FaZe Clan release NEO from CSGO roster

North American esports organization FaZe Clan announced it has removed Filip “NEO” Kubski from its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. NEO joined the roster in May after they released Finn “Karrigan” Andersen in late 2018.

CS:GO Update: NEO will no longer be a substitute for our roster. We want to thank him for his efforts and contribution to the team. It's been a pleasure working with such a legend and we wish him the best of luck for future endeavors. pic.twitter.com/wbhsPvAtvt

— #FaZeUp (@FaZeUpdate) September 11, 2019

Filip “NEO” Kubski

Filip “NEO” Kubski is a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. He started his competitive career in Counter-Strike 1.6, where he quickly made a name for himself as one of the greatest. He played under organizations like Pentagram G-Shock, Meet Your Makers, Wicked Esports, Vitriolic, AGAiN, Frag eXecutors, and ESC Gaming.

NEO took 1st at 2005’s Samsung European Championship, 2006’s World Series of Video Games: London, and 2006’s World Cyber Games. He went on to place 1st at Season 1 of Intel Extreme Masters and 2007’s Electronic Sports World Cup. He repeated the same high-level gameplay with other organizations and won massive prize pools for the esports scene during the time.

NEO continued into CSGO under the same ESC Gaming organization. He transitioned to organizations like Universal Soldiers, AGAiN, and finally Virtus.pro before joining FaZe Clan as a substitute. While with Virtus.pro, he achieved first place finishes at 2014’s ESL Major Series One Katowice, the ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational, Season 1 of ELEAGUE, and 2017’s DreamHack Masters Las Vegas. While he accomplished many other high placements at other esports tournaments, Virtus.pro failed to find much success toward the end of 2017. This lack of results continued through to the end of 2018, where he was moved to an inactive role.

FaZe Clan CSGO

NEO joined FaZe Clan as a substitute after the organization needed an in-game leader. Other than a 2nd place finish at 2019’s BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles, the team didn’t do so well under NEO’s lead. They usually ended up in the bottom half of the bracket. The team was then knocked out in the New Legends Stage at the StarLadder Berlin Major, with one win and three losses.

The Counter-Strike 1.6 legend struggled in every event FaZe Clan competed in, along with having a poor rating. It’s unclear what next steps FaZe Clan will make with their CSGO roster. There are rumors that AWPer Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács will also part ways with the roster. This would mean FaZe Clan would have to bring on two players before ESL One: New York on September 26.