Fnatic rose from the ashes within the 2023 Summer time LEC Break up, however after shedding one in every of their key gamers, can they maintain their momentum?
The 2024 LEC Season is upon us, because the Winter Break up begins on January thirteenth, 2024! Crew Heretics, GIANTX (the brand new staff fashioned by the merging of Excel Esports and Giants), G2 Esports, Crew Vitality and Fnatic have already locked of their rosters, with Crew BDS and Rogue beginning to finalize their groups as nicely. In fact, these are solely the official roster locks, as all of the rosters have been leaked or revealed weeks in the past.
Fnatic solely made one change to their roster, and although their staff was profitable on the finish of the 2023 season, they made an extremely impactful change – hopefully, it pays off for black and orange squad.
Fnatic in 2023
Fnatic stunned everybody after re-signing the largest identify within the historical past of the organisation earlier than the beginning of the 2023 season, Rekkles. The Swedish ADC performed on the ERL degree for 2022, however his efficiency wasn’t convincing, which didn’t change even after he returned to the LEC. Fnatic completed ninth within the Winter Break up resulting from poor performances from principally the entire staff, which pressured administration to make adjustments.
They signed Oscarinin as a substitute of Wunder, swapped Worlds 2022 fan-favourite Rhuckz for Advienne, and signed Nightshare as a coach. Although that they had a rocky begin with Oscarinin rivalling destructive information in efficiency, they finally managed to enhance, making it to Teams, however ending eighth.
After letting Rekkles go in favour of Korean ADC Noah and buying and selling Advienne for Trymbi, the squad improved massively, ending the Summer time Common season 2nd and the Playoffs third. They went on to the Grand Finals of the LEC Season Finals to face their everlasting rivals, G2 Esports, however resulting from Oscarinin’s damage and G2’s distinctive efficiency, they couldn’t beat the Kings of Europe.
Fnatic 2024 Roster
High: Óscar “Oscarinin” Munoz Jiménez
Jungle: Iván “Razork” Martín Díaz
Mid: Marek “Humanoid” Brázda
ADC: Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek
Assist: Yoon “Jun” Se-jun
Is shedding Trymbi price it?
Whereas Noah was a fantastic addition to Fnatic’s roster earlier than the beginning of the Summer time Break up, he had some shaky matches, particularly after hyper-carries like Jinx, Aphelios and Zeri have been nerfed out of the meta. The Korean participant discovered his footing in the direction of the top of the 12 months, however at Worlds, he was outclassed – identical to the remainder of Fnatic.
That features Trymbi, however the Spanish-Polish participant was essentially the most constant and flashy participant on the black-and-orange squad in Summer time. His first match below the banner of Fnatic was extremely memorable, as he made some nice performs across the Rift with Thresh. Whereas he wasn’t excellent, he is a superb help – not only for Noah, however for the remainder of the staff as nicely, enabling Razork and Humanoid, in addition to relieving Oscarinin when he wanted it.
Nonetheless, Fnatic determined to half methods with Trymbi, who didn’t handle to discover a new staff for 2024. Some rumours declare that he was a bit tough to work with in- and out of doors of the sport, however his power and shotcalling will probably be missed by each followers – and I presume the staff as nicely.
Will Jun save Fnatic?
Trymbi was changed with the previous help of Kwangdong Freecs, Jun. The 23-year-old began in DRX Challengers again in 2020, however solely managed to win the LCK Academy Collection/Challenger League twice. He subbed in for BeryL within the LCK 2022 Spring Collection however wasn’t higher than the now 2-times Worlds winner. He performed for KDF for the whole lot of 2023, however wasn’t too profitable with the staff, failing to make Playoffs in both break up.
Nonetheless, he’s a really distinctive participant, that prefers harm sellers akin to Heimerdinger, Ashe and Karma, and had the very best harm% out of all LCK helps within the Summer time Common Season – the one situation is that he received 1 out of 9 video games performed with Karma, who was his most performed champion. The most important cause for Fnatic to signal Jun was to create an all-Korean botlane, the place the communication difficulties Noah had (and labored on immensely) don’t turn out to be a hindrance to the staff.
Fnatic 2024 Predictions
Although Trymbi was a fantastic participant, Fnatic didn’t turn out to be a lot weaker than earlier than. They nonetheless have a fantastic topside due to Humanoid, Razork and Oscarinin, and relying on the meta, Noah can shine once more. The 2 Korean gamers are additionally extra prone to discover synergy within the botlane, and the Season 14 adjustments is perhaps extraordinarily helpful to Noah, who can broaden his champion pool by the point the LEC Winter Break up begins at the start of January.
Fnatic ought to stay a contender staff, though perhaps not a prime 3 squad at first – we’ll see how the brand new botlane works out in a number of weeks!