After almost 10 years and 3541 days as a member of the team, one of the longest tenures across any esport, Havard “rain” Nygaard has been benched from FaZe Clan’s Counter-Strike 2 team.
A run that saw him lift the title PGL Major Antwerp 2022 as well as claim Intel Grand Slam Season IV, he had been a member of the organization since they entered Counter-Strike and bought the then-G2 team.
Image Credit: PGL
rain’s Stay Comes To An End
rain’s benching by FaZe has been discussed about many times over the years, but perhaps never more so than in the last couple of weeks following the signing of Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, a move that saw Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski go the other way and re-join Team Liquid.
There had been discussions that new signing Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski may be pushed aside in favour of keeping rain around for a few months following a strong run of form for the Norwegian, but seeing as jcobbb plays similar roles, is nine years younger and therefore represents the future of the team, that won’t be the case.
Given that rain celebrated the birth of his second child earlier this year, many had speculated that rain’s removal would lead to the Norwegian hanging up the mouse and keyboard for good. However, rain’s statement has put those rumours to bed.
“My journey in CS2 is far from over. I’m not retiring. I will keep competing and growing as a player. I’m open to offers for any role, and while stepping into the IGL role would be a new challenge for me, it’s one I’m eager to embrace.”
— Håvard Nygaard (@FaZe_rainCS) September 29, 2025
New Role For rain
The prospect of rain stepping into the IGL role is an exciting one. He’s one of the most experienced players in the game, and having played under arguably the GOAT IGL, Finn “karrigan” Andersen for the majority of those ten years on FaZe, he has had an excellent tutor in the role.
He also wouldn’t be the only star player to recently take up IGLing duties, G2’s Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac recently assumed the role as part of their rebuild and has already led them to a tier one trophy at BLAST Open London.
Regardless of interest in rain, though, it’s likely that FaZe will keep rain in the organisation until after the StarLadder Budapest Major. This is due to a rule that requires players to have played five matches with their team in order to be officially part of the roster for the Major, which FaZe will struggle to get with Twistzz before the cutoff date on October 6th.