Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard - Counter-Strike's Most Loyal Player

Earlier this week, Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard became the player with the longest stint in an organisation, eclipsing Jonathan “EliGE⁠” Jablonowski's 3013-day stint with Liquid spanning from March 2015 to June 2023. In his tenure with the American organisation, the 29-year-old has played over 1500 maps, won an abundance of team silverware, including a Major trophy, as well as an individual award collection to be proud of.

To celebrate this achievement, we thought it was only right to look through rain’s illustrious career: the high points, the lows and everything that led to today, where rain is one of the most successful players in all of Counter-Strike history.

The Norwegian started his career in the Nordic scene, making his HLTV debut with partyastronaunts, before making his move to his first organisation London Conspiracy. On partyastronauts, he played alongside his fellow countryman Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad before meeting up with other well-known Norwegians like Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel and Pål “Polly” Kammen. It was with RUBINO and Polly that rain attended his first Major, ESL One Cologne 2014, where they came last place following 16-2 and 16-5 losses to LDLC and future teammate Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s CPH Wolves respectively.

Håvard and Co then left London Conspiracy and moved to LGB, where with jkaem now on the side, he qualified for his second Major - ESL One Katowice 2015. The Norwegian squad picked up their first Major win in Poland, beating PENTA 16-3 on Dust2 but sadly went out in the groups in third place after losing to Envy and then the rematch to PENTA. Following this upset, rain decided to leave his region and join the first international super team assembled - Kinguin.

On Kinguin he was joined by Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, Ricardo “fox” Pacheco, Mikail “Maikelele” Bill and Alexander “SKYTTEN” Carlsson, who was quickly replaced by Dennis “dennis” Edman. It was with the squad that rain made his first Major playoffs, beating Australian squad Immunity and American side Cloud9 to reach the Quarter-finals of ESL One Cologne 2015. The international team eventually lost out, again (for rain), at the hands of karrigan, this time playing for TSM. They represented the organisation well, even winning Gaming Paradise 2015, which eventually resulted in them being acquired by Gamers2.

They joined Gamers2 in September and before the end of the month, Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom departed for Titan and was replaced with rain’s old teammate jkaem. With this squad, rain and his team managed to make the Semi-finals of two events - first the Major - DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 and then IEM San Jose 2015 with new recruit Philip “aizy” Aistrup who came in to replace dennis.They were knocked out in Romania by EnVyUs, who went on to win the Major, thanks to stellar performances by Kenny “kennyS” Schrub. It was in that semi-final bout that rain had one of the rounds of his career, winning a 1v5 on the deciding map Cache, but it wasn’t enough to secure the victory.

After a good end to 2015, the roster was picked up by FaZe at the start of 2016 for a reported $700K, an organisation rain has remained a member of to this day and seemingly for the foreseeable future. 2016 was not the best year for FaZe, as they were grouped in both Major tournaments but it was a year that saw huge changes to the roster surrounding the Norwegian. The first was the arrival of Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström as coach early in the year. What followed was the arrival of Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey, Aleksi “allu” Jalli and Finn “karrigan” Andersen before the year's end, a year which saw rain still without a noteworthy trophy in his career.

The dawn of 2017 saw FaZe make one of their most ambitious signings of all time, signing Bosnian wonderkid Nikola “NiKo” Kovač from mousesports, a roster move which propelled the international squad to new heights. They didn’t find Major success in 2017, something that has eluded NiKo his entire career, but they did win a whole host of events. They won their first event in April in Ukraine - Starladder StarSeries Season 3. They followed that up with wins at ELEAGUE Premier, ESL New York and ECS Season 4 in late December and this was with two new additions Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács who replaced allu and kioShiMa. Throughout the four events, rain and NiKo shared the MVP awards, winning two each, with rain winning his first ever at ELEAGUE Premier in Atlanta. 2017 was also rain’s first year as part of the HLTV Top Players list, coming fourth behind only teammate NiKo and Brazilian stars Fernando “fer” Alvarenga and Marcelo “coldzera” David.

2018 was a strange year for FaZe, starting with Major heartbreak following defeat in the Grand Final of the ELEAGUE Boston Major at the hands of home heroes Cloud9. They didn’t shake off the second-place streak immediately either losing to fnatic in the Katowice final at the next event. They did, however, win events in 2018, winning two without olofmeister due to personal circumstances. With Swedish legend Richard “Xizt” Landström in the side, they were victorious at IEM Sydney and with fellow Norwegian Jørgen “cromen” Robertsen they won in Brazil at ESL One Belo Horizonte. With the squad back together for the end of the year they also managed to lift the trophy at EPICENTER 2018. The Norwegian was again awarded for his fine form in 2018, placing 18th in the Top Players of 2018.

2019 was the start of a transitional period for FaZe as karrigan departed to end the previous year. This saw Janko “YNk” Paunović join as coach as FaZe began experimenting with IGLs. It was with stand-in Däuren “AdreN” Qystaubaev that they won the ELEAGUE Invitational before attending the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, where they made the Quarter-finals, losing out to Natus Vincere. The Kazakhstani IGL won one more event with FaZe - BLAST Pro Series in Miami, beating Liquid 2-0 in the final on home turf. Heading into the second Major of 2019, the StarLadder Berlin Major, AdreN made way for Filip “NEO” Kubski, being their second IGL of the year. The Polish legend was signed on trial but it wasn’t to be, as they exited in Germany with just one map to their name against mousesports.

