enkay J on joining FaZe: "The keyboard warriors are going to be typing and hating me being here"

Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore from Dust2.us spoke with FaZe coach Niclas "enkay J" Krumhorn at BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 1 Media Day in Fort Worth, Texas.

enkay J commented on Finn "karrigan" Andersen leaving the team, his and Ryan "Neityu" Aubry's joining FaZe, and the end of his time at ENCE.

Find the video interview below with a full transcription underneath. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

How are you feeling about your appointment as the coach of FaZe?

It's still a bit surreal that I made it here, but overall very excited, very grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to being here, even though circumstances might be somewhat questionable or uncertain when it comes to the future. But still very grateful, very excited to be here, and looking forward to getting to work.

What do you think FaZe were looking for in you coming off that stint at ENCE?

I'm not 100% sure. I didn't ask myself what they were actually looking for, but what I do bring to the table is a very structured and organized way of working. The typical German in me comes through. I'm very empathic. I bring a lot of empathy with me. I'm very understanding of what the players are actually craving now, what they need in terms of individual development and collective development. Overall, they were looking for fresh ideas when it comes to the future planning of the roster and an understanding of how to potentially integrate the academy, because FaZe recently announced an academy project. This is good to have somebody who has experience of how to integrate players from the academy.

Was bringing on Neityu from ENCE something you decided?

It was not me deciding it. I obviously had somewhat of a say in it. I was pretty much giving them my feedback on Neityu, but they had him on his radar, not only upper management, but the players on the team. So, it was a collective decision that we made.

Was it a gut punch for you when you found out that karrigan would be leaving to Falcons?

It was somewhat of a gut punch, but not necessarily too much because at the end of the day, it's a business decision that he has to make for himself. So, I understood it as well. I saw the positives in that it's going to be creating somewhat of a positive atmosphere or vibe in the team of, "Hey, okay, we want to showcase ourselves. We want to prove ourselves now that we can do it without karrigan."

I have worked with another very decorated IGL before with gla1ve, so it would have been really good for me to have that on my resume, of having to work with somebody like karrigan. But at the end of the day, it's his decision. I'm not too sad about it. I would have loved to work with him, but at the end of the day, it's his decision.

Have you had a chance to talk to Twistzz about his philosophy for the game and his leadership style?

Yeah, Twistzz and I both had a lot of conversations already coming into this, and we're working very closely ever since he's gotten back from the vacation on how to approach things now short-term, potentially long term, and exchanging ideas on how his philosophy could line up with my philosophy. In terms of playing style, we're developing not necessarily a new playing style, but a playing style for the current five that we have on our roster. I did already look at him and how he was leading on Liquid with mithR as his coach. So, I'm very much looking forward to working with him, picking his brain constantly, and getting to understand how he would lead and not only lead on the server, but off the server. This is something important.

Is it good that you can come into this event and say, "Hey, we want to win, but we know that we're not going to be picked apart for not having a super deep run here."

Yeah, for me personally it's best circumstances to come in and get the feeling of how the players are, how the team is, how Russ is leading, as well. Then again, I know that people out there are going to be hating on FaZe no matter what if we lose. You said it perfectly; we don't have a lot of pressure on our shoulders given the circumstances, so expectations might be a bit lower, but at the end of the day, a lot of fans are going to be out there. The keyboard warriors are going to be typing and hating me being here. I understand that Ash or other candidates would have probably been a better name for the organization.

As I said, I'm grateful to be here and looking forward for this event. As you pointed out, this is a good opportunity for us to focus on the current five that we have and get some important VRS points.

What were your thoughts about the end of your time at ENCE and the end of that roster?

Looking back to my time on ENCE, I was actually very happy to be there. If things would have been a bit different, if we had different circumstances at some point during the first year with xKacpersky on the roster, we could have made it to the Majors and could have had more impact or more success. After winning Elisa Masters Espoo back in 2024, we were actually on a really good trajectory, but it was directly then when the VRS change came, and everything was a bit weird at the time. There was not a lot of smaller LAN tournaments that we could be competing in. So we got a bit of unfortunate circumstances there for bigger tournaments.

One thing led to another when NIP came and took xKacpersky off of our hands, and Glaive had to be benched unfortunately. Overall, I'm still proud of what we did achieve there on ENCE or what I was actually able to accomplish there. Obviously, the last couple of months were not necessarily the best results, but we're working very hard. I really enjoyed working with a group of people there, not only players but staff and people in upper management. I'm sad that we couldn't make it work for getting back to the Major, but we did the best with the resources that we did have.

How you feeling about that matchup against NAVI, especially considering the things we've talked about that?

It's going to be rough to play against, because they are a well-oiled team. They have all these experienced players, and they have the system that they've all been under for the last year or even more together. So, they have a lot of experience together as a core. It's going to be challenging for us, but we have no real expectations or pressure on ourselves, so we go in and hope that we can showcase a good level of CS.