A tough knockdown for the team that was once the most dominant in CS: GO.
Fnatic have been mathematically excluded from participating in the upcoming CS:GO PGL Stockholm Major in late October following a 0-5/1-4 performance in Group D of the IEM Fall Europe event.
Fnatic’s group stage, which played only in the best series, got off to a rough start with a one-sided defeat to FaZe Clan on Mirage, followed by close losses to Double Pony and Team Fiend on Nuke and Inferno.
Losing 03, the Sweden-England team, Fnatic needed to win their last two games and get help in other results to reach the knockout stages, but Nuke’s loss to NiP closed their fate.
There were no RMR points accumulated at IEM Fall, and with their poor earned points reduced by roster change reductions, Fnatic will be missing the PGL Stockholm Major. Eventhough the two year gap caused by the pandemic, this will be the second straight Major that Fnatic will miss because of failing to qualify for StarLadder Berlin in 2019. Their last place finish at the IEM Katowice Major before Berlin just means they will compete through the StarLadder EU Minor, where they lost a narrow 2-0 to CR4ZY.
This result at IEM Fall 2021 which will occur three months after the team will go on to legendary AWPer JW and reliable in-game leader Golden to the bench, he will be replaced by former Cloud9 Colossus members ALEX and mezii out of the United Kingdom. This roster move was a moment for Fnatic, who, for the first in CS:GO, opted to field a lineup that was not entirely Swedish.
While this new form of Fnatic has only been around for a few months, the absence of another specialist (and the first in over two years) has yet to disappoint CounterStrike’s iconic organization. Their next scheduled event runs until March 2022, during ESL Pro League Season 15.