The FaZe Clan VALORANT roster are finding their form and it’s coming at the perfect time. Just a week before they begin their Masters run to close out phase one of the VALORANT Champions Tour, they went on a four-series tear through Challengers Three.
FaZe dispatched of T1, NRG Esports, Luminosity, and finally First Strike champion 100 Thieves to come in first at the final Challengers event. But how did they do it? Let’s unpack their agent composition.
BABYBAY on Jett
All hail the king, BABY. BABYBAY has been the consistent top fragger for FaZe in their short history, but he’s taken a step forward during Challengers. He put up unreal numbers against some of North America’s best teams: Forty-nine kills over two maps against 100 Thieves and 60 kills over three maps against NRG.
Similar to TSM and Sentinels, FaZe use a dedicated Jett player to generate multiple opening kills with their aggressive style. BABYBAY has nearly perfected the formula that players like Wardell and ShahZaM have used.
Corey on Raze, Rawkus on Sova
Both Corey and Rawkus are strict with their agent selections as well. Corey played Raze while Rawkus took on Sova in all 10 of their maps. Because of Rawkus’ preference toward Sova, the team almost always bans Split, a map that’s considered unfavorable to Sova.
The two agents work well together. Sova’s recon arrow and drone will reveal enemy agents for Raze to flush out with her grenades or Boombot. Both of their ultimates also excel at long range. While Rawkus can usually be seen on the bottom of FaZe’s scoreboard, his numbers are still good. And when your “worst” performing player is still a positive contributor, that’s a good sign for a team going forward.
Marved on Omen, with a little Sage thrown in
Marved plays an aggressive style on Omen that hasn’t been seen elsewhere yet. The aggressive style is one that all of FaZe plays with, which makes for exciting matchups and riveting highlights. One of Marved’s favorites is double teleporting to backdoor opponents holding a site or those who are about to take one.
Given that FaZe don’t use a lot of flashing agents, Marved’s use of Paranoia is vital when the team decides to take sites. In situations where they don’t need smokes and flashes but instead need walls, like on Icebox, Marved can switch over to Sage easily.
ZachaREEE on Omen, Breach, and Sage
With so many players on FaZe specializing in a single agent, having a player with this kind of versatility is so useful to playing different compositions. When the team plays on Icebox, ZachaREEE will take on the Omen role to provide more smoke cover and lurk plays. When the team needs flashes on Haven and Bind, he can switch to Breach. And on Ascent, he can load up on site defenses with utility from Killjoy.
This versatility between different roles and agents is so crucial to a team like FaZe and the results are showing.
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