FaZe lost 2-1 to Aurora in their opening match at BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026, their first showing without former coach Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski. Dominik ‘GruBy’ Swiderski is acting as the interim coach as FaZe search for a new vision for their Counter-Strike roster.
Despite the lack of a permanent coach, FaZe need to pick up a few results at BLAST or in open LANs to ensure their qualification for the IEM Cologne 2026 Major.
Aurora overcome FaZe despite jcobbb and Twistzz performances
Despite FaZe’s ongoing struggles, which saw the team regress significantly in 2025, the roster largely continued to have Aurora’s number in their meetings before Wednesday.
In truth, the series was a messy affair for both teams, laden with flubbed smokes, chaotic midrounds, and rounds lost to ecos.
Those conditions have usually suited FaZe in the past, and it seemed that once again they would benefit from a dogfight as they came up clutch in a tight Nuke contest to take the map 13-11.
Struggling young rifler, Jakub ‘jcobbb’ Pietruszewski, stood out on Nuke, but on Inferno, the Pole truly shone in an outstanding performance which saw him drop an 18/1/5 statline on the opening CT side.
However, even with jcobbb activated, FaZe could not get the read on where Aurora intended to end rounds, with the Turkish roster consistently breaking in to Inferno’s infamously hard to retake sites.
Aurora prevailed 13-8 on Inferno, shutting down FaZe’s T side before a streaky Dust 2 which saw Aurora start 5-0 on the T side before FaZe equalized the scoreline 6-6 at the half. Aurora won and converted the CT side pistol, before a streak of four out of five rounds for FaZe left the game in the balance.
Despite Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken’s best individual efforts, FaZe could not convert that streak into a map win, falling 13-10 as FaZe’s supporting cast fell flat.
The series once again highlighted the work needed in FaZe to modernize their Counter-Strike. While FaZe are known as the great entertainers, their style has begun to do more damage to themselves rather than the opponent.
Whoever succeeds NEO will have a lot of work to bring structure to a team that has often been defined by the absence of it.
Elsewhere on day one of BLAST Open Rotterdam, Falcons defeated NRG 2-0, NAVI beat B8 2-1, and FURIA completed a late-night contest, beating TYLOO 2-0 as Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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