The news comes a day after Robert “RobbaN” Dahlstr?m’s move to step down from coaching. The former FaZe CS:GO coach announced on Thursday that he was retiring from his role just weeks away from one of the most prestigious events in the esports scene; the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne.

The move ended RobbaN’s seven-year stint with FaZe and left the team without a coach for the CS:GO event. His time with FaZe consisted of eight Major appearances, 11 LAN trophies as well as an Intel Grand Slam.

The esports organization seemingly rectified this issue on Friday by registering NEO as a sitting coach for the event. In the meantime, FaZe will play without a coach for the rest of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups in Copenhagen, Denmark.

NEO is known for his earlier stint with Virtus.pro. The player was a part of the “golden five,” which won multiple tier-one tournaments for the team, including the ELEAGUE Season 1 and the EMS One Katowice 2014. He recorded 13 Major appearances with the Virtus.pro lineup and played over 1,300 maps with the team before moving to FaZe for a short stint.

The organization fielded him in 2019 as the in-game leader following the departure of Finn “?karrigan?” Andersen. The team recorded a deep run during the BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles 2019 under the NEO’s leadership, but they were ultimately unable to win the tournament.

The Polish player ended his stint with FaZe five months later and was temporarily replaced with Marcelo “?coldzera?” David. karrigan eventually returned to the lineup in early 2021 and took over his IGL duties.

NEO last played with HONORIS, which he co-founded alongside Wiktor “?TaZ?” Wojtas. He spent most of the last three years with the team until shutting down operations in March this year due to financial issues.

There is currently no information concerning whether the role in FaZe will be full-time or on a permanent basis. Sources, however, claim that FaZe will likely extend their relationship with NEO after the end of the tournament.

The IEM Cologne will kick off from July 26 to August 6, boasting a $1 million prize pool. FaZe were assigned to the Group B of the tournament and will face off against top teams like G2, Natus Vincere, and Vitality. Four other teams from the Play-in are expected to join them in the group stage.

FaZe’s current lineup includes H?vard “?rain?” Nygaard, Russel “?Twistzz?” Van Dulken, Helvijs “?broky?” Saukants, Robin “?ropz?” Kool, and Finn “?karrigan?” Andersen.
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The Counter-Strike team defeated SAW 2-1 in the finals of the European open qualifiers, rounding off the team list in the anticipated Gamers8 2023 tournament.

The $1 million Gamers8 Counter-Strike event will run August 16 to August 20 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

9INE will join teams like Vitality, Heroic, and Fnatic, who won the inaugural European Open qualifier to claim a spot. 9INE faced off against sYnck and Team Spirit on the first day of the qualifiers before advancing to day two and beating out Aurora and 1WIN to move to the grand finals against SAW.

The series started on Ancient, which 9INE won 16-10 before SAW tied 1-1 with a 16-8 victory on Vertigo. 9INE were able to secure a win on Anubis, reaching 10-5 at map half and 16-8 by the end of the map to close the series 2-1.

Besides Gamers8, 9INE are slated to participate in other tier-one LAN events like the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Play-in later this month. The Hussar Cup is also among their list of upcoming events in addition to an ESL Pro League Season 18 campaign in Group D.

Multiple high-profile CS:GO squads like Astralis and MOUZ failed to secure spots in the Gamers8 event. Astralis were beaten in the RO16, while Ninjas in Pyjamas faced an overtime defeat when facing SAW in the quarter-final stage of the qualifiers.

MOUZ, on their end, were eliminated in the third round of the Gamers8 Europe open qualifiers following a 6-16 loss to 1ADL. Bad News Eagles also failed to secure a place after losing to Sashi 10-16 in the qualifiers.

The list of teams for Gamers8 CS:GO includes:

• Heroic
• G2
• FURIA
• FaZe
• Natus Vincere
• Virtus.pro
• Cloud9
• MIBR
• Apeks
• fnatic
• ENCE
• Liquid
• Falcons
• fnatic
• GamerLegion
• 9INE

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The Counter-Strike tournament’s playoff bracket is now complete, with six teams set to compete for the $100,000 cash prize and a chance to play in the IEM Cologne.

MOUZ qualified for the IEM Dallas playoff stage after winning OG 2-0 in Group A lower bracket final. Conversely, OG leaves the CS:GO event with a top-eight placing and a $6,000 cash prize.

The teams played on Mirage and Inferno, which MOUZ won 16-10 and 16-7, respectively. David “frozen” ?er��ansky was the highest-rated player on the series with a 1.60 rating, followed by Christopher “?dexter?” Nong.

In their first attempt to reach the playoffs, MOUZ was beaten by Heroic before getting 2-0 wins against FURIA and OG and securing their spot.

