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Robin “ropz” Kool, former star of MOUZ and now of FaZe Clan, is the star of the 337th Episode of ‘Reflections’. This episode is part one of two about ropz’s career.
ropz has been one of the best riflers in professional Counter-Strike for the better part of the last half a decade. Breaking out as an FPL (FACEIT Pro League) talent with uncanny clutch ability, ropz proved himself and earned a spot on MOUZ. Soon the team was winning events and making deep runs and ropz was emerging as a prospect against even the world’s best teams.
Following a successful 2018, ropz got a new in-game leader in the form of karrigan as well as other new team-mates and by the end of the year was again contesting trophies, as MOUZ famously made five straight LAN finals and won the CS:GO Asia Championships 2018, cs_summit 5, ESL ProLeague S10 and the ICE Challenge.
Online play saw MOUZ’s level drop and ropz decided to sign with the team again, making him an individual star in a team that wasn’t relevant when it came to trophies. It wasn’t until ropz reunited with karrigan in FaZe for 2022 that he again found himself able to win and then the trophies came fast and one after another. FaZe won the first three LANs they attended in 2022, along the way winning the prestigious IEM Katowice and the PGL Antwerp major.
Just before the player break they would add IEM Cologne to complete the triple crown (major, Katowice and Cologne) in a single year. The rest of 2022 saw FaZe come close but fail to win any more. In early 2023 the mission became to win one more ESL event and thus complete the Intel Grand Slam worth a bonus $1,000,000 and FaZe would accomplish that feat with the help of an MVP level performance from ropz at ESL ProLeague S17.
FaZe made quarter-finals at the BLAST Paris major but could not overcome Heroic there. The team then entered it’s first true slump only to resurrect themselves in CS2. FaZe lost their first CS2 match and then won 18 straight matches in a row, winning IEM Sydney, the online Thunderpick World Championship and the CS2 Asia Championship. FaZe’s streak was halted in the final of BLAST Fall Finals, where they were defeated by Vitality.
Another loss to Vitality in another finals appearance at BLAST World Final saw ropz and FaZe again poised to win but only bested by ZywOo and the gang. Many consider ropz one of the very best CS2 players in the world, contending for best rifler in the game.
In part one, ropz discusses playing with karrigan in MOUZ, how he played in his last year there, winning the Grand Slam and major with FaZe, how rain and broky play and what it’s like to be in a team where you can have an off game and still win.
This interview was recorded on the 3rd of January, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 What if there’d never been the FACEIT office opportunity
03:11 Who was ropz in the original MOUZ?
05:07 Prime Astralis
06:35 Always nerdy over CS?
08:02 What if karrigan had inherited MOUZ 2018?
09:09 karrigan calling in MOUZ
11:37 What if there’d been a spring major in 2020?
13:31 Change when you win trophies?
14:37 Staying an extra year in MOUZ
17:05 Was he selfish in MOUZ at the end?
18:46 Frozen now?
20:10 Expectations upon joining FaZe?
21:40 Getting ill during IEM Katowice 2023
24:01 Winning IEM Katowice
27:23 Winning back-to-back LANs with EPL S15 run
30:23 Playing Na’Vi in PGL Antwerp final
32:43 Winning the major
35:28 rain
37:57 broky
40:28 Clutch factor in FaZe
42:07 ropz at IEM Cologne
44:08 Winning so much so soon in FaZe
46:17 Balance of stars allowing people to have an off game
49:05 Was the team conscious of making comebacks and winning clutch games?
50:16 What happened at IEM Rio?
52:52 Ups and downs of late 2022 into early 2023
56:14 Needing one last win for the Intel Grand Slam
58:27 His performance at ESL ProLeague S17
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