Fnatic, the name alone strikes fear into the hearts of opponents. One of the most storied franchises in all of esports has just lost two of its core members. The legendary five man lineup of Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjaer, Dennis ‘dennis’ Edelman, Freddy ‘KRiMZ’ Johansson, Jesper ‘JW’ Wespell and Robin ‘flusha’ Roquist, that once upon a time won six LAN tournaments in a row, has finally gone their separate ways.
Will they return?
Those of you who have been following the Counter-Strike scene since August of 2016, know that this core already split once. Flusha, JW and KRiMZ left the team to join their old in-game leader (IGL) Markus ‘pronax’ Wallsten. All three members eventually rejoined Fnatic, so could we have a similar situation here? I would say it’s doubtful, olofmeister is on a much better team now. FaZe will likely be one of the juggernaut teams for years to come. Dennis’ new team, GODSENT, has much more potential than the current Fnatic, as a lot of the players have yet to get their ‘shot’ at the big time. Specifically Fredrik ‘freddieb’ Buö and Joakim ‘disco doplan’ Gidetun. Disco did have a chance on the Fnatic roster when flusha and JW left for GODSENT (and following KRiMZ’ return to the team). Across two tournaments with Fnatic, ELEAGUE and the ELEAGUE Major, he posted a 0.76 and 0.86 HLTV rating, underwhelming to say the least.
Freddieb, on the other hand, hasn’t had a true test against top level competition. The only thing that could even remotely measure his performance was at WESG 2016. He faced the only two ‘good’ teams there, EnVyUs and Virtus Pro. Against Virtus Pro, he was somewhere in between okay and poor (-13 K/D over two maps); however, I wouldn’t judge him too harshly on this. He still has massive potential, the skill is clearly there when looking with the eye test. Dropping him into the in-game leader role is not ideal, as he is the least experienced player on the team. We don’t know if he will be in-game leading for sure, but he is replacing their former IGL, pronax, and was an IGL toward the end of his time on Epsilon.
The end of an era
Saying goodbye is always bitter, but this change was undoubtedly warranted. Swedish players are notorious for being some of the most competitive in the world, and quite frankly Fnatic has been underwhelming since flusha and JW joined GODSENT for a couple months. The chemistry we used to know them for just wasn’t there, and it didn’t seem to be clicking. They had a semi-decent performance at the major but overall have not impressed. I will still refuse to believe that olof joining FaZe is a good idea but in all honesty, it was the clear best move for him. As I’ve already stated, the new GODSENT have some serious potential, but the real question is will dennis have the patience to build from the ground up? I have no hope for this Fnatic core unless flusha and JW magically revert to their prime selves.
Farewell Fnatic, the show you put on in early 2016 will not be forgotten; you’ve produced some of the greatest moments in Counter-Strike history, and have certainly earned your place as one of the greatest rosters of all time.
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