Fnatic legends Jesper “JW” Wecksell and Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson have signed long-term contracts with Fnatic.
The duo revealed in a recent Twitch stream that they are sticking together for three more years on Fnatic. They’ve already been with the organization for a total of about five years each, and they’re showing no signs of stopping their domination at the top of Swedish CS:GO. By the end of their contracts, their tenure will amount to eight years, assuming they don’t get released or bought out by another team.
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JW and KRIMZ can be considered franchise players because they’ve been with the organization for so long. Even though they left for a brief period in 2017 to join their old teammate Markus “pronax” Wallsten GODSENT, JW and KRIMZ still returned to Fnatic, an organization where JW feels at home.
“After pretty much five years straight (except one hiccup) in the organisation, I simply feel like I’m home,” JW said in Fnatic’s announcement. “I know I won’t find a better home and I know I won’t make the same mark and create the same legacy elsewhere. I’ve always been a Fnatic fan. Ever since I got into the scene, Patrik “cArn” Sattermon, Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, [etc.] were my heroes. I want to be that kind of guy to someone else, you know? It just makes perfect sense to me.”
KRIMZ believes that their current lineup is “best one we’ve had so far,” which is surprising considering the back-to-back Major titles they won in 2015 at ESL One Katowice and at ESL One Cologne. Back then they competed with other veterans like pronax, Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer, and Robin “flusha” Ronnquist. Now they’re competing with Richard “xizt” Landstrom, Simon “twist” Eliasson, and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, with whom they placed top-four at the recent iBuyPower Masters Invitational in January.
“We haven’t shown the same performances [as previous years], of course, but i’m sure it will come eventually,” KRIMZ also said in Fnatic’s announcement. “Outside the game, I’ve never experienced something close to it, everyone is like a family, everyone is helping each other out whenever needed, inside and out of the game. Everyone wants to help bring out the best from each other.I’m confident we can defend our [2018] Katowice [title], that is obviously the goal. However, in terms of expectations and ‘predictions’, I would say we are going to be insanely disappointed if we don’t reach top four.”
Fnatic’s IEM Katowice Major run begins on Feb. 13, when they’ll be playing in the New Challengers stage.
