FaZe, Finals, and Flukes – Was Their Budapest Run Really A Fluke?

Let’s talk about FaZe Clan. Of all the teams in the current Counter-Strike ecosphere, FaZe are the most confusing. On the one hand, you have yet another miraculous Major Grand Final run in Budapest, and on the other hand you have…well, nothing else at all. Just loss after loss against teams that realistically shouldn’t be favorites in the match-up.

As a FaZe fan (and, coincidentally, a man with a lot of headaches), I think the debate about whether or not the Budapest run was a fluke is a little more nuanced than a lot of people first believe. Of course, the CS zeitgeist disagrees. But then, the CS zeitgeist exclusively states either the obvious or the stupid, and does so with more fervor and vitriol than almost every other sport in the world.

So, let’s have a look at their run, first of all.

FaZe’s Budapest Run

FaZe Clan started the StarLadder Budapest Major in Stage 1. They began with a calm 13-5 destruction of Lynn Vision, with a 2.03 rating for David “frozen” Čerňanský. However, immediately after their first game, some troubles began to rear their ugly heads. A 13-10 victory for NRG saw FaZe in the 1-1 bracket, and an uninspiring performance against NIP resulted in a 13-8 loss.

Now for the match that, I am fairly sure, gave me a heart condition. FaZe vs Red Canids – loser goes out of the Major. As everyone has heard a million times, FaZe Clan were, on Nuke, 0.04 seconds away from going out of the Major. A Finn “karrigan” Andersen clutch kept them in the running, and the story continued. Wins against Fluxo, Passion UA, Aurora, and NIP saw them cruise through Stage 2.

In their first game of Stage 3, FaZe faced off against a terrifying prospect – Vitality. Of course, this was best-of-one, so there was always a chance for some chaos. With top-tier performances from David “frozen” Čerňanský, Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski, and Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, FaZe were able to put Vitality to bed 13-7 on Nuke. This was, undeniably, a great start to the hardest stage yet for FaZe.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire for FaZe, however, as their next game was a 13-5 drubbing at the hands of Team Spirit. An uninspiring 13-7 loss to MongolZ saw FaZe enter the 1-2 bracket again, but relatively comfortable victories over 3DMAX and Passion UA saw FaZe – against all odds – reach the Quarter Final.

In the Quarter Final, FaZe beat MOUZ in fairly dominant fashion, and faced off against NAVI in the semis. This game was a banger, with NAVI taking Ancient 13-5, before FaZe ran the reverse sweep with a 13-11 on Nuke and 13-8 on Inferno. Somehow, FaZe Clan were in the Grand Final!

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and FaZe faced off on the biggest of stages against arguably the greatest team of all time, Vitality. Whilst Karrigan and his guys did take the first map – Nuke – 13-6, it was a pretty dominant final in Vitality’s favor after that. 13-3 on Dust II, 13-9 on Inferno, and finally a brutal 13-2 on Overpass, for the French org to take home another Major trophy.

So, that’s how FaZe managed to make their miracle run to the Major final. But the question at hand is – was it a fluke? Obviously, looking at FaZe’s results immediately before and after the Major, the natural inclination is to say yes. FaZe are undeniably in a bad way of late, with midrounds looking uninspired, a lack of synergy being evident, and some rough individual form from key players.

Individual Issues

The big name here is Helvijs “broky” Saukants. Whilst Karrigan’s mechanics haven’t been great, and Jcobbb has been underwhelming lately, it is impossible to ignore the effect that a mostly absent AWPer has in Tier 1 Counter-Strike. There is no denying that, when he’s in form, Broky has one of the most impressive, explosive, and exciting peaks in all of CS AWPing. However, the harsh truth of the matter is that a good performance throughout the Major isn’t enough to keep a team consistent throughout the rest of the season. It certainly doesn’t help to dispel the belief that their Budapest run was a fluke.

However, one must also look at the other side of the picture. Sure, individual players are struggling to find consistent impact – or even consistently decent baseline levels – but there is surely another dimension at play in the discussion of FaZe, Major finals, and flukes.

Consistency…kind of?

In CS2, there have been four Majors thus far. The winners were NAVI, Spirit, Vitality, and Vitality.

The runners-up? FaZe, FaZe, MongolZ, and FaZe. 

FaZe Clan have been in three of the four Major finals in this iteration of the game. Of course, the hallmark of success for a CS team isn’t their capacity to largely go missing all season and then pop up in the Major final, but this isn’t an article about FaZe’s continued viability as a project. This is an article about FaZe, Finals, and Flukes. Whether or not it appears to defy the commonly-held understanding of what consistency means in Counter-Strike, you cannot deny that, at least in this niche metric, Karrigan and his boys are consistent.

I think there is a clear distinction to be made when talking about FaZe’s run in Budapest. Was it unlikely? Yes. Was it against all odds? Sure. Was it a fluke? I don’t think so.

Karrigan has proved time and time again that he has the capacity to thrive on the momentum of a difficult, long run in a tournament. FaZe consistently power up as they get through each sticky situation, and appear to be invulnerable when it comes to burnout after a bunch of difficult, tight games back to back. They are a team of very experienced players (other than Jcobbb, of course) who know precisely what it takes to go deep and win big.

It is undeniable that FaZe getting to the final of Budapest was a shock. But to call it a fluke is to disregard all context beyond the recency bias of their poor performances of late. This is a team that knows how to make it to a Major Grand Final. I only hope they become a team that remembers how to win one.