rain: "BLAST isn't making a good picture of themselves for next year when teams have to choose events"

FaZe cooled off after a solid start to the year and have only won one trophy at IEM Chengdu in 2024. That prompted the team to adopt a more micromanage-heavy playstyle, but Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard says the team reverted that change.

"I think it's very hard for karrigan to uphold the micromanaging," the Norwegian said to HLTV during the controversial media day at the BLAST Fall Final. "I also don't think it's going to fit our players in the long run."

rain also spoke about FaZe's expectations in Copenhagen, his upturn in form, and the recent Astralis-BLAST drama, which he thinks might hurt BLAST in the long run.

You're back in action here at the Fall Final after EPL. What is the vibe like in the team?

The vibe is pretty good. We had a very successful BOOTCAMP during Malta , even though the result versus Complexity didn't really show that. I think we worked on a lot of flaws that we had before, and I think we're going to come into a strong phase.

Now that you've had a few days to reflect, how do you look back at your EPL campaign? Because you said you've learned a lot, but the results maybe didn't show that.

I'm coming here with high spirits, I didn't take it too hard in Malta . karrigan showed up really sick on the matchday and we've been sick during the BOOTCAMP , so the energy wasn't there as well. There were a lot of things we couldn't control that made the result worse for us, so I think we're just coming here hungry to show the work we put in the BOOTCAMP .

Speaking of karrigan , he spoke about needing to micromanage the team a bit more. Has that helped the team be more of a cohesive unit?

I think actually we've kind of reverted that a little bit after we all had a discussion following some failed results with the tactic. It worked at the start, but at the same time, I think it's very hard for karrigan to uphold the micromanaging. I also don't think it's going to fit our players in the long run, so we kind of went back to our old style.

A little bit more freedom and trying to take map control, and then karrigan makes a call about what we can do. So I would say we kind of went back a little bit from what we initially said.

Is this new FaZe style kind of a mix between the micromanaging style and what you did before? Or is it a complete return to the free-flowing FaZe that we knew previously?

It's not completely free-flowing as it was before, we're trying to find a balance. Because the free-flowing FaZe didn't create stability in the long run. I think you need to find a way you can micromanage and also play freestyle. I think karrigan and the team in general have found a way to set a good tone and figure out a way we can play better [map] control.

You've been playing pretty well across the last few events. Was that down to something that changed in the team or just you finding more confidence on the server?

I think it's about confidence. I think after Chengdu we had a lot of lackluster results, and the entire team lacked a lot of confidence. I think everybody as players, and as individuals, we were all pretty low on confidence. So I think we're finding our way back and creating something that's going to be good for a long time.

You're now here at the Fall Finals. What are your expectations for the event? What would FaZe be happy with here?

Grand finals at least. [laughs] I don't know, back at the top I think, we're very hungry to win. It's been a lackluster year, and just a win in Chengdu is not enough for FaZe, so we're here to win for sure.

I also have to ask about the Astralis situation. Your in-game-leader, karrigan , is not here, and he made a joint statement with the other IGLs that went out recently. Is there anything that you would like to add about your stance on the whole thing?

Looking at all the different times they've enforced their rules and made sure teams have to play with coaches, I think that stuff [statement] is complete bullshit. I think BLAST isn't making a good picture of themselves for next year when teams have to choose events, and I think they're shooting themselves in the foot by doing this. It's just bad, to be honest.