FaZe to field Neityu as stand-in for BLAST Rivals

FaZe will bring benched ENCE rifler Ryan “Neityu” Aubry into its active lineup for three upcoming events: BLAST Rivals Season 1, IEM Atlanta and Stake Ranked Episode 2. Neityu is scheduled to make his debut with FaZe at BLAST Rivals Fort Worth on April 29, when the team opens against Natus Vincere.

The temporary signing fills the vacancy created after Finn “karrigan” Andersen left FaZe to join Falcons. FaZe confirmed Neityu will participate in the North American events and listed the five-player roster for those tournaments as David “frozen” Čerňanský, Helvijs “broky” Saukants, Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and Ryan “Neityu” Aubry, with Niclas “enkay J” Krumhorn serving as coach.

Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken is expected to take in-game leadership duties during Neityu’s stand-in stint. FaZe has not stated whether Twistzz will continue as the in-game leader after the temporary period.

Neityu, 20, has been out of competition since March 11, when ENCE benched its roster and shifted focus to domestic talent development. He spent nearly 18 months with ENCE after moving up from MOUZ NXT and posted a 1.06 rating during that time. The stand-in brings him back together with Niclas “enkay J” Krumhorn, who was announced as FaZe’s head coach on April 16 and previously coached Neityu at ENCE.

FaZe’s schedule in the coming weeks will include the BLAST Rivals opener on April 29, followed by IEM Atlanta and the Stake Ranked event. The team will use those events to field the temporary five-man lineup while it finalizes its longer-term roster plans.