– The FaZe we have romantic feelings about as Counter-Strike fans is dead, and unfortunately EliGE is the one who brought that death.
Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill doesn’t hold back when reflecting on the downfall of FaZe Clan.
In the latest episode of Snake and Banter, the Counter-Strike analyst delivers a blunt assessment of the team’s decline, and places a large part of the blame on the high-profile addition of Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski earlier this year.
– EliGE killed FaZe, SPUNJ kicked off.
He continued:
– Now, I want everybody to imagine the FaZe they know and love. The FaZe in grand finals, with the epic and scrappy 3v3s, the momentum calls. That FaZe is dead. And it will unfortunately be attested to EliGE. Because he’s the man who joined the team and replaced ropz.
With that being said, SPUNJ acknowledge that the ropz/EliGE swap was never meant to be a one-for-one move.
FaZe results this year
- BLAST Rivals Season 1: 5th-6th
- IEM Melbourne: 7th-8th
- PGL Bucharest: 3rd
- BLAST Open Lisbon: 9th-12th
- PGL Cluj-Napoca: 4th
- IEM Katowice: 7th-8th
- BLAST Bounty: 9th-16th
“He’s not playing bad”
During the podcast, the Aussie caster makes it clear he’s not placing all the blame on EliGE for FaZe’s struggles on the server.
As described, it’s the shift in identity and character inside the team.
– We’ve seen them try to recalibrate the roster all season, and even though EliGE isn’t performing badly — and I want to be clear, he’s not playing badly — the way the team functions with him doesn’t work.
– I think it’s a long road back to the FaZe people were excited to watch. And I wonder how many roster changes it would take to get them there. But by doing that, you lose the identity of what they were anyway.
SPUNJ finished his argument with the following quote:
– So, when I say ‘EliGE killed FaZe,’ I don’t mean the org is dead. It’s the version of FaZe everyone loved that’s gone. There’s nuance to it, but I think FaZe is fucking cooked.
You can watch the entire episode and EliGE segment in the video below.