NEO played a couple more events with the team before the summer break where he was removed along with GuardiaN who returned to Natus Vincere, marking a big change for FaZe which saw star-rifler take the helm as IGL. As part of this rebuild, the American organisation acquired Latvian youngster Helvijs “broky” Saukants as the AWPer and experienced two-time Major MVP Marcelo “coldzera” David from MIBR. It wasn’t long after coming together that this squad lifted a trophy, being victorious in Denmark at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, with NiKo winning an MVP as the IGL. Håvard remained a consistent piece in an inconsistent team throughout 2019 and things weren’t getting easier heading into 2020.

2020, the year known by all as the year which turned everyone’s lives upside down. The COVID-19 pandemic not only sent the whole world into lockdown but also meant no CS:GO LANs. The final event before the pandemic saw FaZe narrowly miss out on the playoffs against eventual winners Natus Vincere at IEM Katowice 2020. The “Online Era” was not full of success for the international lineup and they underwent a few roster moves. Swedish legend olofmeister departed the team early in the year and was replaced by Lithuanian talent Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras, who was swiftly removed in favour of Danish Major MVP Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye. They did manage to win one event in 2020 - IEM New York 2020 Europe, beating OG of all teams in the final.

The end of 2020 saw long-time star player and short-time IGL NiKo depart for G2. This started a whole host of roster moves, with olofmeister joining again, leaving again and then joining a third time, karrigan rejoining the team and Canadian Intel Grand Slam winner Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken joining from Liquid. At this time RobbaN also returned as coach. To make way for these additions, coldzera and Kjaerbye both left the team, all before the first CS:GO LAN for over a year in July of 2021 - IEM Cologne. What followed was a series of poor results leading up to the only Major of 2021, PGL Major Stockholm - the tournament where Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev finally got his Major title. FaZe were not at their best in Sweden and this continued till the end of the year, when a change was inevitable and that was the addition of Estonian superstar Robin “ropz” Kool in place of olofmeister.

This addition saw FaZe, karrigan and rain reach new heights in 2022, winning four huge events across the year - ESL Pro League Season 15, Katowice, Cologne and even a Major title to top it all off. Katowice, the strangest of the three, was an event which saw Justin “jks” Savage stand in for both ropz and rain at different stages of the event. The PGL Major in Antwerp was likely the highlight of the Norwegian's career, winning the MVP, a Major MVP, due to his vintage performances, especially in the Playoffs. Their Cologne win in July came after their Major triumph, but FaZe struggled to find form for the rest of the year, getting knocked out without a map win as defending champions at the IEM Rio Major. They wouldn’t win another event in 2022, but with just one more win required to grab the Intel Grand Slam and that $1M prize, they entered 2023 with a goal and a point to prove. For his outstanding performances, not only in the Major but across the whole year, rain was awarded 13th place in the Top 20 Players of 2022 by HLTV, the third time in his career that he was on the list.

After a poor showing as the title holders at IEM Katowice 2023, FaZe went into ESL Pro League Season 17 still searching for their final notch of the Intel Grand Slam. The international quintet were on song in Malta, winning the final 3-1 over Cloud9, clinching Season 4 of the Intel Grand Slam, and winning the $1M prize. This was a meteoric achievement, but with CS2 being announced in March, FaZe’s form for the year seemed to taper off. They failed to win an event for the rest of CS:GO’s duration and bowed out in the Quarter-final of the last Global Offensive Major, falling at the hands of Heroic. With a new game on the horizon, would FaZe manage the transition?

The first event of CS2 was IEM Sydney, an event which saw FaZe blitz through the opposition and best Complexity in the final. IEM Sydney was rain’s fourth and most recent MVP, showing the 29-year-old is ageing like a fine wine. Sydney was not only the first tournament playing a new game but also the first event for new coach NEO, who replaced RobbaN. Since the scene shifted to CS2, FaZe have made at least the final at every single event possible, picking up an Online trophy at the Thunderpick World Championship and a LAN trophy at the CS Asia Championships before the year closed. Unfortunately, they were bested by Dan “apEX” Madesclaire’s Vitality at both BLAST Premier Fall and World Finals, the second event played with new recruit David “frozen” Čerňanský, who came in to take the place of Liquid-bound Twistzz.

In 2024, rain and his team made the final at both Katowice and the Major, losing out to a Danil “donk” Kryshkovets-powered Spirit and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen-led Natus Vincere. Losing the first CS2 Major was a huge disappointment, but FaZe managed to steady the ship, winning the next event - IEM Chengdu just over a week ago. With ESL Pro League Season 19 up next, will FaZe continue their final streak? The world's number-one team certainly look like the favourites for the title.

Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard is one of the most decorated players in the entire history of the Counter-Strike franchise, winning both a Major and an Intel Grand Slam, a feat not many have achieved. There are no signs of slowing down for the 29-year-old and the sky's the limit - could he win a second Major? A second Intel Grand Slam title? Only time will tell, and with karrigan by his side, the two have created a legacy in Counter-Strike and seemingly continue to win with whoever plays alongside them.