The win is a welcome change for MOUZ following their previous disappointing performances. The team recorded last-place finishes in events like the IEM Rio and the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage.

FaZe secured the last spot in the IEM Dallas playoffs after beating Cloud9 1-2. The three-map series was played on Mirage, which FaZe won 16-7, and Inferno, where Cloud9 were able to tie the scores and push for a third map. FaZe took home Ancient 16-9, winning the series and the last spot in the playoffs.

The match was their second game against each other since facing off in the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMR last chance qualifier where FaZe were also victorious.

Cloud9 leave the CS:GO tournament in 7th-8th place, securing $6,000 from the prize pool.

The teams will continue playing in the quarter-finals in Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Texas, on Friday before advancing to the semi-finals on Saturday. The playoffs conclude in a best-of-three grand final on Sunday.

The IEM Dallas quarter-finals will see MOUZ play against Astralis on Friday at 19:30 following the Danish lineup’s 1-2 loss to ENCE. G2 and FaZe will follow at 23:00 in the quarter-final round.

The victor of the MOUZ-Astralis match-up will face off against Heroic on Saturday in the tournament’s semi-finals. Heroic secured a top-four finish after winning matches against 9z, G2, and MOUZ without dropping a single map.

ENCE are also in the semi-finals and will play against the winner of the G2 vs. FaZe match. If they win, ENCE will confirm their second consecutive IEM Dallas grand final appearance.
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The Mexican player is back in the game and prepared to re-enter the world of competitive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate play after taking a brief break from the scene to concentrate on his mental well-being. This will be the first competition that Sparg0 will participate in since The Gimvitational back in June.

After finishing in seventh place in The Gimvitational, Sparg0 made the announcement a little more than two months ago that he would be taking a break from competitive Super Smash Bros. for reasons related to his mental health. In spite of this, he started attending local competitions once more in August, and he hinted that he would be returning to major competitions very soon.

After the initial invites, the voting process, and the qualifier tournaments were completed, only 15 of the available slots were taken up. As a result of this, a number of fans speculated that Beyond the Summit had promised the champion, Sparg0, a position at the next Smash Ultimate Summit 5 tournament. It was “a hard decision,” but in the end, it was “worth giving it a try,” Saprg0 said when asked about accepting the offer.

According to the 16-year old player, he did not have high hopes for either his performance or his chances of winning the competition. Instead, all he wants to do is spend time with his pals and enjoy himself while doing the thing he enjoys doing the most, which is playing Smash.

“It makes me so happy to see so many people supporting me I’m not really looking to win or even do good (although I think winning lol), I just want to have a fun time doing what I like the most.” Sparg0 wrote.

During Genesis 8, he broke the news that FaZe Clan had signed him as the first Smash player to be endorsed by them.

Even though he did not end up winning the competition, he still managed to finish in third place, which is a very good showing. After that, he went on to triumph at GeekFest Cancun’s Relax & Smash and Low Tide City 2022, both of which he won.

Since Sparg0 is presently ranked as the second greatest player in the world, only one spot behind Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez, we may anticipate some skillful and impressive performances from him in the near future.

After the inclusion of Sparg0, the full lineup for the forthcoming invitational competition has been determined. The enlisted players below will compete at Summit, which is scheduled from September 15�C18.

�� MkLeo
�� acola
�� Sparg0
�� Paris “Light” Ramirez Garcia
�� Naoto “ProtoBanham” Tsuji
�� William “Glutonny” Belaid
�� Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey
�� Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby
�� Michael “Riddles” Kim
�� Kolawole “Kola” Aideyan
�� Brian “Cosmos” Kalu
�� Steven “Anathema” Acosta
�� Robert “Myran” Herrin
�� Jayjay “Ouch!?” Basilian
�� Dominic “T3 DOM” Carone
�� Christian “Jahzz0” Ramsay

At this point, it is unclear if he is planning to make a full comeback to the competitive scene or if he will be performing for just this tournament. Sparg0 is still yet to make any comments in this regard.

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The Fortnite Battle Royale and current Call of Duty star has seen his esports stock rise since joining his new squad, and now leads all Twitch streamers in followers (10,000,000) and paid subscribers (60,000). According to a study by Shareable, FaZe currently has the largest social media fan presence in terms of both members and interactions, and this should only continue with a superstar like NICKMERCS staying in the fold.

This signing couldn��t come at a better time for FaZe, as this positive news comes on the heels of Tyler ��Tfue�� Tenney��s lawsuit against the gaming organization finally coming to a close. Replacing negative contract news and media attention about their treatment of a high-profile gamer with news that NICKMERCS is putting his faith in the brand is an excellent end to the summer for FaZe.

Lee Trink, the CEO of FaZe Clan, also loves how he represents their brand. ��Nick has become a terrific role model not just to the other FaZe members, but the gaming community at large.��

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