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We might never see this version of Fnatic reach their peak

Fnatic’s bot lane contracting Covid a week before the start of the tournament spells doom for their World’s chances.... Scott Kostov | 25. September 2022

Fnatic’s bot lane contracting Covid a week before the start of the tournament spells doom for their World’s chances. The gutwrenching news sent shivers down the spines of Fnatic fans, as they remember the fiasco of the 2021 World Championship.

Fnatic since Rekkles left

Well if 2022 wasn’t troublesome enough for Fnatic and their fan base, we have now come a full circle. Expectations and controversy have haunted this roster ever since Elias ”Upset” Lipp replaced Martin “Rekkles” Larsson. And after the mess that happened at the 2021 World Championship, this was the time to prove it.

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Broxah and Rekkles, Fnatic’s JG and ADC during their 2018 run to the Worlds final, were on the LEC desk for the lower bracket semifinal between Fnatic and Rogue. Credit: Riot Games

Despite a turbulent season, Fnatic were coming to North America for the 2022 World Championship, hopeful for redemption. Having made a solid lower bracket run in the 2022 LEC Summer playoffs to qualify for Worlds, morale was on the uprise. Maybe this is the time they reach their peak? This time the weight of the names shows up right?

Fnatic finished third in the LEC after being bounced by Rogue in the lower bracket final. With Worlds being their last shot to prove everyone wrong and the uptick in form, the latest news coming out of Fnatic broke everyone’s heart.

Fnatic weren’t participating in scrimmages

A few days before their scheduled flight to Mexico for the Play-In stage, Fnatic were the only European team that wasn’t doing scrims with other teams. Their bot laner, Elias ”Upset” Lipp, confirmed this while on a call with Nick “LS” De Cesare on his Twitch stream. While the rest of the Western teams have been “scrimmaging against each other endlessly in a triangle”, Fnatic have yet to play a series.

Reports were coming out that the players were willing but an internal issue in the higher layers of the organization was preventing them. Going to an international event without preparation and hoping to find scrim partners to get a few repetitions in while being jet lagged is a recipe for disaster. As bad as this sounds, it only got worse from there.

FNC Upset and Hylissang test positive for COVID-19

With Fnatic announcing their bot lane has tested positive for Covid days before flying to Mexico, their future is up in the air. Theoretically, they could fly out and enter the country as soon as they get a negative PCR test. But those have been proven to give false positive results up to 90 days after symptoms have subsided and other testing methods have ruled out Covid. Even in the best-case scenario, Fnatic will fight for their tournament lives through the Play-In stage with zero preparation.

As of writing this, Louis “BEAN” Schmitz is the only eligible substitution they have a visa for, to join the team on their flight. Speculations for solutions are flying around, with possible bot lane loans from EU and NA teams being mentioned. But even if that happens, Fnatic is just screwed. 

Greatest “what if” in League of Legends history?

Just like last year’s situation, Fnatic have constructed a roster and a playstyle around their bot lane. Pathing towards bot lane to create leads which then would be built upon throughout the entire map, claiming objectives and finishing with strong team fights. All of that goes out of the window is Upset isn’t there, like we saw last year. And after two years of controversial World Championships, failing to meet domestic expectations, and enough drama to write a novel what tells us this version of Fnatic will be back next year? The names hold weight and large price tags but the organization has yet to find any resemblance of success since Martin “Rekkles” Larsson left. Their road towards greatness has always been filled with setbacks, which makes for the perfect “what if” storyline.

Header: Riot Games