FaZe Clan is considered by many to be the first true international roster to compete in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. At the outset of its CSGO division in 2016, the organization was already well-known in the esports community after successful forays into other esports, particularly Call of Duty, and sought to bring their growing brand into CSGO.
The original FaZe roster was comprised of five talented individuals from several different countries, eventually morphing into the star-studded roster fans are familiar with today. FaZe’s original squad consisted of Mikail "Maikelele" Bill, Håvard "rain" Nygaard, Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad, Ricardo "fox" Pacheco, and Philip "aizy" Aistrup.
Early results from the roster weren’t promising. A string of quick exits from tournaments resulted in the hiring of Counter-Strike veteran Robert “RobbaN” Dhalström to coach the international team. Despite RobbaN’s presence, FaZe failed to make waves at the 2016 MLG Columbus Major causing Maikelele to leave the team as Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey joined in his place.
It wasn’t until the departure of aizy to North in 2017 that FaZe had its first breakthrough. The organization pursued and signed mousesports star Nikola “niko” Kovač in what was a monumental step forward for the organization. The star player proved an immediate upgrade, leading FaZe Clan to the finals of IEM Katowice 2017.
Although FaZe lost in Katowice to the burgeoning Danish powerhouse Astralis, FaZe then made the grand finals at StarLadder iLeague’s StarSeries Season 3 and took down Astralis for the organization’s first CSGO tournament win.
The roster continued its impressive year by making the grand finals in four out of five of its events following StarSeries. A roaring SK Gaming squad often got the better of FaZe in those finals appearances, but the team’s tournament successes were enough to stave off another roster change until late in the year.
It wasn’t until FaZe failed to place at the 2017 PGL Krakow Major that FaZe made another roster move. The organization bought out famed Natus Vincere AWPer Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács as the primary AWP for FaZe. Soon after, FaZe made another move and replaced kioShiMa with former Fnatic star Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer Gustafsson.
FaZe then added Janko “YNk” Paunović at the start of 2019 as its new head coach. With YNk at the helm, FaZe would go on to take first place at several tournament events, including BLAST Pro Series Miami and Copenhagen.
2019 was a year of change for FaZe. FaZe parted ways with former Astralis in-game leader Finn "karrigan" Andersen in March after benching him the previous December after a string of playoff losses. FaZe continued to reshape its roster when it parted ways with GuardiaN after the StarLadder Berlin Major.
In GuardiaN’s place, the roster gained fresh talent with the addition of Helvijs “brokey” Saukants while also signing another superstar in Marcelo "coldzera" David away from MiBR.
FaZe started 2020 out on the right foot, taking the top spot in their group at BLAST Premier Spring Series over Team Liquid.
