GuardiaN: "NiKo is the IGL and we have to believe in him"

FaZe AWPer Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács has confirmed that Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač remains the in-game leader despite the recent addition of Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev to the line-up.

The 28-year-old joined FaZe in a stand-in capacity at the start of the year, replacing Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen, who had been moved to the bench following the team's frustrating second half of 2018.

NiKo is still the in-game leader, at least for the time being

The Kazakh veteran has in-game leader experience from his time with Gambit, but GuardiaN confirmed that NiKo is still calling the shots, adding that the Bosnian can "learn a lot" from working under the team's new coach, Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović.

"The future will show what will happen, if we keep AdreN or bring in some other in-game leader," GuardiaN said in a conference call with members of the media.

"At the moment, NiKo is the in-game leader and we have to believe in him."

The Slovakian AWPer also shed some light on the changes introduced by YNk, who is in his second coaching stint after previously guiding MIBR.

YNk had admitted that some of his ideas had been met with resistance by MIBR's players during his four-month stint with the team. FaZe, for their part, seem to be enjoying the changes and believe that they were long overdue.

"I would say that the most important thing is that he has brought discipline, made us stick to a schedule and changed the way we practice," GuardiaN noted.

"He brought something that we had needed for a long time. I think the discipline is the biggest part of it."

FaZe will attend the ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational looking to bounce back after crashing out of iBUYPOWER Masters in the group stage following two best-of-one defeats to Ghost.

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard admitted that the issues that plagued the tournament, which included hours of technical delays on the first day and an evacuation of the venue due to security reasons, took their toll on the team, and vowed that his side will give a much better account of themselves in future tournaments.

"Frustration got to us after the first day," the Norwegian said. "Even though the circumstances were the same for both teams, it was a little bit too much.

"I know that how we played at iBUYPOWER Masters is not how we are going to play at future tournaments."

MIBR #6 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloJoão 'felps' Vasconcellos Janko 'YNk' Paunović Age: 26 Team: FaZeC Ghost #15 Joshua 'steel' NissanRyan 'freakazoid' AbadirKenneth 'koosta' SuenMatthew 'WARDELL' YuJason 'neptune' Tran Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1319 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.62 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 24 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1015 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 FaZe #5 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 28 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 1381 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.68 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 989 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.67 Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev Age: 28 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1244 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69

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