karrigan on ropz, Twistzz, and broky: "The sky is the limit for them to stay together for a long time"

FaZe's in-game leader spoke about the reunion with Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and the potential of the team's young trio in an interview ahead of BLAST Spring groups.

A year after Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen exited MOUZ and made his return to FaZe, he will reunite with the Estonian rifling sensation ropz. With the "missing piece" finally acquired, karrigan is clear that there are no more excuses: FaZe should be a top 5 team within two months and needs to peak by May, in time for the first Major of 2022.

In our interview with the 31-year-old in-game leader, he spoke about ropz's role on the team, explaining that there will be minimal adjustments needed compared to the old lineup. ropz will also take on some secondary-calling responsibilities on the team, and if practice results are anything to go by, the synergy between the new signing and the other two youngsters on the team, Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken and Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants, has been on point from the start.

Read the full interview to get insight into how the roles will work out, why FaZe aren't bootcamping yet, and what their expectations from BLAST Premier Spring Groups are.

New year, new season, new player, and not just for you, a lot of other teams too. How is the feeling like going back into competition?

It feels good to start the season. I know I said last year "Wait one year and we are ready." And obviously, I knew ropz would come at some point, so now is the time. Not much to say, a lot of new teams, the first two months we will have no idea. Gambit, Heroic, NAVI are established teams coming into the start of the season and there are a lot of new teams. I expect a lot of surprising results, some failures from some lineups, but I think for Katowice and after Katowice that is where we should start performing at the level we want to be at. Not peak performance, but we have to be up there as a top 5 team already in a few months. Especially having only changed ropz for olofmeister I feel like we are in a situation where we are not changing the whole team, the dynamics of the team. ropz knows what I like to do I know what he likes to do. I think the season starting is very exciting for us, I'm looking forward to this year for sure.

You mentioned it there, the change between olofmeister and ropz is looked on as a like-for-like change. But at the same time, since you joined mousesports, ropz took on more star roles in the team, got some of the positions that someone like Twistzz plays usually. How do you see that developing now? Do you see ropz taking the second spot in the team to Twistzz?

No, actually it is the opposite. It is a 1-to-1 change on the T side for sure. There are small adjustments for Twistzz, but overall, that is the thing. T side is where it can take a longer time to get used to the way you play, the way we see the game, understand when he wants to lurk more passively and more aggressively. There are some small role changes for Twistzz, there are some positions like Mirage A he didn't like to play that actually, he rather wanted to play Underground, but in the previous lineup and with the players we had, it made sense for him to play A.

I think we get a better Twistzz on the T side now in a more comfortable role for him because we don't force him into the star roles, he can do everything he wants on his own. I think we are going to see a bigger impact from Twistzz on the T side, and we all know what ropz can do. That is where I feel it makes a lot of sense. ropz is going to take more control on the CT side, he is good at creating structure and I think that is going to help broky and Twistzz. When they are playing some of the same positions for him, he is going to create a little more structure, some setup-heavy plans instead of having too much freedom, moving around constantly, but still reading the game really well. That is one of the qualities that ropz built up in mousesports that I enjoyed a lot. He played around a little less experienced players so now he can make sure he has a structured plan, but still, go off the flow. You have broky, Twistzz, and ropz who like to go for stuff on the CT side. So far those three guys are really on the same page and that surprised me, it was so fast that they got used to how they see the game.

The way you described it is ropz almost being the second caller in the team, is that a correct understanding?

Yeah, exactly. Twistzz is coming with some ideas, broky is also coming with ideas, but I and ropz have a really unique way of seeing each other. He is not going to say something unless he sees something and has a clear idea like: "This is what we can do Finn." He comes with a direct plan instead of saying the obvious things such as that maybe we should go A. He comes with a direct plan, "Flash me through the smoke and I'm going to punish them." Stuff like that where he will go first to get the entry. And that is what we missed sometimes, not somebody coming with an overall call, but a punish on what we are doing in a specific part of the map.

I would do the punish sometimes and we all know my aim is not the same as that of ropz. Having that in the arsenal when the game is getting tight, I think we lacked some of that in the previous lineup. olofmeister wasn't going for those plays, he was more adaptive, "What should I do to fill the gaps, what is needed" where ropz will take control of the round and help me make my calling easier, getting some openings and some different map control than what we were used to here in FaZe. He will be more of a secondary caller, but it won't be forced upon him if that makes sense. Whenever he feels it, he is doing it. And we have that unique view of the game together, working hard together, trying to improvise, doing different stuff.

