning two of their own. The Danes seemed fired up and left little room for FaZe to find their footing on their T-side. Olofmeister keeps it cool with an ace to drive his team back to the scoreboard. FaZe won the last round of the half, but it was just the consolation prize from a 4-11 half. In a last-ditch effort, karrigan and rain combine for five kills in the pistol round and got within three rounds from their opponents. But Lucky stepped up with a key clutch to get Astralis back on track. FaZe was scrambling for money, after a big quad-kill from k0nfig. Astralis retook the control and secured the series 2-1.

Astralis vs. FaZe Clan 2-1 | BLAST Premier Fall Finals

10-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:DK} blameF – 1.73 Rating / 30-13 K-D / 118.3 ADR

5-16 (Nuke) | {cflag:NO} rain – 2.04 Rating / 26-10 K-D / 136.8 ADR

16-9 (Dust 2) | {cflag:DK} k0nfig – 1.47 Rating / 24-16 K-D / 100.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:DK} Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke – 1.23 Rating / 55-48 K-D / 83.2 ADR

blameF

Astralis

The 27-year-old rifler from Norway is our player of the day. With a 1.40 Rating against BIG, rain stepped up huge and was the MVP of the series, and ensured FaZe would be into the Lower semi-final. FaZe began to take over the game, rain in particular find opening kills to drive his team to win nine of the next 10 rounds. Against Astralis, rain once again stepped up for his team with a stellar performance.

rain managed to find kills and lead his team when things looked dire and provided huge numbers on the leaderboard himself. Despite facing a challenging Astralis roster, he managed to best everyone on the two first maps. Even though he didn't perform as well on Dust 2, he was a big threat against Astralis in the B03.

FaZe, who have had a rough time at IEM Fall following some disappointing results can finally breathe a little more freely as they have managed to get a step closer to qualifying for the Major by taking down BIG 2-0 to clinch the 9th place. 

The action started on FaZe’s pick of Mirage, where tabseN kicked off things with a beautiful USP-S 4k on the A-bombsite. karrigan and company showcased a good T side and made it hard for BIG to defend the two bombsites, ending the half with a 8-7 advantage. Despite winning the pistol round, BIG Clan didn’t manage to establish themselves as Terrorists and couldn’t find openings to get their game going. FaZe on the other hand, confidently kept shutting down their executes and went on to draw the first blood to the series by closing out the map 16-9, only allowing the Germans to take two rounds in the second half.

FaZe Clan wrapped up the series on Overpass, where they completely crushed BIG, 16-4. Håvard “rain” Nygaard lead the charge for FaZe and dropped 25 frags to finish on top of the scoreboard with an impressive 2.14 rating. It’s also worth mentioning FaZe’s Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken who was the second-best performing player on the server, with a 1.84 Rating and 108.6 ADR.

FaZe Clan vs. BIG 2-0 | IEM Fall 2021 Europe | 9th place decider

Mirage (16-9) | Twistzz – 1.82 Rating / 27-10 / 106.5 ADR 

Overpass (16-4) | rain – 2.14 Rating / 25-9 / 145.8 ADR

Heroic vs. OG 0-2 | IEM Fall 2021 Europe | 11th place decider

Nuke (11-16) | mantuu – 1.30 Rating / 19-12 / 68.3 ADR 

Inferno (8-16) | Aleksib – 1.39 Rating / 19-11 / 71.7 ADR

FaZe Clan started very comfortably on the T-side on their map pick of Ancient. Twistzz and Rain taking heads left and right, fueled FaZe into a fast 7-1 lead. OG managed to find rhythm after that to bring it back to an 8-7 halftime score in the favour of FaZe.

The Norwegian entry fragger and the Canadian superstar continued their reign in the second half, as they made the OG players lives’ miserable every chance they got. OG fought back but there was no luck to be found, as they managed to get only three rounds on their T-side, ending Ancient with a 16-10 scoreline in favor of FaZe.

FaZe took the confidence they built on Ancient with them, into OG’s map pick; Inferno. They picked up the first 8 rounds of the map only conceding 11 deaths and allowing no plants to come through. OG did manage to claw back some rounds on their T-side, managing to get it back to 5-10 at halftime.

Everything looked done and dusted after the first four rounds of the second half, as FaZe extended their lead to 14-5. This is when OG showed why they picked Inferno. They went on an impressive 11 round win streak, led by the 18-year-old flameZ, to close out the map, and take it to the decider map of Mirage.

