Fnatic benches Jackinho, smooya to stand in as the team looks for a replacement

Fnatic has benched its AWPer, Jackinho, from its CS:GO roster, according to an announcement from today. Movistar Riders’ smooya will serve as a temporary substitute for this week’s Intel Extreme Masters Winter open qualifier while Fnatic looks for a long-term player.

“We want to thank Jack for his plays and performance this last year,” the announcement reads. “In the coming months, we’ll explore new options for our AWP role and build further towards the results we expect and want,” the organization adds.

Fnatic’s results in the past few months have been lacking. The team failed to reach a top-four finish in 2021 outside of cs_summit 7 in January, the Snow Sweet Snow in April, and the Spring Sweet Spring in May. Recently, Fnatic placed 21-24th in IEM Fall 2021: Europe, going 0-5 and missing the chance to qualify for the PGL Stockholm Major.

The roster swap isn’t exactly surprising given Fnatic’s recent performance. The team will use smooya as a substitute during this weekend’s IEM Winter open qualifier, but he likely won’t be a long-term replacement. 

Jackinho’s benching isn’t the first change the organization has made in the CS:GO roster. At the beginning of August, the team made a switch to an international lineup by adding mezii and ALEX.

The team rose to fame by dominating the CS:GO scene in 2015. Aiming to return to the top of the world’s rankings is understandable, but so far, this year’s results have been nothing short of disappointing.