Frozen: Anyone Offered Falcons Spot Would’ve Left FaZe

FaZe was eliminated from IEM Atlanta after a 0-2 loss to Vitality in the lower bracket. The squad opened the event with a loss to paiN on May 11, beat NRG 2-0 on May 12, then fell to tournament favorites Vitality on May 13 in Atlanta.

David “frozen” Čerňanský addressed the team’s performance after the match, calling the opening defeat to paiN a game in which “we didn’t really show up at all.” He described the victory over NRG as one the roster should deliver routinely and said meeting Vitality in the lower bracket was unfortunate.

On the Vitality series, Čerňanský said FaZe “could have won the first map, for sure,” and added that the team became “a little more chaotic” on the second map. He noted that Vitality punished errors and capitalized when FaZe made mistakes.

The lineup has been operating with Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken as in-game leader, Niclas “enkay J” Krumhorn as coach, and Ryan “Neityu” Aubry as a stand-in. Frozen described the current setup as a new generation for FaZe, saying “the old FaZe, and the whole structure that we used to have, is gone.” He compared the present phase to an earlier period in his career when he played without former captain Finn “karrigan” Andersen.

Asked about karrigan’s move to Falcons, Čerňanský said it was hard to know how things might have gone if karrigan had stayed and added that “anyone who would have got a Falcons offer would have left at that point.” He also wished karrigan the best.

FaZe will prepare for the Stake event in about a week and a half. Planned work includes rewatching recent matches, reviewing games from Fort Worth, running boot-camp practice sessions and tightening fundamentals. “We need to sharpen a few things… Just practice what we preach,” he said.