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CS2 ROSTER UPDATE and a Message from Mezii

OfficialFnatic's avatarOfficial FnaticOfficial@OfficialFnatic• 02/11/2023

CS2 ROSTER UPDATE and a Message from Mezii

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CS2 UPDATE: As you may have heard, William ‘Mezii’ Merriman will be leaving our team to further his career elsewhere. He has been an incredible team member and a vital part of our roster, and while we intended to continue our journey together, he had an option to be acquired in the final year of his contract, which after discussing with him, we respected his wishes and facilitated the move.

For over two years, Mezii has been a leader, incredible player, and generally a great part of our roster. We see him as part of the family and are thankful for his contributions. We know our fans and everyone within Fnatic will miss his explosive plays and attitude. We wish him all the best in his new adventure.

The path to the top of CS2

With this move, our focus turns to what's next for Fnatic CS2, for which we’ve not had the best start. We have significant ambitions in CS2, and have a lot of work ahead of us to build a world class roster that can reach the absolute top.

We will not rest in this mission, and know this will require investment, which we’re prepared and ready to make. We are working with the central teams who work across our top Valorant and League rosters, to support in these efforts as we seek a replacement and begin the path of upgrading our roster in the coming months.

We plan to bring all of our fans along for this journey and in that vein, Central PG will be around to answer any questions you might have so drop them in the comments below and tag@cArn and@RossR

