EliGE on s1mple: "CS:GO s1mple was a god and I think he's very close to that"

Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore had the chance to speak with Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski ahead of FaZe's debut in Stage 2 of the BLAST.tv Major Austin.

EliGE commented on his struggles during the beginning of his time with FaZe, reuniting with Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, and the return of Håvard "rain" Nygaard to the lineup after the Norwegian missed IEM Dallas.

The full interview can be found below on YouTube or in text form below. All questions and answers below have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

We saw you guys do your SSD setup a while ago. It seemed there was a good rapport with rain back in the lineup having missed out with the birth of his child during Dallas. Is it good having rain back in the mix?

Yeah 100%, I think that we all feel really confident. Our practices have been going well. It was a good atmosphere. We all feel a lot of confidence coming into this tournament.

It's a rare thing to see FaZe without rain in the lineup but that was the case at Dallas where you had skullz stand in. Did that give you a new appreciation or insight into how rain functions as a glue piece of this FaZe lineup?

We're all aware of how much rain brings to the team. His presence was definitely missed in Dallas. That's no slight against skullz, we're very appreciative of him coming in and filling in for us.

rain is such a key figure of the team. He's the glue guy, he's a very stable presence. He does his job well, he's very clutch. I could give you so many compliments about rain. I think we're gonna play very well with him. The vibes have been very good, we're confident.

Speaking of the roster as well, the big story here is s1mple and his first Major in some time. How's it been to get the chance to work with him again? You were in Liquid many years ago now, what's it been like having that reunion?

It's been very fun. I've really enjoyed playing with s1mple. He brings exactly what we need. Having him and his personality here is what we needed on this team. Our chemistry is very good in-game, we play the same school of Counter-Strike.

When he's telling me what he wants to do, I already know what I have to do before we even go over it. We bounce off of each other well, we're playing a lot of those key spots together on maps. I think he's bringing a lot to the team and I'm excited to get going with him.

Do you think age and wisdom has made it so you guys can work better together than you did on Liquid?

I think we always had a lot of respect for each other, especially over the years as we've been playing against each other. We hold each other in high regards and I think that as we are older, I appreciate a lot of the things that he says and I react differently to how I did back then. There's been a lot of growth from both of us and now I think it's a deadly combo.

In one word, is s1mple back?

I would say, yes. I think he's pretty much as best as we're gonna get in this amount of time. Obviously, CS:GO s1mple was a god and I think he's very close to that.

The way he's playing when he's feeling it, you saw glimpses of that at Dallas and I see it every day in practice. How he's shooting, moving, and reading the game. s1mple's here. He's here and ready to play this Major and own everyone.

Turning the focus back to you, in the first six months in FaZe we've seen some highs and we've seen some lows. How are you feeling about your place in this team having made that move from Complexity?

It's definitely been a hard year. There's been a lot of difficulties, not getting the results we wanted. We're looking to change that now with s1mple coming into the team. The whole vibe has shifted with him and how we're playing off of each other and communicating. Overall, it's given me a new confidence coming into these games with him. I'm feeling good with my game and I'm just waiting to show that here.

We just finished talking to NiKo a little while ago and we mentioned that for Falcons starting in Stage 2 feels weird since they hit their stride after the invites were sent out. Does it feel weird for you starting in this early stage of the Major?

No, I don't think so. I think that we didn't deserve to make it to the Legends Stage. I don't think that we've played nearly as well as we should have this year. So, I think that's deserved and now we have to prove that we have our place in the playoffs and Legends Stage. We have to work for that and we're here and ready to work for it.

You're going to be heading into the dreaded best-of-one doubleheader tomorrow. How are you feeling about the back-to-back BO1s?

I'm not a fan of the format at all. I think best-of-ones have no place, I think that we should have been doing best-of-threes. I think that's obvious and everyone agrees. I hope it changes for the next Major.

But for me, I think it's fine. I think we have a really strong map pool when we're getting down to just one map. We have a few heavy-hitter maps that I'm really confident about if we can get it on those, since it's best-of-ones and we're doing so many bans. I feel really confident and the guys do as well.

FaZe debuts at the BLAST.tv Major Austin v. HEROIC, who went 3-0 in the Major's initial stage.