In 2024, Fnatic's drought got a little worse. The Black and Orange, who had lost five finals since their last title in the summer of 2018 before the start of last season, came close to putting an end to this black series. But in the end, the curse continued: Fnatic lost three more finals, at the Spring Split, Summer Split, and Season Finals. All three against G2 Esports, who were already responsible for four of Fnatic's previous five final losses.

In other words, Fnatic was one of the best teams in the LEC last year, even took part in all the international tournaments, but was never able to convert. And so felt they needed a change: “2024 was by no means a bad year for our League of Legends side, but neither did we leave the season satisfied, thinking that status quo is the obvious way forward”, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, Fnatic’s Chief Gaming Officer, explained. “We saw potential in all our players, but we also felt that we had fundamental challenges that required change for the future season. We’re in this sport to win, and the changes we conducted for 2025 are simply meant to improve the outlook, both in LEC and also internationally. “

Upset's return

According to cArn, Fnatic started its offseason being “open for any change”. In the end, the club chose to keep its topside - Óscar “Oscarinin” Muñoz, Iván “Razork” Martín, and Marek “Humanoid” Brázda - and to replace its botlane. “From our review process, and the movements in the market, this became the natural path forward, for a couple of reasons,” cArn detailed. While Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek and Yoon “Jun” Se-jun were among the LEC's top duolanes last year, they lost their places, and were replaced by Elias “Upset” Lipp and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle. "We think that Upset and Mikyx will boost the in-game communications of the team, and with that improve both our team’s agility and stability”, cArn said. “Secondly, Upset and Mikyx were very excited about teaming up as a botlane duo, and we expect them from the get-go to play with assertiveness and confidence.”

Upset has already played for Fnatic, in 2021 and 2022. He arrived to replace club legend Martin “Rekkles” Larsson, and at the time was among the best players in his position in the league, one of the most stable at the highest level. However, he was replaced in 2023, to the surprise of many fans, when Fnatic preferred to... bring back Rekkles. His stint with Vitality and then his year with Karmine Corp were less glowing, but Upset remains a sure bet for a top LEC team.

Even if, according to our sources, the organization also considered Yoon “Ice” Sang-hoon and Lee “Hans SamD” Jae-hoon, Upset's return would have appeared natural to both parties. “We think he’s a terrific player that fits the team we want to build for this year really well, and that despite the challenges we had together in the past it felt very natural to reunite,” cArn stated. “This was made possible by having extensive conversations between us and Elias during the off-season, where we both reflected on the past experience together, but equally with a lot of focus on the future: where are we going from here, what are the expectations, and so forth.”

"Mikyx has definitely been a talent we've been interested in for a while"

In the support position, for which the market has been particularly turbulent this offseason, Fnatic had, according to our sources, considered keeping Jun - who eventually left, like Noah, for GIANTX. But when G2 was eliminated from Worlds and Mikyx became an option, Fnatic, like several other clubs, became interested in the Slovenian player. “Mikyx has definitely been a talent we've been interested in for a while, his performance and longevity are just outstanding so of course he became a priority when we understood he may become available”, cArn confirmed. The 26-year-old is also well known at Fnatic, having been with G2 for each of the Black and Orange’s seven final losses to the Samurai in recent years…

In fact, he won three of these titles between 2019 and 2020 with another former G2 member who landed at Fnatic, Head Coach Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann. The British organization chose to change the captain of its ship at the contract expiration of the previous Head Coach, Tomáš “Nightshare” Kněžínek, who had been in charge for two years. “Similar to how we felt about the botlane change, we felt that the way forward for us going into 2025 was to seek out a new head coach - with the goal to improve our sporting outlook ahead,” cArn explained. “Fabian (Grabbz) is someone we have been speaking to for numerous years, and it was in this off-season things lined up to a point a collaboration was possible - and we’re excited to see what his leadership can bring to our team, and organization as a whole.”

With this roster, Fnatic may well be the number 1 favorite at the start of the year. Both for its XXL recruitment and because, for its part, G2 is entering a new cycle with the integration of a rookie (Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan) and will probably need a little time for its project to mature. This Winter could therefore be the one of redemption for the Black et Orange. In particular, this could mean finally adding a title to the trophy cabinet of Razork or Upset, who, despite their status, have never won a title.

Fnatic's 2025 roster :

Read our articles from our LEC Roster Insight Series:

1. SK Gaming with Head Coach OWN3R
2. Team Vitality with Head Coach Pad
3. Movistar KOI with VP of Operations Feiron
4. GIANTX with Head Coach Guilhoto
5. Team BDS with Head Coach Striker & General Manager Mathieu
6. Karmine Corp with Head Coach Reha
7. Team Heretics with Team Director LEC Niklas
8. Rogue with General Manager Flyy
9. G2 Esports with General Manager Romain Bigeard