The first two maps had started heavily in favor of FaZe, and Mirage would not be an exception. FaZe took the first seven straight before OG managed to put one on the board. FaZe kept looking strong throughout the half with inspiring play from the Swedish legend “olofmeister”. OG only managed to take 4 rounds on their CT-side, though it wasn’t for the lack of trying from OG’s talented AWP’er “mantuu”, who had a stellar first half with multiple opening frags, and multi-kill rounds.

The last pistol round of the Bo3 went to FaZe, just like the five before it. On the back of that pistol FaZe had a clean slate on their CT-side, fueled once again by star player "Twistzz", and closed out the map at 16-4.

Ancient (10-16) | {cflag:NO} rain – 1.51 Rating / 24-19 / 120.1 ADR

Inferno (16-14) | {cflag:IL} flameZ – 1.64 Rating / 28-18 / 110.7 ADR

Mirage (4-16) | {cflag:CA} Twistzz – 1.71 Rating / 20-11 / 100.5 ADR

flameZ

mantuu

olofmeister

In the newly concluded weekend, Håvard "rain" Nygaard and the rest of FaZe managed to grab a spot at the prominent BLAST Premier Fall Finals after beating Complexity 2-1 in Group C at the Fall Groups.

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During the 28th round on the first map on Dust2, rain was posted up on A-site together with his teammate broky. The 27-year-old Norwegian had his sight on long, where a jumping Complexity player suddenly appeared - without any hesitation, rain fires a perfectly placed shot, hitting the enemy in the head while he's in the air. A truly magnificent shot. 

You can watch the sick play by rain here:

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compLexity Gaming

Håvard "rain" Nygaard, the Norwegian powerhouse, has always been good at clipping heads in Counter-Strike - Something he has shown and demonstrated time after time at the biggest events in CS:GO. At BLAST Premier Fall Groups it's no different. 

rain and the rest of FaZe was yesterday meeting a tough OG-side at Group C in an important elimination match. Despite the big pressure, the 27-year veteran rifler kept his head cool and presented a strong 1.19 Rating, including this wonderful ace on Inferno. 

Watch rain rip the entire OG squad apart in the video below.

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Aleksib

FaZe Clan are through to the Consolidation final in the lower bracket of Group C, following a 2-1 victory over Aleksib and company from OG. FaZe are going to face Complexity in a matchup where the winner will secure a spot in the Group Final against NAVI on Sunday at 20:30 (CET).

The series started on OG’s pick of Inferno where FaZe Clan showcased a convincing defense, despite a slow start as it was OG who grabbed the first three rounds. karrigan’s troops confidently started to control the map and went on to close the half ahead 9-6. FaZe Clan managed to build their way up to 12-8 after 5 rounds of play in the second half, but suddenly OG turned the tables. OG found their footing and consistently denied their enemies to plant the bomb thanks to the efforts of mantuu. The OG AWPer helped his team make the comeback to close out Inferno 16-13 and dropped 29 frags, finishing on top of the scoreboard with a 1.48 Rating.

FaZe Clan picked Ancient as the second map of the series, hoping for an advantage due to OG not having played an official match on it yet. But, Ancient’s first half saw OG end it 9-6 ahead, despite mantuu and company having difficulties in stabilizing their defense early on. In the end, however, FaZe Clan took the victory and closed the map 16-14 after some very intense rounds back and forth. The map was marked by a great performance from Twistzz, who did everything in his power to push the series to the decider.

On the decider of Mirage, FaZe Clan narrowly closed the half ahead 8-7 after letting OG get back into contention. But as soon as the teams switched sides, FaZe Clan stormed to a 16-8 victory, only giving up one round in the second half before wrapping up the series.

FaZe Clan vs. OG | BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2021

Inferno (16-13) | mantuu – 1.48 Rating / 29-16 / 91.7 ADR 

Ancient (14-16) | mantuu – 1.35 Rating / 25-13 / 68.8 ADR 

Mirage (8-16) | broky – 1.49 Rating / 23-13 / 97.0 ADR

MVP: Håvard ”rain” Nygaard – 1.19 Rating / 59-49 / 85.3 ADR / 66.3% KAST

There will be drama tonight at ESL Pro League. Before the last round, five of the six teams can still make it through to the playoffs. 

Here is a breakdown of all of the scenarios.

 (1st-3rd) The CIS team is ready for the playoffs no matter what, but they will have to beat FaZe to secure first place and a spot in the Quarter-Finals.

 (1st-4th) It could get real ugly for FaZe tonight. If they win their match against NAVI, they finish in first place in the group. But if they lose, they are in actual danger of crashing out of the tournament if mousesports and Fnatic win their respective matches.

Can end anywhere from second to fifth. Needs to beat mousesports to have any chance of a playoff spot. At the same time, they need FaZe or Evil Geniuses to win their matches.

