Image credit: Riot Games
Fnatic will be playing in isolation for day 1.
Multiple members of Fnatic have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing them to play in isolation for the day. Their next match against Chiefs Esports Club will also see the LCO champions playing alone on stage. This comes after Fnatic shared the update on their Twitter page. Right as when Worlds 2022 started, Riot Games also posted an update on Twitter, stating that "members of several teams produced a positive result".
However, Riot has also implemented a policy that even if a competitor returns a positive result, they will still be allowed to compete in isolation. This is provided that they feel well enough to carry on. Riot has a separate isolation facility with a LAN network, allowing those who've tested positive to still compete. While usually if the other members produced a negative result, they are still required to compete on stage.
Sadly, that didn't work out so well for Fnatic with many members of the team producing positive results. This doesn't bode well for the team's fortunes at Worlds, having had their AD carry and support delayed after they contracted COVID right before travelling to Mexico. While Elias "Upset" Lipp did manage to link up with the team on time, Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov produced a negative test at a later time, forcing him to miss the first day.
With all these misfortunes and issues plaguing the team, it will be interesting to see how they react once the game starts. Evil Geniuses haven't had the best time pre-Worlds as well. Their prodigal AD carry stepped down from the team due to mental health issues. This paved the way for another up-and-coming star in the EG academy team with Muhammed Hasan "Kaori" Şentürk stepping in to fill some rather large shoes.
Fnatic will take on Evil Geniuses to start the first game of Group A in the Play-In Stage of Worlds 2022.
