Bymas: "Unlike in FaZe, I will get to play how I want in mousesports, with more freedom"

The Lithuanian player reflects on his time with FaZe and lays out his expectations for his new challenge with MOUZ.

Early on in the new season, Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras' time in FaZe officially came to an end when he was announced as mousesports' sixth player after spending several weeks with the Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač-led side as a stand-in for Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer. As he prepares to play his first match since the player break, the Lithuanian looks back at his first challenge in top-tier CS:GO and the experience he gained over the last three months, looking relatively content with how he fared in his trial by fire, given the circumstances.

"I didn't have any expectations," the 17-year-old told HLTV.org about the short period he spent playing in FaZe. "My goal was to perform as well as I could and, all in all, I'd say I performed quite well considering I had never played in a team and I took all the positions and roles that olofmeister had, which are definitely not for me."

Bymas didn't look at home in the lurking role he had to slot into, but despite averaging only a 0.93 rating over four tournaments, he at times showed potential for greater things and was still able to help FaZe contend for high placings, with the team finishing third in DreamHack Masters and BLAST Premier Spring.

"In my opinion, I performed okay in my positions and roles, but there were some moments when I was stressed and made some stupid mistakes," he said. "I think the biggest challenge for me was coping with the stress, the pressure, and taking up the lurker role. It's a role that requires experience and a good understanding of rotations, which I don't have in team CS."

As a result, the Lithuanian was not surprised to learn that he would not continue with the team beyond the break. "I wasn't expecting to stay," he admitted while giving a bit of insight into FaZe's original plan before the Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye signing. "Before the player break, NiKo wanted to give the IGL role to somebody else. On top of that, I didn't perform as well as they wanted me to perform in the positions and roles that I was given."

However, despite all the challenges that came with playing for an ambitious team like FaZe and with the ill-fitting role, Bymas is happy to have played for such a high-profile team. "I wasn't really disappointed," he said. "Getting a chance to play for FaZe without any previous experience is already insane enough". After all, in his first taste of big-time competition, Bymas got to play in a team that could contend for titles and alongside two of the game's greatest players, who were there to help him along the way.

"coldzera guided me the most," Bymas shared. "I was playing in most of the sites with cold and he was always telling me what I did wrong and what I should do instead, but NiKo helped me with a lot of various things as well." Not a bad thing to have in your résumé, especially when your next team is MOUZ, who were once called "budget FaZe".

When we asked Bymas about how he got to find his new home, the FPL-bred youngster revealed that the German organization had already expressed an interest in him even before he got to try out for FaZe, at a time when their team was already on a downwards spiral. During the player break, MOUZ' interest turned into something more serious, and the Lithuanian jumped at the chance to represent an organisation that has already proved in the past that it can work around school commitments for its players.

"I received quite a lot of offers from tier-two teams, even from NA, before FaZe, but most of them wanted me to quit school or live in another country," the 17-year-old revealed. "mousesports has already had past experiences where they let young players finish school [Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský], and that is one of the reasons why I accepted this offer."

The Lithuanian's signing for the position of a "development player" was initially shrouded in mystery. The reasons for his addition were as vague as they come, but after a few weeks MOUZ' intentions became much clearer. With the team's results failing to improve in ESL One Cologne, Bymas was moved to the starting lineup as a replacement for Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker, with the AWP being placed in Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong's hands. Free of the shackles that hampered him during his FaZe tenure, the Lithuanian is hopeful that he will be able to show his true colours in his new team.

"karrigan's goal right now is to get me into my comfort zone as much as possible by giving me freedom and letting me play the positions that I like playing the most," he revealed. "I'm going to be the entry fragger, and karrigan believes I can become a very good entry. Unlike in FaZe, where I was put in olof's positions and roles, I will get to play how I want in mousesports, with more freedom."

Only time will tell whether the move will help the international team get back to winning ways after months of struggle in online play. However, time is a scarce commodity for MOUZ, who are currently sitting 16th in the world and will have had only a few days to prepare for their first match with the new member when they take on Bymas' former team of FaZe on Wednesday in their opening match in ESL Pro League Season 12.