2025 CS2 Roster Update
As we step into the New Year, we’re thrilled to announce two exciting additions to our CS2 roster: Fear joining us as IGL and Burmylov taking on the AWP position. Of course, this also means we’ve moved Bodyy and Nawwk to the in-active roster. We’re incredibly grateful for their contributions and wish them all the best in the future.
Rodion "Fear" Smyk joins us from Passion UA to take on the role of in-game leader. We’ve been monitoring his progress for some time and have been deeply impressed by his hunger to learn, his winning instinct, and his leadership qualities, both in and out of the game. We’re proud to welcome someone so talented to Fnatic.
Alongside Fear, we’re excited to introduce Denys "Burmylov" Buraga, who takes up the AWP position. Hailing from Mouz NXT, Burmylov has already showcased remarkable skill and potential in CS2. We see great ability in him, believe he’s ready to make an impact now, and are excited to support his continued growth on this journey.
Today I'm pleased to officially welcome Fear and Burmylov to our CS2 squad, and to the Fnatic family. Rodyon and Denys will complete our roster and team up with BlameF, Matys and Krimz for the Austin Major cycle.
Since our exit from the Shanghai Major in early December, we have worked intensively to improve our competitive outlook in 2025. From the outset of this off-season, we've put a lot of emphasis on assessing our options when it comes to the strategic vision, and leadership of our team, both inside and outside of the server.
Fear and Burmylov bring incredible talent and potential that will strengthen our already established and hugely valued core. Fear is an in-game leader we’ve had our eye on throughout 2024, and while we were already impressed by his gameplay as competitors and fans, meeting him and beginning to work together has only made our admiration grow. I’m proud to have him joining us. We expect that under Rodyon's leadership, we will be able to gradually improve both our performance and our platform in terms of how both veteran and rookie players can perform and develop at Fnatic.
Burmylov is coming in as the team's youngster, at the young age of 17 we hope that his talent, energy, and in-game aggression will balance out our roster. I know our more experienced players are ready to support his development and are excited to work with him.
We sat down with our two new players earlier this week to get their thoughts on joining the Black and Orange.
Starting off with Fear:
Interviewer: Hot off your run at the Shanghai RMR and Major with Passion UA, have there been any lessons learned from that experience that you’re looking to bring into Fnatic?
Fear: Overall, I was really happy with the result and really proud of the team. We were the first Ukrainian team to qualify for this stage and the main lesson I learnt was to trust yourself.
Interviewer: How are you feeling entering Fnatic as the new IGL?
Fear: Good question, overall I feel good. I understand the pressure that it’s going to be and I accept it. It’s also a challenge for me to change my language from my national one to English but I will do my best and work hard and I’m really excited to work with the boys.
Interviewer: Which teammate are you most excited to play with in Fnatic?
Fear: I mean overall, I’m excited to work with everyone but I’m IGL and I understand Benjamin (BlameF) was IGL at Astralis. He is a very smart and hard-working guy and so overall I’d probably answer Benjamin.
Then let’s have a quick check-in with our brand new AWP, Burmylov:
Interviewer: Most people would know you from Mouz NXT, how do you think playing in the Mouz academy system has guided you to this position at Fnatic?
Burmylov: Mouz NXT gave me a lot of experience playing against both Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams and gave me a well-rounded understanding of how to play CS2 at the highest level. I also believe that Mouz Academy team is that team that when a Tier 1 team is doing changes, they’ll look to Mouz for the upcoming talent. They have come out with really good players that are now playing in Tier 1 and 2 teams which makes me feel confident I’ve
Interviewer: What are your initial feelings about joining Fnatic and what are you most looking forward to?
Burmylov: Firstly, I’m really happy you know. I’m really excited to start playing for Fnatic because it’s a big team, a big organisation and has some really good, experienced players on the team. I’m looking forward to playing with them and doing my best. I think we’re all ready to grind and get some strong results.
Interviewer: Which teammate are you most excited to play with in Fnatic?
Burmylov: I don’t have a special player. I am so excited to play with the whole team, there are four very experienced players on this team. They’re good people too, good experienced players so I am very excited to play with them all.
As always, thank you for your loyal support of Fnatic and we’re very excited to showcase what the CS2 team has been working on in the very near future!
#ALWAYSFNATIC