Everyone has to find their space with ropz in the team. How much does ropz need to call, how much control broky wants... there are still question marks and I think we will see that in official games, how everyone is taking initiative. Because everyone knows that in practice and official games, the initiative is way different, the pressure is different, that is what we have to see and maybe be aware of potential issues in the future.

Looking at the Top 20 that we put out this year, now that you signed ropz FaZe have three Top 20 players, and that is only the case for NAVI and Gambit out of all of the teams for the past year. Do you see that as an indication of where FaZe is going to be this year? And is there potential for these players to place even higher? Because they were in the Top 20, but not the top 10.

Yeah, for sure. I mean the great part about those three players is that in my opinion they don't conflict in roles. Twistzz is an aggressive and a passive player, depends on if he feels it, he is a lot about feeling and doing crazy stuff sometimes, insane aim, and then you have ropz who is mechanically gifted in everything he does — movement, smokes, you name it. And then you have broky who has shown capability and I think he finally found himself in the system. On the T side I still need to help him find his right place in the team, how much does he want to go for it, does he want to be more of a clutch factor.

The way the team is built up, I've seen it so many times in practice, we are in a 3v4 situation, me and rain traded a frag, we get some map control... the trio has really good synergy in those clutches. We have missed this clutch factor, sometimes we are getting that area of the map that I want, I'm dying, we are getting a trade frag and that is what it is, but we haven't been good to capitalize on the round we have. Now, we have three players with insane clutch ability in the young guys. Definitely, I'll be surprised if one of them isn't in the top 10 this year because then we had a really bad year in my opinion.

Essentially, what people on the forums were saying — that FaZe will be the most dangerous team in 3v3s —, is your experience from practices too?

Yeah, they really help each other with their playstyle. That is the thing. ropz is a little more passive player, but he goes for it too, and sometimes the others are passive, but they connect in some strange way and I'm just smiling at that point. I want to see this in official games as well, the way they communicate. It is a young generation of CS as well, in my opinion they are all in the same boat, they have experience, but maybe besides Twistzz they don't have the top-top level experience. Despite their age, you can't look at them and say these are inexperienced players with what they have been through so far. I think this is a young trio, if they can work it out and have good synergy for this year, the sky is the limit for them to stay together for a long time. So for sure, I see huge potential in the playstyle and the mixtures, and also the personalities, they are all very funny to be around. That is also the thing, it has to be fun. I think ropz said it already, he didn't have much fun practicing for a while. That makes you more motivated to grind more if you are actually enjoying the practice.

Talking about preparation and going into BLAST, they put out a graphic with all of the teams and bootcamp locations, and FaZe was somewhere on the side, floating in the North sea. You aren't going for a bootcamp, why was that decision made and how is the preparation going?

We bootcamp on an oil rig if you didn't know. (laughs) No, but there was a decision, we didn't know if we would get ropz at the start of the season, it was a long negotiation, we didn't know if he would be ready to join in January, and we don't have a facility in Europe so we can't just make a bootcamp within two weeks. We have a budget and stuff like that for how many bootcamps we can do in a year and we just all agreed that we would rather bootcamp the day after BLAST ends for Katowice.

So BLAST, online, we can see what we can do, get used to each other online and then work on the mistakes we make at BLAST directly the day after. On the 7th we are going on a bootcamp until Katowice starts, that is where we put our focus on Katowice being a LAN in an arena, one of the biggest tournaments of the year, and being fully prepared for that. In the beginning, we could've done a bootcamp but it would just be too much, working on mistakes will be easier when we actually have played official games. In my mind it would've been nice to have a bootcamp for like four weeks together, you know? But we all have to think about COVID and stuff like that.

So you have the bootcamp, and then Katowice, and especially if you go deep in the tournament that is going to be three weeks on its own...

And we are doing everything in Poland, in Kinguin, so that is pretty easy for us to drive to Katowice. It just made sense, and timing-wise we couldn't get a bootcamp in before knowing exactly how the lineup would look like. It just made sense to put it there.

BLAST made a change to their format so they have the BO1 phase and the "gauntlet bracket". Before we go into actual expectations, what do you think of what they put together?

