Fnatic had a disappointing 2018 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The Swedish players who were once considered the undisputed champions of the world after forging their own era and taking home three major titles barely looked like top 10 contenders last season. The team played like a shadow of its former self.
Fnatic had some hopeful blips throughout the year, winning events here and there, but they’ve struggled to stay relevant. The once-legendary lineup quickly came under scrutiny, with multiple roster changes inevitably leading to the team’s demise.
Legendary player Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson is long gone, having left the team in August 2017 for FaZe Clan, and Robin “flusha” Rönnquist followed not long after, joining Cloud9 last September.
Shotcaller Maikil “Golden” Kunda Selim had some promising performances over the year, but he’s gone, too, alongside Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson in June 2018 and William “draken” Sundin in October 2018.
Freddy “KRiMZ” Johansson and Jesper “JW” Wecksell are the only original players from the legendary lineup left behind to pick up the pieces.
But KRiMZ recently revealed some of the reasons for the team’s roster changes in an interview with HLTV. “It just didn’t work socially with Lekr0 and that spread into the game, sadly,” KRiMZ said, suggesting that the player didn’t have a good relationship with the rest of the team.
KRiMZ went on to discuss Golden’s departure. “Golden started to doubt himself for every mistake that was done,” KRiMZ said. He also said that he thought Golden lost confidence in his shotcalling abilities. “[Golden] felt like it was his fault that we failed,” KRiMZ said. “I talked to him many, many times that he shouldn’t put too much pressure on himself, because [Golden] didn’t cause every single problem.”
Despite the team’s lackluster results in 2018, KRiMZ still sees Golden as a good friend. “Golden is a guy whom I keep close to my heart,” KRiMZ said. A reunion in the future is definitely a possibility, especially considering Fnatic’s blasé attitude toward roster swaps.
In-game leader Richard “Xizt” Landström was added to Fnatic at the end of May to replace Golden, and later in October, 16-year-old talent Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin and Simon “twist” Eliasson joined him, replacing draken and Flusha.
Fnatic will put their new lineup to the test next month at IEM Katowice on Feb. 14.
