In search of a new identity, Fnatic let's go of their Nordic parts and half of their cool.
Fnatic today announced the departure of Hafþór "Hafficool" Hákonarson and Oliver "Vonethil" Lager from the active roster as they move into the reserve slots. The organisation cited "a disparity of style" as the reason the Swedish shot caller and Icelandic flex player take a seat on the bench.
Fnatic had previously underperformed in a relatively weak group at OGN's Apex Season 2. Upon arrival back home, they couldn't defend their position at the highest tier of North American Overwatch, which they had assumed last year with convincingly strong top 4 showings at all four LAN events they attended. Experts noticed an increasingly chaotic style of play when their strength had historically been built around textbook coordination and disciplined execution.
Interestingly, the organisation didn't announce their replacements at this point. This opens up the speculation game. As the team lacked star power after André "iddqd" Dahlström left the team in late October, recruiting a top level talent in the projectile DPS position could be what it takes to push Fnatic to the top again. Pharah expert Ronnie "Talespin" DuPree appears to be the perfect fit, especially since he used to be teammates with coolmatt69 and Stoop on the old EnVyUs line-up and with Buds on Curse Gaming in Shootmania. For the second support role, both Grego or Realzx are the obvious suspects.
For the time being, the Fnatic roster looks as follows:
- Custa - Support
- coolmatt69 - Flex tank
- Stoop - Tank
- Buds - DPS
- Roflgator - Coach
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