FaZe Clan recently found themselves out of the competition after a 0-2 loss to Natus Vincere at the Esports World Cup, knocking them out of the tournament. The team walked away with $40,000 in prize money, but the loss left Robin ‘ropz’ Kool’s corner with even more concerns, with fans questioning where his heart was as he received his first ever negative event rating while carrying the FaZe Clan banner.
Ropes fail?
Ropz is one of the most well-known players in the Counter-Strike scene. He is a prominent competitor who has earned over $1.4 million in CS prize money and has taken first place at several prestigious events in the past year alone.
- IEM Chengdu ($100,000)
- CS Asia Championship 2023 ($250,000)
- ThunderPick World Championship 2023 ($250,000)
- IEM Sydney ($100k)
- ESL Pro League S17 ($200,000)
- Intel Grand Slam Season 4 ($1,000,000)
During the eSports World Cup, ropz did not perform well, with an HLTV rating of just 0.95, his lowest rating in over three years. Analysis shows that ropz has achieved an average rating of 1.07 over the past three months, which is significantly lower than his career average (1.15).
One of the biggest concerns is that ropz has been slipping since the launch of Counter-Strike 2. He has been outspoken about the state of CS2 on several occasions, even saying that it is a mess and preferring CSGO, which was moved offline for a new version late last year. He seems to be getting more and more frustrated and losing motivation, with some fans noting that he ‘still plays like it’s CSGO’.
Ropz is known as a great movement-oriented player and it is no secret that Valve has toned down some of the movement strategies he was used to in CS2. This is probably a major factor in his downtrend.
For more from Insider Gaming Esports, check out our news on Agent 26 in Valorant.
