Fnatic Finally Get The Reshuffle They Need In Their CS:GO Team

It’s hard for CS:GO fans to cast their minds back about a year or so ago when Fnatic were still one of the most exciting orgs active in the game. In the middle of a run of six straight events where the Swedish side were finishing in at least the top four teams, Fnatic’s rejuvenated era at the backend of 2019 up to the start of the online era also began with a win at DreamHack Masters Malmo and ended with their triumph at ESL Pro League Season 11, the first event held in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

After a confused period of stagnation with Xizt and Twist in the lineup, which reached an all time low with the side failing to even qualify for the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major. Former Fnatic veterans Flusha and Golden were brought in from Cloud9 in the wake of this failure in October 2019, and the turnaround was practically instantaneous with their triumph at Malmo coming roughly a month after the reshuffling.

Fnatic are a side like no other in the scene. They thrive on the big stage, live on infuriating and rattling their opponents through their disrespectful plays and legendary legacies for whipping out the knife kills to even the most seasoned of professionals.

And it’s for perhaps these reasons that the side have continued to struggle following their win at ESL Pro League 11 in the spring. Throughout the online era, Fnatic have struggled to match the intensity of surprise packages such as BIG, Heroic or Mad Lions and have generally looked like a team disinterested in performing in online events.

The likes of Brollan and Golden have been ultra-vocal on their frustration at not being able to compete on the big stages in front of the huge crowds, and the continued downturn in results has finally led to a reshuffling in the side’s active lineup.

Flusha Departs (Again)

The trio of Krimz, JW and Flusha is perhaps the most iconic group of players specific to one team in all of CS:GO’s decade-long history, but this will be the second instance of the group being split up. In many ways Flusha encompasses everything great about the Fnatic identity. Senor VAC is perhaps the most infuriating player to play against, with his long and patient lurking and unorthodox methods leading to plenty of pros swearing down that he’s been a cheater for years.

This rattling has been instrumental in the side climbing up the Esports betting odds over the years, but it seems like the lack of motivation rife in the side has hit Flusha the hardest over the past five months or so.

As an anchor and a lurker, no one can expect Flusha to be hitting a ridiculously high K/D ratio such as JW, Brollan or Krimz on the team, but alternatively there’s no denying that out of everyone in the team he’s the one that has the least convincing argument to be kept on.

And it seems like the lack of motivation is something that Flusha himself has felt personally, admitting on his personal Twitch stream that he is hungry to try out an IGL role and start up his own roster alongside Sunny from ENCE and Autimatic from the old Gen.G roster, who was a teammate fo Flusha’s back on Cloud9.

Up Steps Jackinho 

Fnatic had been linked with a move for 21 year old rookie Jack Ström Mattsson aka. Jackinho for a number of weeks prior to his signing being announced on the 12th of January. It was first thought that the rookie AWPer would be coming in as a sixth man and potentially a substitute, but of course it’s now been revealed that he will be slotting in straight into the active lineup.

Jackinho is reportedly one of the most promising upcoming talents in the Swedish scene, a community that has such a rich history of producing talents but that has also been starved of success stories in more recent times.

It’s believed that JW will remain as Fnatic’s primary go-to AWPer and Jackinho will step in as a secondary option in the same vein that Flusha was before him, which should help ease the pressure on the young rookie and ensure that he can continue to work on his own skills without potentially costing the team too much.

At the time of writing, Fnatic’s lineup stands as:

Jesper “⁠JW⁠” Wecksell

Freddy “⁠KRIMZ⁠” Johansson

Ludvig “⁠Brollan⁠” Brolin

Maikil “⁠Golden⁠” Selim

Jack “⁠Jackinho⁠” Ström Mattsson

Andreas “⁠Samuelsson⁠” Samuelsson (coach)

Robin “⁠flusha⁠” Rönnquist (inactive)