 (2nd-5th) Just need to beat BIG to secure a playoff spot. 

 (2nd-5th) Fnatic has a big chance of making it through. They'll need to best Evil Geniuses, who has not yet won a match at the tournament, and then they need NAVI to win against FaZe.

 (6th): The only team who can't change their position after tonight is EG. The North Americans can still have a big impact on how qualifies from Group C though.

mousesports

Evil Geniuses

Fnatic

FaZe Clan have currently won two out of three matches at the ESL Pro League Season 14 event, and are set to face off against NAVI tomorrow on 31st August.

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During a recent post-match interview with the desk at EPL, FaZe Clan’s entry fragger, Håvard “rain” Nygaard was asked about how prepared his team are to take on NAVI after their semi-finals faceoff in IEM Cologne 2021, which FaZe lost 0-2. While the Norwegian did say that they were prepared to go up against Boombl4’s troops, he followed the question up by praising s1mple for his insane performance against them in Cologne.

[twitchClip:AntsyOilyGoshawkPeanutButterJellyTime-qSAVje-b_oCvGHsz]

The 26-year-old continued by stating that he has not played against the Ukrainian after the player break so he doesn’t know what s1mple’s form is like. According to him, FaZe Clan has to shut down s1mple in order to get a victory, as he is the “main fighter” of the NAVI squad.

FaZe Clan and NAVI are currently tied on the leaderboard of Group C, with round-difference being the only thing separating the two teams by just one rank.

s1mple

The pistol rounds in Counter-Strike is a vital aspect of the game, with these rounds being played at the very start of the match or right after the switch. Pistol rounds are also what separate good players from legendary players, because in these rounds you cannot rely on a heavy arsenal or a stacked amount of utility.

But who is the best pistol player of all time? - If you ask the Liquid superstar, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, the answer is pretty simple.

- I think when most people think of the best pistol player, they immediately think of rain – And I agree with them. I think that rain is really insane with pistols, something he has been in most of his career. I felt that a lot of those rounds where you play against FaZe, he just starts off the match just 4k or 5k’s you, EliGE says to Rivalry CS:GO. 

You can see the entire video from Rivalry CS:GO down below, and find out who the likes of fer, NBK, GuardiaN and more have picked as their all-time best pistol player. 

Here you can enjoy some of rain's best pistol plays in his career. 

EliGE

karrigan and company from FaZe Clan are heading into the BLAST Spring Finals event with the two-time best in the world Marcelo “coldzera” David warming the bench. Will the Danish captain be able to get broky, rain, and Twistzz rain firing on all cylinders ahead of their tough first matchup against s1mple and company from NAVI?

FaZe have been slipping down Counter-Strike’s world rankings lately, so what’s next for the FaZe Clan team?

coldzera

FaZe's star player Håvard "rain" Nygaard has been at the top of CS:GO for ages, with the likeable Norwegian being known for his crip aim, his strong consistency, and his big smile. And this Wednesday, the 26-year old rifler is also behind our latest Pley of the day. Watch rain and his outstanding ace vs FURIA.

Several CS:GO professionals are asked about who their best teammates have been throughout their careers. Håvard "

" Nygaard has made quite an impression on his teammates. The 26-year-old Norwegian has spent 1889 days on his current team FaZe, where there is no doubt, that he is held in high regard.

The Norwegian rifler is not only good outside the server. rain has made the top 20 list of the best players in the world two times back in 2017 and 2018.

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rain

Player stats

Articles mentioning rain

Media: FaZe is trying to register k0nfig as replacement for rain

What went wrong for FaZe at IEM Rio Major?

Video: The making of rain

Video: The story of rain

FaZe eradicates Na'Vi

Crazy comeback by Vitality to secure Group C Final spot

Video: rain takes on ‘Whose frag is that?’

Astralis impressive win over FaZe in Royal Arena

Player of the day: Håvard "rain" Nygaard

FaZe beat BIG to clinch 9th place at IEM Fall

FaZe take down OG

Video: RAIN WITH A GODLIKE AK-47 FLICK ON DUST2!

Video: FaZe's strong Norwegian mows down OG with strong ace!

FaZe eliminate OG from BLAST Fall Groups

Group C: All is on the line at tonight's ESL Pro League closing round

rain on s1mple’s performance at IEM Cologne: Never felt that kind of horror

EliGE on legendary Norwegian: He’s the best pistol player in CS:GO history

Can FaZe survive without coldzera?

Pley of the Day: FaZe star doesn't care about smokes!

Video: Who is the best teammate?

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