FaZe Clan has made it public that they benched Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski from the starting line-up of Counter-Strike 2 after an eight-month run. The North American organisation has signed Polish player Jakub ‘jcobbb’ Pietruszewski from Betclic Apogee as his stand-in.
Ongoing Roster Adjustments at FaZe
This is the third roster change for FaZe Clan in 2024. Previously, AWPerHelvijs “broky” Saukants was benched for a short while in May to make room for the surprise addition of Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev, who was part of the team at IEM Dallas and the BLAST.tv Austin Major, where they managed a top-eight finish.
After s1mple’s exit to BC.GAME, broky was called back to active duty in July as the team looked to gather steam for the CT side of the season. After that, they finished in the top 8 at IEM Cologne but were eliminated by Virtus.pro during the online stage of BLAST Bounty Season 2.
FaZe Clan announced on social media: “We have come to a mutual agreement for EliGE to be moved to the bench and out of the active roster.” EliGE said: “End of a chapter now, and will be starting a new one coming soon.” After a 2-1 loss to Aurora Gaming at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, FaZe were eliminated from yet another tier 1 event with a top 16 finish. So, they decided to make a roster change.
jcobbb Steps Up to Tier 1
Jcobbb joins FaZe after spending ten months with Betclic Apogee, where he competed primarily in Tier 2 online and offline tournaments. His old French group recently placed top eight at Fragadelphia 19 in July. While jcobbb doesn’t have much experience against top opposition, he has certainly proven himself on the big stage, especially back at PGL Bucharest where he helped defeat The MongolZ and Astralis for a top-ten finish.
What’s Next for the Revamped FaZe Roster?
After being knocked out of the Esports World Cup, FaZe Clan will take part in the closed qualifiers for the BLAST Open London that begins August 27. This event will mark jcobbb’s debut at the Tier 1 level. Following this, FaZe will play in FISSURE Playground 2 in Serbia, as teams ramp up their fight for Valve Regional Standings (VRS) points.
The organisation is anticipating that jcobbb’s new perspective and skills will fill them with new strength as they try to get to the top of the rankings in the global CS2.