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Avatar for Lockah
Lockah@Lockah• 08/11/2023
Loading...Any news ? Can we play vs spirit on the 16?
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RekNiayLEC Malmo 2022@RekNiay• 07/11/2023
Loading...😞😞😞
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RekNiayLEC Malmo 2022@RekNiay• 07/11/2023
Loading...🫡🫡🫡🫡
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ElltalFnatic Plus@Elltal• 04/11/2023
Loading...🫡
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Efe@Efe• 03/11/2023
Loading...🫡
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follow@follow• 02/11/2023
Loading...Bye Mezii! We will Miss you! 🧡🖤
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Horaizun@Horaizun• 02/11/2023
Loading...Thanks and good luck🧡🖤🧡🖤
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DerSantaClaus7@DerSantaClaus7• 02/11/2023
Loading...Let's buy S1mple and we're fine!
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M4ndren@M4ndren• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn I've seen that you've already talked about this question in the comments but i'm going to bring it up yet again. You don't need to answer this but I feel like going back to the swedish scene is a big chance for us to be more competitive now. The Swedish synergy is what made fnatic win their trophies in the past, and I think it's a golden opportunity to try to do the same thing once again. Brollan and Hampus played very well a little while ago and and I think running a 5-man roster with them can give them and the team a spark that we have not seen for a long time. There's also a lot of young players like nilo and maiL that can be an addition further ahead for next generations of players. De svenska fansen finns fortfarande, tro mig❤️
Avatar for pontus767
pontus767@pontus767• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn As said, completely understand the angle of "we want to access the entire player population". However, itl scene is bigger, and there are so many other teams outcompeting you on the market (at least if you keep going like before). Pool left for you ends up very small (just look at igl options this summer, it was dexter or nothing, as all the other igls on the market joined bigger/better (itl) orgs. Aleksi --> Navi, Siuhy --> Mouz...). Furthermore, when we actually find a gem (like mezii and brollan) what's to stop them from getting snatched in the future? If you go national, you have can have pull beyond money (just look at hampus' statements in recent dust2 interview). Now that nip are not on the market, there's no competitor. FNC would be a big dog on the swedish market like astralis on the danish. High investment not as key (altho ofc bigger than what you've put in, in recent years). Ofc there's the problem of few options, but the options available should at least be possible, and danes/norwegians (not igling) can work in a swe team too. So to sum up a follow-up question, given you're determined to stay itl - what concretely is going to change now, for you to be able to compete on the market for talented/established players (and not just buy benched players and free agents). And what's going to change now so that we don't end up losing talents, like we lost brollan and mezii, to more attractive, higher-spending orgs? I don't see close to anyone (experts, even fanbase) believing for a second that you can build mentioned top 3 success, given the situation and approach you've had...
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awful-addax@awful-addax• 02/11/2023
Loading...Question for @RossR , would you consider Surreal to the roster.?
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LYR4N@LYR4N• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn Now Is a golden opportunity to go back to fnatic's roots. There are great players available for a org such as fnatic. since you mentioned "investments" grabbing already benched players like Brollan and Hampus wouldn't be bad. We also have Lerk0 floating around in the ocean called free agents. a solid anchor with a shapr aim who's not up agaisnt the idea of IGL. Maybe Hampus and Lekr0 could both work as the brains of the team? Brollan will flourish on a all swedish side. I'm 100% certain of that. The last player ahpuld be a young talent. Look thru the current top swedish sides. Eye, Godsent, Alliance etc. there are talent to be snapped up by an org like fnatic, say Spooke for example. he's performing well on Sprout, averaging 1.07 HLTV ratimg since joing. There's also players like adamb in Metizport, eraa from Godsent, but. The greatest young swede right now has to be nilo in Metizport. He's averaging a 1.20 HLTV rating! Yes. I know that none of those teams are tier 1, but we have to look long term, not short term. nilo is 18 and already shresding thru lower tier competitions!
Avatar for cArn
cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@LYR4N Hey Lyr4n (name remind me about my favourite "sports" as young, brännboll) To be very clear, we are not ignoring talent out of Sweden - you mention some great names there and it does seem there is a bit of rebounce from Swedish CS - much thanks to the league initiatives, Esportal, and teams like EYE.
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PsychoLogical25@PsychoLogical25• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn Hey there, since fnatic now has to basically rebuild the CS2 roster since losing to mezii automatically means you guys lose the automatic RMR invite and now have to blast through the open qualifiers, would you guys be willing to actually be willing to make investments like you said on twitter "We will not rest in this mission and know this will require investment, which we’re prepared and ready to make."? If so, is it fine if I suggest some people that you guys could consider gambling on? (no disrespect to some of the members currently but this is just how I think it should be for the potential long term.), suggestions below: For some potential new recruits, would you guys consider CYPHER from TSM, AZUWU from Endpoint, gla1ve (now his image hasn't exactly been great lately to be frank but his experience might still be very valuable), Thomas as an alternative to gla1ve if you're not willing to go after him, and MATYS from Sampi (if he's willing to leave) as potential options? And a new coach? Kuben's on the market right now and could be very valuable to go after right now. Especially how he was likely a heavy factor of Apeks making it to the semifinals of the Paris Major, plus his years of experience with Polish Virtus.Pro. Edit: and lastly, no real disrespect to the man but I don't think Samuelsson has done a great job in managing the CS team. Would you guys reconsider him at some point?
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cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@PsychoLogical25 Yes, we're willing to make investment - exactly on whom and when is up in the air. Until recently we were planning to play out the next Major cycle with the current roster - but here we are, exploring all our options (which is actually exciting, too!). All our players and staff, and assumingly myself by my superiors, are constantly reviewed. Andreas remain a key contributor to our organisation in his role as team manager and performance coach, is rated extremely highly by our current and past players. Note again that roster decisions, long-term title strategy and so forth, sits with myself and the central esports team. This since a few years ago when we changed structure.
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pontus767@pontus767• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn As said in yesterday's HLTV confirmed by prof: nip are starting to turn into what fnatic already are: a top 20 itl team with no relevance, followed by "who the fuck is supposed to care about this team". That's what fnc has become on this itl journey. Completely understandable move going itl way back when, NiP had the resources and the fanbase that you didn't have and so to stay in Sweden was suicide. Itl meant more options for less money. Fair. Now the situation is another. There are a 1000 different itl team and you are insignificant and get eaten up by bigger money (as just happened with mezii...). Meanwhile, the Swedish market is open, fill the void and you could have pulling power not directly related to salary. Furthermore, there will be reason for plenty of fans to actually care, you gain an identity. Brollan and Hampus are already on the bench, we have Krimz... and there's no worry of losing out on selling valuable players on current team as the only valuable asset just left. Thus, isn't going back to the roots worth considering? Because let's be real, you're not seriously going from not even reinvesting transfer money to all of a sudden matching all the big dogs and competing for top 1 (why in that case would you have sold mezii)?
