SK Gaming removes fnx from active roster

The most successful roster in Brazilian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history is parting ways with one of its signature players.

Roughly one year after being brought on to the line-up, Lincoln “fnx” Lau will no longer represent SK Gaming, a move that confirms an Slingshot report earlier this week. That means the roster that won both Valve majors in 2016 is no more.

Despite retaining a consistent form in the past few months, victories have eluded the celebrated Brazilian squad, and it appears that SK Gaming’s disappointing semi-final performance in the second season of ELEAGUE was the last straw.

The roster move came four days before the LAN finals of the Esports Championship Series second season, where SK Gaming will use former G2 Esports AWPer Ricardo “fox” Pacheco in place of fnx.

Rumors surrounding fnx’s removal began spreading in November, when several competitive CS:GO teams in Brazil were undergoing significant roster shuffles.

SK Gaming’s in-game leader, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, was open about the situation in interviews, saying that there were internal issues and a lack of focus within the roster. The team elected to not make any roster moves at the time and continued to place consistently within the top four of several tournaments, however.

In the organization’s official press release, FalleN offered an explanation for the move. “Our team can only be successful when all players are working constantly for the same goal,” he said. “Lately, it didn’t feel like everybody had the same vision for our team going forward.”

FalleN reiterated, however, that it wasn’t due to any lack of commitment from fnx, and that the player was trying “extremely hard in the last months to fix that situation but ultimately we felt a change was a necessary step for now to development as a team.”