FaZe Clan’s olofmeister steps away from Counter-Strike, cites burnout

Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson has stepped back from professional Counter-Strike, according to a tweet from FaZe Clan.

Olofmeister and FaZe clan announced the news today on Twitter, citing a loss of motivation to continue to compete. The move comes just before CS Summit 6, the second Regional Major tournament through which teams will qualify for the upcoming ESL One Rio Major. FaZe Clan will lose 20% of their earned Regional Major Ranking points as a result.

The news that olof, who joined FaZe Clan in 2017, taking an indefinite break from CSGO comes just days after Astralis‘ Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander made a similar move. Both mentioned burnout and a loss of motivation as contributing factors for their decisions. 

olofmeister out for FaZe, Bymas the new replacement?

CSGO insider Jarek Lewis is reporting that 16-year-old Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras is in talks to fill olofmeister’s shoes. The Lithuanian player was last seen competing with Demolition Crew and was a standout in the FACEIT Pro League European division in 2019. Though FaZe has traditionally sought to put together star-studded rosters, the organization has been moving away from that model to some degree. The team added an unseasoned Helvijs “broky” Saukants in September, with the youngster performing well in the months since.

The loss of both olof and gla1ve doesn’t bode well for an increasingly crowded CSGO tournament schedule. Even with many tournaments sidelined or forced online, many players seem to be feeling the pressure to perform. 

Olof spent nearly his entire CSGO career with Fnatic before making the switch to FaZe Clan, who at the time had decided to create the closest thing to an international superteam the game had ever seen. Since then FaZe has seen mixed results, failing to secure a Major title, the one thing the team had been built to do. The closest FaZe ever got to the elusive title was a grand finals appearence at the ELEAGUE Boston Major in 2018. FaZe lost the finals to Cloud9 2-1, gifting North America its only Major title.