Fnatic plans for younger CSGO roster with new in-game leader

William Davis Published 26/08/2019

Fnatic organized an AMA on Reddit to shed some light into the current situation with its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team.

Fnatic has announced the benching of Richard “Xizt” Landström and Simon “twist” Eliasson. The decision comes after a series of negative results that ultimately led to the team missing the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major.

Andreas Samuelsson, team director at Fnatic, and star player Jesper “JW” Wecksell took part in the AMA.

According to Samuelsson, the main issue for the team was a lack of consistency.

“We had very good chemistry outside the game. All are still friends but we could not find any consistency nor right chemistry in-game. We showed great potential with two-second places in a row (China and Sydney), but it was always a rollercoaster in-game,” Samuelsson said.

The organization is looking to create a new all-Swedish roster and to bring up young players. They are not closed to the idea of an international team, although they prefer to keep it Swedish for the time being. If Fnatic were to sign international players to its roster outside of a trial basis, it would be the first time in the CSGO team’s history.

Fnatic is thinking long-term, the team wants a younger roster that allows them to grow over time. The team also wants a new in-game-leader.

“We need to have hungry young players to succeed in the long run. We are not sure about the roles right now, but we will aim for one IGL,” Samuelsson said.

The team director later explained that a “young” player is any player that hasn’t been part of a tier-one team and is just 20 years old or younger.

Fnatic is yet to make any hard decision regarding the new roster. The organization is still evaluating the different options they have.

The changes don’t stop with new players, either. Samuelsson said they will implement a new practice routine that works for the new roster. The team will evaluate the management behind the team and change whatever they need in order to accomplish their goals.

Dreamhack Masters Malmö is the next event of Fnatic’s schedule. The event starts on October 1, so the new roster will have more than enough time to get ready, assuming it’s assembled sooner than later.

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