UKLC | NicoThePico introduces Fnatic Rising 2020

As Javier ‘Dardo’ Zafra mentioned in our management update yesterday, Nicholas ‘NicoThePico’ Korsgård re-joins Fnatic as the Head Coach of our UKLC team Fnatic Rising.

Whilst Dan ‘Dan’ Hockley returns to the team after substituting for our LEC team, Felix ‘MagiFelix’ Boström and Matthew ‘xMatty’ Coombs remain a part of the Rising roster.

Mahdi ‘Pride’ Nasserzadeh and Love ‘Bravado’ Rapp arrive to fill out the starting roster, with Chibs joining as Rising’s substitute midlaner.

Our Chief Gaming Officer, Patrik ‘cArn’ Sättermon re-introduced NicoThePico to Fnatic, saying:

“We are all incredibly excited to see Nico lead our Academy project and we are committed to working with him for a long time to build out the very best platform for tomorrow’s League of Legends talent.

Nico played an important role for our team in the past, helping us bring on and train world renowned names like Caps and Broxah. After having him join on a scout capacity for our Academy team in the inaugural season of LEC, it’s a natural step to bring him on board and continue to build on what we aim to become the best talent platform on the planet.”

To talk about our Fnatic Rising 2020 is Head Coach, NicoThePico:

First of all, speaking of my previous experience of working at Fnatic, I always felt very well taken care of by the entire organisation - that is from the social media staff to all different people working over at the London HQ. Overall, it was always an experience I thought of pleasantly even if it didn’t end off how I would have liked.

I've always had a good dialogue with Fnatic’s management and have had continuous talks regarding my old players and new talents too. I’m thankful now that Patrik and team have put faith in me once again. We are intending this to be a long term role as Head Coach for the Rising team while I also scout, develop new players and assist Mithy and the main team where possible.

I'm fully intending to continue the track record I've built through the years at Fnatic in finding and developing new talent with high potential for both the Rising and the main team. Aiming and working towards bringing up the next Broxah, Caps, Nisqy, etc is always our goal. I fully believe they are out there, and I already have my eyes on quite a few younglings who I'm very confident will go big, in addition to the Rising roster we've already put together with very strong faith!

In 2020 and beyond, Rising will act as a mix of being able to compete with the best, being a valuable scrim partner to our LEC team and also to develop new talent.

You’ll already know three of the faces in the team.

Dan is, without a doubt in my mind, the strongest non-LEC jungler in EU who I think should already be in a LEC team. I'm certain this year he is going to show exactly that. He's a strong and reliable leader with great comms and understanding of the game, and we've known each other for over five years now. He's the core of how this team will function and I'm putting my full trust in him.

MagiFelix is known to sit with several accounts in the top 10 of EUW ladder - he’s a soloQ monster. He's more than capable of being LEC-level and I hope through this year he will earn his spot! I think he will give Nemesis a good run for his money and that the two will be very valuable to each other's growth!

xMatty is another who is absolutely LEC-ready. He's stable, reliable and dedicated to his team and to the game. He’s become a very flexible player who adapts quickly to whatever meta changes.

The new faces in Rising are Pride, Bravado and Chibs!

Pride arrives with me from my project in Switzerland, where I coached him the entire year of 2019. He's impressed me greatly with his dedication to the game, mental resilience and consistency in the game, whilst also providing really good comms for a toplaner. I believe you are going to see a lot of Pride in the future!

Bravado is a young Swedish support who I've had my eye on for a few years now and that I wanted to build around earlier but, because of residency rules, was always unable. Some might know him for being the god of Taric or being the first player to hit Masters already in 2020! He's one of the strongest and most prominent supports in EU in my eyes and I have great belief in him!

Chibs came in to our roster as a UK resident substitute in the case of our LEC team requiring to pull in one of our UK players to Berlin. He's a young up and coming midlaner who is incredibly eager to have his chance!

Although I have limited experience with the UK scene so far, we’re all very much looking forward to experiencing it this year. Fnatic Rising showed how UKLC is growing stronger and strong each year, finishing top four in both EU Masters last year. But, this year, we’re definitely aiming for even better results!

FULL FNATIC RISING ROSTER:

Top: Pride
Jungle: Dan
Midlane: MagiFelix
Botlane: xMatty
Support: Bravado
Substitute: Chibs
Head Coach: NicoThePico

*PENDING RIOT GAMES APPROVAL*