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cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@pontus767 Hej Pontus (your name and questions suggests you're Swedish, but correct me if I'm wrong!) We still, strongly, believe in the concept of competing as an international team, with English as the main language. This on the basis that we are an international organisation, and importantly we want to access the entire player population and not being capped by a specific market's player base - especially since you will always have one or more regions that are specialized on such market and have their bases there - making them more suitable for such team profiles (your NiP x Fnatic example is valid, in this regard). This is of course not the same as saying that we would be foreign to the idea of having a majority of the roster from one region, but I can't currently see us either returning to a full Swedish line-up and investment, or other region for that sake. Again, loosing Mezii wasn't something we wanted and it will make our return to top 10/5/3 more challenges, but with a brand new title comes new opportunities, and the fact that the ecosystem will open up completely in 2025 makes at least us very excited about the long-term outlook of the title. I'll stop here for now, but happy to take follow up questions!
Avatar for Lokiu
LokiuPioneer Key Holder@Lokiu• 02/11/2023
Loading...Are we going to try young talent or continue the trend of taking older guys ? Is the goal to build something, or to continue to be tier 2 with the occasional tier 1 perf ?
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cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@Lokiu We are open to all age groups and history suggests that having a diverse group in terms of experience is favourable. My guess is that with CS2 you will see a lot of young players that were great prospects already in CS:GO, will blossom out and become the stars of CS2. We will find and help some of those players, for sure.
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Sextiz@Sextiz• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn when can we expect updates regarding our roster and our plans moving forward? This disapointing season is already over for us, but its been 3 years of nothing for the cs fans and its rough. Will we make changes for the Qualifiers for the RMR since we lost our spot?? Now that hampus and brollan are benched, do you think about coming back to a swedish core or we will stick to intl rosters? Thanks
Avatar for cArn
cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@Sextiz Hey Sextiz, CS2 has barely started and in some way same for the season, so I don't feel like it's over but as mentioned in our general comms, and in other comments here, it will of course be tougher without Will as he is an exemplary teammate and player you want to have on your side. We see the next few weeks, or even month(s) as a rebuild phase and we will fight from whatever qualification phase we get put in, when it comes to the Major.
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Constikdw@Constikdw• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn as the statement says the org is ready to „make investments“. Does this actually mean on the financial side as well to get players who can get fnatic to being a consistent top 10 team again? And how soon will changes be made? November seems like the ideal time because there are no big events going on for us. i dont mind staying international as this is still the future but if we are committing to it, players of high calibre are needed.
Avatar for cArn
cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@Constikdw With the transfer of Mezii we are indeed in need of changes to our line-up, and whereas all current members may remain there is also a chance we do bigger changes to the team. The goal will be to re-establish something that has a long-term outlook for us - even if our start to CS2 and 2024 will require us gaining experience and testing things out. After qualifying to two Majors, and of course selling players, we are certainly "ready to invest" but we will as we do in any other title do so in a way that make sense. I also want to clarify that it's my understanding that we are already a rather big spender if you compare us to many other top 20 teams, definitely not the most aggressive but we are also not in the two league circuits which at times make it more expensive (and difficult) to attract some names out there - hence why we are actually quite excited about the changes 2025 will come with.
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Lars89@Lars89• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn @RossR since mezii is leaving we need to start with the RMR Q so there is no reason to stick together with the players. What are the plans with the roster, maybe adding Brollan or/ and Hampus? Going full Swedish? Maybe bringing fnatic cs2 top means we need to look at the management / coach because since the golden lineup the cs2 when in a downwards spiral and the player changes didn’t help fnatic to get to the top. Last question: since we heard a lot of time fnatic wanting to invest in cs2, fnatic always opted to buy/ add players which were benched or free. Are you willing to buy players out of contract this time?
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RossROfficial@RossR• 02/11/2023
Loading...@Lars89 Hey Lars! Thanks for the questions. Whilst the RMR is just around the corner, and at the forefront of our minds, we're actively considering a multitude of options. Swedish counterstrike is very much a storied part of Fnatics history, nothing is off the table in terms of the approach we take moving forward. We will actively pursue players we see fit to represent the black and orange, inclusive of those under contact elsewhere.🧡🖤 Ross
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MadscotPioneer Key Holder@Madscot• 02/11/2023
Loading...Where were you when Fnatic CS was kill?
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cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@Madscot I was there Gandalf, I was there 3000 years ago
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Zood@Zood• 02/11/2023
Loading...@cArn CS2 seems to be making a lot of roster turnover for all teams. We as fnatic tend to take advantage of this scenario or be a little more cautious since it's a new game?
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cArnOfficial@cArn• 02/11/2023
Loading...@Zood Hi Zood, I'd say we in anticipation of the new title and the many unknowns that came with took it quite conservatively in the most recent transfer window - following Paris Major. Today more data exist but let's be real, CS2 is still young but generally change has tend to favour the younger generation of players and generally players that was about to break through in CS:GO. In essence, we will in the mid term do the investment needed to give our CS2 investment a chance to compete among the best.
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FrankyCow Paulo@Franky• 02/11/2023
Loading...😞😞😞😞😞
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GamingWithBerni-@GamingWithBerni-• 02/11/2023
Loading...You got this boys!!!
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Pyrø@DatPyro• 02/11/2023
Loading...Dude, las night I had a dream where I saw a news in the fnc app about roej leaving the team, I hope it wasn't premonitory 😰
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malucher@malucher• 14/11/2023
Loading...@DatPyro Well I don’t know how to break the news to you, it was definitely premonitory
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Lars89@Lars89• 02/11/2023
Loading...Thanks mezii!
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aposOfficial@apos• 02/11/2023
Loading...Good luck Mezii! 🙏
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eliotFnatic Plus@eliot• 02/11/2023
Loading...😢😢
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LegendPioneer Key Holder@Leg3nd• 02/11/2023
Loading...Mezii will be missed on this roster 🥲
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darwinOfficial@darwin• 02/11/2023
Loading...Bittersweet but you’ll crush it 🥲🖤🧡