FaZe Clan announced the transfer of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Robin “ropz” Kool for the 2022 season and the subsequent benching of Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson on Monday. Ropz, an Estonia native, played for MOUZ for most of his career, starting in 2017. The move was previously reported by 1pv.fr and Dexerto along with olofmeister stepping down.
According to a previous report by 1pv.fr, G2 Esports were also in the running to sign the player.
Dreams come true.
Welcome to FaZe Clan, @ropzicle. #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/JDWp50Acly
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) January 3, 2022
Ropz will reunited with in-game leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who he played with in a previous iteration of the MOUZ. Ropz is coming off of another great year individually. He ended the year with a 1.18 HLTV 2.0 rating and a 1.25 kills/deaths ratio according to HLTV. With MOUZ, he placed first at Flashpoint Season 3 after defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in the final.
His last big event with the German organization was the PGL Major, where they placed in the top 15 after a 2-1 loss to Virtus.pro.
Ropz has been a top player in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene since 2018 when he started appearing in HLTV’s top 20 players of the year list. He has been ranked Nos. 19, 11 and 7 each year on the list respectively.
FaZe Clan without ropz in 2021
FaZe had a decent 2021 in terms of results and roster changes. The team acquired Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken from Team Liquid and signed karrigan in January and February, respectively, and then benched Marcelo “coldzera” David in June, with olofmeister returning to the lineup after he was off the starting roster due to the signing of karrigan.
At the three major offline events of the year, the PGL Major, IEM Fall: Europe and IEM Cologne, FaZe managed to place in the top 10. Their best finish was at Cologne, where they lost to Natus Vincere 2-0
FaZe also placed in the top six at Blast Premier: Fall Finals 2021 after losing to Astralis 2-1 in the second round of the lower bracket. The teams last major event was IEM Winter where they finished in the top 12 after a loss to Gambit Esports.