When I heard it first I was like: "Hmm... best of ones, online, here we go again." But actually I think what I saw so far from BLAST is that when there is four teams in one group, there could be one which is tougher than the others. By doing this, you don't have an excuse, even if you are fourth place, there are single-elimination playoffs. I actually like it this way. The best would probably be BO3s in the group stage, but I know there is a timeframe on everything and BO3s instead of BO1s, it is going to take a lot more days to make that.

I'm looking at it positively when normally I'm not that optimistic about formats with BO1s. In this sense, even if we have a bad day in the group stage and we lose all of the games, you don't have an excuse not to win the BO3s after. And you get to see a lot of different matchups with all of the new lineups, more maps, more diversity in the group stage which I like.

Moving to the actual matches, you are in a group that with the past format could've been a tricky one because you don't know what to expect. All of the new lineups, FaZe, Liquid, Vitality, and EG. How do you see that going? Obviously, you can't prepare much, perhaps something based on practice if you played them?

For EG we can prepare from 2018, no? There are demos. (laughs) But honestly, preparation is not possible. BO1s all on the same day means that I can see the Vitality - EG veto one hour before I maybe play the next game. It doesn't give much of anything. We are probably an easier team to anti-strat, you can put ropz where you kind of think he is going to play and what we are going to do, but with the rest of the teams is a big question mark. New Liquid, completely new EG lineup, and Vitality Danish-French mix. No preparation, we play our best maps from practice, again big question mark because I hate to base it on practice. Wherever we feel most comfortable that is where we go and even if it is the best map for Liquid we have no idea yet until we play them. That is how it is and I think it is fair for everyone in this group when you look at all the teams.

You haven't played a single match yet, I'm sure as soon as you do people will judge you based on that first BO1. But you also said no excuses, after BLAST and Katowice, by March, you are expecting to be a top 5 team, having deep runs and contending for titles. So those are the expectations for FaZe?

For sure. It is hard to say because in the CS:GO scene, all of the teams that were made now, everyone is powering up. Everyone that made changes, Vitality, G2, they also have the ambition to be number one, nothing else. It is the same with us, adding this last piece that I felt was needed for us to be winning titles. As I said, we need to see our peak performance already at the Major, which is May. That is four months in, up till there we see how it goes. It has to be a direct trajectory. We have been a stable top 10 team, not being that for the first two months would disappoint me. But yeah, no more excuses, the whole reason why I was talking about one year was basically that I knew ropz would come. If not, I would've had a different scenario to go to the top.

People need to get used to each other, BLAST is BO1s and still online for us without a bootcamp, then there is a bootcamp, and then LAN. But even if it is online at this point, everyone is used to it and there are no excuses either. We have a lot of matches, and in Katowice, we need to hopefully make the playoffs. We need to take it step by step.

One last question, because you mention that you knew ropz would come, but also that the negotiation was kind of tricky. This is also what we know from behind the scenes and reports that were coming out, that G2 was an option, and other teams were looking to sign ropz too. Was there a bit of uncertainty for you personally regarding how it would go?

I mean, the first few months in FaZe were like "shit, this is not good". MOUZ is winning Flashpoint, we are playing like shit... I'm not talking to ropz in that period. But then we played Cologne and started to be a stable top 10 team and I got the structure of the team, made sure everybody is performing in better shape. That is when we started talking.

I wanted ropz to come from day one, but it wasn't possible, he had a long contract. But the most important thing I said to ropz — whatever he does I'll support him, it is the biggest decision he made in his career yet, leaving what is comfortable for him and joining another team. I know the offers he had on the table, good teams, but I think he knew what he was going to get with me. He knows that I'm not going to put him in a scenario where he doesn't feel comfortable. If he is coming to us, this is about making him comfortable and everybody has to put in the pieces and try to find their space around them. I know from the personalities and the players and the playstyles that this will fit perfectly, I can't see anyone saying "no, I don't want to do that".

Everyone is on the same page, I told him that it would make sense for him to come here, the organization will take good care of you, but in the end it is his choice. I'm just happy he came. I was nervous the first few months (laughs), and also when he started getting a lot of offers at the end of the year, but I had this feeling that we are connected in a special way. The way you see the game, work hard, push each other, I think he missed that when I was gone in MOUZ.